United took on Fulham at Old Trafford in a game that for once seemed to go almost totally according to plan for the Reds.
A penalty scored, Chicharito and Rooney among the goals, bar a strike from the Cottagers it was pretty much perfect, Here’s how the men in Red rated.
David De Gea- Nowt to do did it well. 7
Rafael- A constant threeat down the right hand side, still a contender for bronze in the player of the season awards. 7
Smalling- Masterful in the air, earned United a penatly- sort of- by putting pressure on Aaron Hughes, if he can stay fit, he’ll be giving Jonny Evans something to think about. 7
Phil Jones- Decent, solid, dependable. Doesn’t seem like much? How often have we said that about United’s defenders this season. 7
Patrice Evra- Got forward well with Giggs and even though he’s a bit of a one-trick pony with that ‘drag back -heel’ it worked well and should’ve earned United a second penalty. 7
Nani- Guess who’s back? Or should I say, Nani you are okay, you are okay, you are okay, Nani. Yes he’s greedy and can frustrate but he also genuinely believes he’s the best player in the world and every now and again reminds you why he’s allowed to think that. Considering he’s still way off full match fitness this was an assured display. Beating his man, coming close with a couple of efforts and annoying Rooney with his selfishness, the Nani show is back in town. 8
Anderson – The best player in the pitch. Confident, visionary, domineering he was almost as good as he’s ever been in a Red shirt. picking out passes that Carrick would be proud of while making runs with the ball, Tony V used to on the wing. 9
Michael Carrick- Easy day at the office for the man who should no longer be labelled ‘underrated.’ 7
Ryan Giggs. He’s not 39, he isn’t it’s nonsense, he can’t be. Amazing range of passes and even looked like a winger I remember from my teens as he linked up with Evra down the left. Who on earth suggested retirement? 8
Wayne Rooney- Still can frustrate with some shoddy passes but he took his goal superbly and never stopped running, putting pressure on the Fulham defence and giving Nani cold stares. 7
Chicharito- Never gave up always looking for a killer pass to latch on to and was justly rewarded with two -yes two goals. Giving Sir Alex Ferguson one massive headache. 8
Subs: Paul Scholes – for Carrick. Played his part and didn’t seriously injure anyone. 6
Kagawa for Anderson – Neat and tidy. 7
Valencia for Giggs- Not much to do. 6
Man U is obviously the best team in the world,one who denies this is confussed and misplaced
My thoughts:
Smalling and Jone – I always hope they will be a mandatory centre defensive partner in the coming future. 8
Nani – I didn’t really like this man becaues of his selfness. But, in the current form of Valencia. He should be a better choice. 8
Gigi – His current form was looking like he was just 28. He is really a iron man. 9
Rooney – Oh man! When will he come back? He missed at least 3 chances last night. Come on man! You can still improve. 7
Anderson – Solid and hard working. We need energizer man like you to keep momentum of the team. 8
Kagawa – Still not matched the team. 5
Valencia – If he cannot keep improving in the team, we will see a new number 7 very soon. 3
Agree wit most of the ratings. However, Rooney should get only 6 as most of his passes is fault. Scholes also comes on for nothing. Most of his passes were failure and we could have concede goals from his careless passes. Scholes should get only 5 really.
Good set of ratings.
Agree totally about Nani – he brings a fluidity to the team that no-one else does at the club, and where he may frustrate in small (unfortunately memorable) periods, he showed yesterday the parts of his game we’ve missed and need.
Thought Giggs was great too.
Rooney must inwardly groan when he see Nani’s name on the team sheet – yet Rooney often shoots from outside the box with little success. Agree Nani’s ego is (just about) a positive thing – makes him try the difficult things which sometimes come off. He’s important for second half of the season.