After the last game I had thought we maybe turned a corner, and hence was actually looking forward to this game with a hint of expectation. Those first 45 minutes knocked that out right out of my system. It was as dire as anything this season. And for once I'm not going to blame the manager. As far as I could tell the shackles were still off, they were still allowed to express themselves, dribble, etc. It was just a case of the players not being good enough as they failed to break down a Swansea side whilst happy in possession showed no attacking threat most of the afternoon. We did create a couple of chances, but it was as heavy going as it has been most of the season.
The second half saw us start at a faster tempo and Ashley Young in particular started to get some joy on the right hand side. And that was the source of the goal as he hit a long looping cross that Martial finished superbly with his head. The Young Frenchman then upped his game and for a while we had a threat from both flanks until Young we dropped further back.
Swansea slowly got back in the game and managed to start to look as they may have a goal threat in them after all. United missed a great chance to make it 2-0 and were made to pay as a looping header from Sigurdsson evaded the outstretched arms of Van Gaal to nestle in the corner of our net. A draw at home to as poor a Swansea outfit as we have seen since they hit the big time would have not been good enough, from any perspective. Thankfully a great run and a great finish from Rooney which was his only memorable contribution all afternoon restored our lead and we hoped we may go on to a comfortable win.
I suppose that was wishful thinking as we endured a nail biting final five minutes as they threw everything at us and our defence looked as dodgy as in reality it actually is whatever the stats say. The header from the goalie seemed goal bound from our view, instead it was inches wide and the whistle blew to relief from every red. The afternoon had showed what we already really knew, even when you take the philosophy out of the equation, it's a very mediocre squad, and there isn't much on the bench to change things if isn't going our way. Maybe it isn't fair to single players out when only Young and Martial had done much in the game, but Mata given a more creative role just doesn't cut the mustard for me. And as for Darmian, what on Earth did we see in him, there is no way on Earth on Rafael. Whilst Rafael had a mistake in him, there's no denying, if an attacker runs at Darmian, it curtains, full stop. Anyway are we capable of a cup run starting next week, who the fuck knows, we'll have to improve on Saturday's performance though!
The second half saw us start at a faster tempo and Ashley Young in particular started to get some joy on the right hand side. And that was the source of the goal as he hit a long looping cross that Martial finished superbly with his head. The Young Frenchman then upped his game and for a while we had a threat from both flanks until Young we dropped further back.
Swansea slowly got back in the game and managed to start to look as they may have a goal threat in them after all. United missed a great chance to make it 2-0 and were made to pay as a looping header from Sigurdsson evaded the outstretched arms of Van Gaal to nestle in the corner of our net. A draw at home to as poor a Swansea outfit as we have seen since they hit the big time would have not been good enough, from any perspective. Thankfully a great run and a great finish from Rooney which was his only memorable contribution all afternoon restored our lead and we hoped we may go on to a comfortable win.
I suppose that was wishful thinking as we endured a nail biting final five minutes as they threw everything at us and our defence looked as dodgy as in reality it actually is whatever the stats say. The header from the goalie seemed goal bound from our view, instead it was inches wide and the whistle blew to relief from every red. The afternoon had showed what we already really knew, even when you take the philosophy out of the equation, it's a very mediocre squad, and there isn't much on the bench to change things if isn't going our way. Maybe it isn't fair to single players out when only Young and Martial had done much in the game, but Mata given a more creative role just doesn't cut the mustard for me. And as for Darmian, what on Earth did we see in him, there is no way on Earth on Rafael. Whilst Rafael had a mistake in him, there's no denying, if an attacker runs at Darmian, it curtains, full stop. Anyway are we capable of a cup run starting next week, who the fuck knows, we'll have to improve on Saturday's performance though!
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