Miserable as ever…
It’s no secret that our defence is not what it once was. We’ve had less clean sheets this season than a regular Imodium user. If it was not for the excellence of our forward line, and our ‘we’ll score one more than you’ approach, it may an even bigger issue.
Having used roughly 3,486 different back five combinations this season, we kind of have an excuse for things not being what they were. However, with the majority of our defenders now returning to fitness, we must stick with our strongest back five.
One thing we must take from today, and the whole of the season, is that we must stop making things so hard for ourselves. If our strikers have a dip in form, we are going to really struggle.
On the payroll.
We get all the decisions, apparently. Well, that seems to be the view of everybody who doesn’t support Manchester United.
However, anybody with even a little football knowledge and half a brain (Not Piers Morgan then) can see that’s not the case. Failure to disallow a ‘goal’ and the failure to award at least one clear penalty shows that referees are not scared to give decisions that will negatively effect Manchester United.
Coupled with decisions in other games this season, it may appear that referees may actually enjoy making us work that little bit harder for our points.
Old man time.
Some may not want to admit it, but Ryan Giggs had a decent game. At the tender age of 78, Ryan Giggs can still perform at the highest level, admittedly not every week.
While we have our fans who moan when they see his name on the team sheet, he would walk into the majority of the premier league’s first choice elevens.
He has had a few bad games this season, but look at the team, who hasn’t. However, while fans seem unable to criticise some, Giggs seems to be in the group of players who they don’t mind lambasting.
Today proved that Giggs can still do a job for us. He can still bring something to the first team before he retires and becomes the Hugh Hefner of Wales.
Food fight!
During the festive season, a vegetable is always at the forefront of everybody’s mind. However, this year is different. The Little Pea upstaged the Brussels Sprout.
You ether love or hate Brussels Sprouts. This is not the case with Chicharito. I have yet to meet a rational human being that doesn’t love him.
The thing the majority of Manchester United fans love about him is his goals. They are pretty much guaranteed. You supply the balls he’ll supply the goals. Teams pay over the odds for a goal scorer. We got one for £8 million. While people moan at the players we missed out on, they seem to take for granted the players we have.
Today, he perhaps took a few more attempts than normal to find the back of the net, but he still came up with the winning goal.
May I have a word?
Fergie marched on to the field during half time, with the look of a man who had been told there were no pigs in blankets left at Christmas dinner.
While some will see him ‘talking’ with the ref as a bad point, it shows that he has all the passion, energy and determination of a man half his age.
Despite criticism from rival fans, the media and even our own fans, his love for the game is unquestionable. Accused of making mistakes with team selection, he has guided an injury hit team to seven points clear at the top of the table.
While people are betting on his successor, I have a feeling we won’t be seeing him at Old Trafford for a long time.
FOLLOW STOCKPORT RED ON TWITTER @STOCKPORTRED
Ryan Giggs has had a lot of flack but he did really well today. I think he had a good impact against Swansea as well when he came of the bench. I think the issue is that we cannot have Giggs and Scholes in the team at the same time anymore. We are not able to control the match in midfield when they both play and we get easily dominated.
However individually both Giggs and Scholes can have an impact. I hope their influence, along with Ferdinand, Carrick, Vidic and Evra, can actually help us to win the title this time. It might be curtains for Giggs and Scholes after this season, but both will want to go out having won the title.
The defence is a huge issue and it is one that Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra need to get control of now. The three of them are the generals and they have to start getting their own performances in place. Vidic of course is about fitness and not form because he has been unavailable. However once they do this they can start cracking heads with Smalling, Jones and Evans. The defending is nowhere near good enough this season. De Gea is a talented goalkeeper and rightly the number 1. The mistakes are there, but the defence in front of him are letting him down more than he is for them.
I think your right in that some fans underestimate the value of Javier Hernandez. The lad is a born goalscorer and his form this season might have a huge impact on the title race. I believe he can be more clinical but he needs confidence. A run of games alongside Robin Van Perise could improve his game and develop him a lot further.
The Premiership is the priority, and we need to take one game at a time and really concentrate this time. The reading of the table right now is pointless and we should forget about it. If we can fix the defence and find real balance, then we will be a force. We have West Brom next and it will be another difficult match for us. They have been excellent this season, so we will need to be at our best to win the match.
wow…giggsy is 78..I don’t know that
Chicharito is a liability as a starter because he simple doesn’t get involved in the play, disappears for long spells of the game to a point where United may as well be playing 10 men, and costs the team dearly in attack and possession via his silly penchant for being perennially caught offside – silly in particular for a player of such electric pace and acceleration who has no need to try and get such a jump start on opponents.
He’s far better suited to playing off the bench, where his pace can take full advantage of the tiring legs of defenders.
Chicharito is a natural finisher and he is good at that…when it comes to passing the ball around, sorry….not him…
Nice article, quite hilarious though 🙂
Man that was ludicrous analysis. The Basketball season still going strong. Defence a bigger leak than the pipelines of BP
Nice point. Thankfully you didnt mention the evans incident. Tired of explaining to dumb guys out there that evans is united best defender. The game against city proved it. He just need maturity
Five things i learnt on boxing day:
1. Mancini ate too much on xmas.
2. Mancini was fraustrated for his side not scoring a single goal, while united scored 4.
3. Officials are dumbass
4. United come back thrice before chicharito did it again.
5. Man utd fc is champions.
Good read
Chicharito is a goalscorer that demands players feeding the ball. Consquently, our frontline is making more of passing the ball from the center as oppose to Valencia and Young crossing the ball. In a way, this is good because previously if you shut down our wingers we would not score and now we’re not so dependent on it. That said, even with RVP, we don’t have a Cristiano Ronaldo, who can score single handedly, perhaps Rooney but he sits so far back now linking play with the midfield. Props to Chicharito, he was fantastic last night and was quite determined to score.