Thursday, October 29, 2015

Manchester United 0-0 Middlesbrough AET lost on pens

So another post Fergie winnable cup competition goes down the pan. After Tuesday night's results as much as i wanted to see some youngsters given a game, I did actually want us to go through. The longer we go without a trophy, the harder it will be to actually win one.
I couldn't quibble too much with the team selected, though I would have preferred somebody more creative behind Wilson. That said Fellaini had a decent game, he did what he does. But it was noticeable the longer the game went on the more players started to look for him, it became pretty much route one at times. The jury is out on Memphis Depay, it's his first season in a much tougher league than he has been used to. There are very worrying signs though, he seems to have the very Naniesque habit of beating one or even two men and then taking the wrong option almost very time he gets the ball. He had a stinker last night and was lucky he stayed on the pitch for as long as he did. He still hasn't had a decent game against domestic opposition.
This was always going to be a tough game, they were pretty well set up defensively and weren't toothless up front either. It wouldn't be fair to say United didn't create any chances. But it would be fair to point out that we didn't create many until it became an end to end game for the last ten minutes and for much of extra time. When that did happen the chances came at both ends, but you couldn't ever really say that United went all out for the win.
As someone who has championed Wilson's cause, last night was disappointing to say the least. He got a start, did alright, though he did lose it too easily at times, then gets injured and subbed at half time. He picks up far too many knocks, I may be being unfair, but he does seem a touch on the soft side, that's definitely not going to help his career. His replacement was Rooney. He got some stick and whilst he did nothing to make me revise my opinion that he is a spent force, he was nowhere near as ineffective as he was on Sunday.
Still it was fairly comical that he was allowed take the first penalty after being relieved of normal time duties due to his poor record. I 'm still trying to work out whether he insisted on taking the responsibility due to being the captain and leader or it was part of Vanb Gaal's meticulous preparation. I was fairly surprised that Carrick stepped up take the third, but not that surprised he missed. Young capped a miserable night for our experienced players by missing that fourth penalty sending the away end delirious. I have to admit the moment extra time finished I didn't fancy us one bit in that penalty shoot out, my pessimism wasn't misplaced.
On the plus side Lingard had a decent game with Perreira and maybe Smalling not far behind him. My only problem with Lingard is the same as it's always been really, I'm not sure what his real position is. He can do a job out wide, but he isn't really a United style winger, still he was on a different planet to Memphis.
It's a tough game on Saturday, we could really do with the three points, rediscovering how to put the ball in the back of the net might help.

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