Wigan 1 - 0 United

De Gea

Jones Evans Rio Evra

Valencia Carrick Giggs Young(Cleverley)

Rooney(Nani) Chicharito(Welbeck)

So the 12 game unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt end by a resolute Wigan side. We didn't deserve to draw today let alone win. Wigan scored during the first half but somehow for some reason the refs decided to cancel the goal. We were lucky there. However, things evened themselves out when Wigan were awarded a non-existent corner and from the resulting action Maloney scored. I'm still not 100% sure but I think we could have easily been awarded a pen during the second half. However, nothing could excuse the poor performance our boys put. 

Carrick was unusually quiet today

With the exception of Welbeck, who really did his best when he came on, I cannot really think of anybody who had a decent game. Rooney, Giggs, Chicharito, Jones, Carrick and Valencia, yes, the mighty Valencia, were abysmal at best. Obviously I'm just disappointed with the performance because I know all our players could do much better and I expect them to do better during this stage of the season. However, credit must be given to the Wigan players. They won the midfield battle and their strikers, especially that dreaded Moses, gave our defenders a torrid time. Their defence kept our striker Chicharito out of the game and managed to frustrate Rooney up to a point that he couldn't even deliver one decent cross-ball. I hate to say it but Chicharito is becoming a bit of an annoyance up there. He can't dribble, he can't control the ball and he barely knows how to pass. He's a great finisher though and that is what's keeping him in our side. 

So what went wrong? Sometimes a brilliant player could carry a team on his back but we lacked that player today because everyone underperformed. Also it is highly possible our team missed Paul Scholes. That fella knows how to control a game without the tippy tappy football. His replacement, Giggs, tried to be too cheeky on a couple of occasions and that's simply a no-no in such games. Still, I don't think a club of this stature should be relying on a 37 year old.

Anyhow we are 5 points clear so this defeat doesn't really mean the end of the world. City will play Norwich this weekend and, just like we found Wigan a tough nut to crack, City will probably find it difficult to break the Canaries in their back yard. The title is ours to lose, let's hope the 3 points dropped today aren't the first steps towards a collapse of biblical proportions. Sir Alex knows how to handle the team after this defeat and I'm more than optimistic we'll be able to bounce back vs Aston Villa on Sunday. Come on UNITED!