If you journey back to the early 90s, Norwich City against Manchester United would have been a real clash of the titans, top of the table, heavyweight encounter.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t regard the canaries as a ‘massive’ club, or even a big club for that matter – and they certainly do not have a history to die for – but early Premier League years did see the boys in yellow compete at the top.
Twenty years on and Norwich have been one of those yo-yo clubs; up, down, up, down, down further, up and up again – and yesterday they demonstrated enough qualities to show why they are back in the top flight.
Out-fought, out-run, out-played; in a game with limited chances, Norwich edged it, taking their one good chance.
For United, there was literally nothing created.
At the back there were a few wobbles, but nothing we have not seen over the past two months. This time, there were no strikers to bail the reds out of trouble. A very bad day for Valencia and Young, with RVP extremely quiet too.
Trying to pick a Man of the Match from the boys who played yesterday is an impossible task. They were all as bad as each other.
Despite being taken off in the 70th minute, my Man of the Match is Javier Hernandez.
Like most, I believe Hernandez is at his best coming from the bench as an impact sub – and yesterday did not tell me otherwise.
The Little Pea did not do much to justify his selection as my Man of the Match, but he did a darn sight more than anybody else.
He chased every ball, tracked back well and did not let the Norwich defenders rest. Yes, this is what he usually does and ordinarily would not be a performance to be remembered by the Mexican hitman – but on a day when not one United player made themself count, this was enough to win the vote.
Once Hernandez left the pitch, so did any chance of United salvaging something from this poor match.
To respond to me directly, I am on Twitter: @NathonW
For all United news, comment and opinion, please follow: @RFFH
wes hoolahan was man of the match if you take an overall view,so strange startin giggs instead of ando and cleverley this is their time,hopefully we get the formation right in the next few games , win well and get some clean sheets cos city away could be a disaster …
You aren’t wrong. Norwich had eight candidates for man of the match, however I meant from our bunch.
Clean sheets are a must. Vidic will make a difference but there are fundamental flaws in our game leaving holes all through the defence.
For fuck sake will someone sort out the defence, be it midfield or at the back. A presence is needed.
For me nobody deserved man of the match for United.
This was a woeful display and one that had no bite or even heart. Our midfield is non-existant and provides no cover in front of our defence. Norwichs goal saw 3 strikers against 3 defenders with no midfielder in sight. Our midfield is constantly overrun putting added pressure on our back 4. Consequently we have conceeded 17 goals so far and nothing looks better in sight. SAF must learn from this and not play Giggs in midfield again. SAF is reluctant to look passed Scholes and Giggs and I’m sorry to say if this continues we will again be trophyless this season. The manager must see what everybody else has seen and said now for a very long time. We need reinforcements in midfield – someone with energy skill and can tackle, someone who can take the game by the scruff of the neck and be a match winner. I hope in the next transfer window a centre midfielder and a defensive midfielder are bought as our first priority. Forget buying for the future because when those bought are maybe ready SAF will have retired,and who is to say the next manager would want them. We need top class players now before the season becomes a disaster
It is all well and good saying “We need reinforcements in midfield – someone with energy skill and can tackle, someone who can take the game by the scruff of the neck and be a match winner” but who is there?
Who is there at a reasonable price that would want to join us?
All roads lead back to Tiote every single time; yet if he came in and played alongside Carrick, everybody would say we need a more attacking player.
I was baffled as to why Giggs was selected.
We need vidic and kagawa back ASAP
Couldn’t agree more!