De Gea – Did all the basics and kept things simple but well done. Calm, cool and composed. And he finally has a clean sheet! 6
Smalling – Fairly solid at the back but looked to push forward when possible and help the attack. 6
Vidic – The beast is back! Well, not exactly but he was still very good today. Brave, strong in his challenges and in control of the defence. Great to have him back. 8 (MOTM)
Evans – Formed a strong partnership with Nemanja with both players reading each others game well. Passing was perfect as per usual. 7
Evra – Didn’t do much wrong but he didn’t add much to the team either. He was bound an off performance though after a string of good displays recently. 5
Valencia – Fairly impressive when compared to his current form, he looked to run at players and beat his man with relative ease. Needs to work on his crossing accuracy. Getting there. 6
Carrick – All over the pitch. How anyone can still doubt his ability is beyond me. Involved with all our attacks and stifled most of build up play before their attacks had even started. Brilliant player. 8
Cleverley – Started off really brightly and showed real promise with his passing range and creativity. Faded completely in the second half. 6
Kagawa – Watching him play today was like he was never out injured in the first place. Sharp, energetic and exciting on and off the ball. 6
Young – Started brightly but also faded away towards the end. He’s starting to show real quality but just needs to be involved more when the team is falling behind. 6
Welbeck – Worked hard and gave the Albion defenders a nightmare. A terrific player but just lacks the movement to get himself into better goal-scoring positions. Regardless, he did well today. I’m still a big fan of his. 7
Subs:
Van Persie – He plays, he scores. Whenever he’s on the pitch, you know your team is capable of making something happen out of nothing. Some 24 appearances, 17 goals and 8 assists later and I still can’t believe he’s ours. 8
Scholes – Helped settle the ship and take control of the game with minimal effort. And yet some clowns still question why he’s still playing for us. 7
I’m sorry but I think a 5 for Evra is very harsh. The guy was solid today and even threded a great ball to Van Persie, who was denied by Foster. I mean he’s the one guy in the team every game even when others get rested. He contributed as much as the others and should get at least a 6. I think he is becoming an easy target but he has been better this season, as you noted.
I agree with the other ratings however. It was great to see De Gea get a clean sheet finally because his own form has deserved more. I’m delighted that Ferguson has stuck with him as our number 1 and not continued with the rotation. Vidic was solid but will get even better hopefully the more games he plays. Evans was good also and is the main centre back now, so its likely to be Vidic and Ferdinand rotated to partner him.
All d ratings but 4 were OK.Young deserve a 8,Welback lack bite,5 for him,Scholes calmed d game a little bit but 7 is too much for his contribution,6 for him.As for Kagawa’s,he showed and was our best player in d first half up until he was substituted in d 2nd half,8 for him.I call him ‘D Proff’
All d ratings but 4 were OK.Young deserve a 8,Welback lacks bite,5 for him,Scholes calmed d game a little bit but 7 is too much for his contribution,6 for him.As for Kagawa’s,he showed and was our best player in d first half up until he was substituted in d 2nd half,8 for him.I call him ‘D Proff’
Welbeck was a 4 at the most. Totally useless and inefective (this comes from a big welbeck fan). Valencia 3: same old valencia, different game. Carrick was a beast (this comes from a carrick hater)
Calling people clowns because they have a different opinion about a players contribution is unnecessary and juvenile.
We are all United fans on this site. Lets have a bit of respect.
No one doubts Paul Scholes ability but there comes a time with every player when ability becomes limited by lack of mobility otherwise we’d still be fielding Bryan Robson and Bobby Charlton.
Since no player including George Best in his pomp has averaged possession for more than one minute in 90 it follows that off the ball movement both in attack and defence Is a huge part of any player’s contribution. It is also the thing that goes first with most ageing players and sadly because we will wait a long time to see another Ginger Prince it also applies to Paul Scholes.
“Giving defenders a nightmare” is worth nothing if you don’t score. Danny sure didn’t have a bad performance, but you can’t give his performance a 7! Heavy link-up play us the midfielders’ job, not the striker’s.