Norwich 1 - 0 United

Lindegaard, 

Rafael, Smalling, Rio, Evra, 

Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Young, 

van Persie, Hernandez

I was quite busy during the weekend hence the late post.  

This was probably United's worst performance of the season as our players lacked any sort of ideas that could break a resolute Norwich defence. To be honest, we've played like this during most games this season but we always (bar the tottenham game) managed to get the result we needed. I've grown to accept the frequent bad spells our side is having during games, just because I know that at a point or another, one of our strikers will score. Not this time though.  All of our chances, all two of them, fell to RVP who failed to hit the ball on both occasions. Had he got some sort of contact with the ball, then we'd probably be looking at a different scoreline and a different league standing. Three losses after 12 games is not a good statistic but the league is still young and there's plenty of time to rectify the wrongs. 

Smalling put a number of decent challenges when Rio was totally outpaced but for the second game running, we conceded a goal from his side. Last week he was swatted aside by Benteke and yesterday he was outjumped by Pilington(not sure whether that's his name). If I'm honest, it was a very good goal. Now I'm not saying that had Evans been present, we wouldn't have conceded that goal, but I think we're actually missing Johnny. Evans is a very good ball player. 

Fergie Knows Best (but playing Giggs in CM won't get us anywhere)

Warning! More moaning. I'm not sure why Giggsy started in midfield. Although he could probably pass and cross better than Young, you cannot win these games with Giggs in central midfield. With Anderson, Cleverley and Fletcher on the bench, I can't fathom what was going through Fergie's head. Scholes would have been a better choice as well. 

Our wingers failed to produce anything decent all game long. Valencia took ages to decide whether to pass or cross while Young was simply ineffective. And this is what makes me fume. These two players, especially Young, could be very frustrating. Yet, they never get one tenth of the stick Nani gets. I agree, Nani is probably the most frustrating player to wear the United jersey, but I still believe that he's world class. He could beat a defender, either by pace or skill, and is a very good shooter and passer of the ball. However, one mistake and I have my facebook home wall bombarded with "sell him Fergie", "get him out" and all that nonsense. True, he does look uninterested this year. If that's up to being fed up at the club or maybe because he's experiencing a very bad spell, I don't know. All I know is that he carried us with his goals on a lot of occasions in the past. I can't see Young having the same kind of effect, not in the near future anyway. 

Difficult Game For Chicha

At the front neither Chicharito nor RVP imposed their authority on the game. The former showed that it's best for our club, as well as for himself, to start games on the bench and get the twenty odd minutes every game as a sub. He'll be more effective. RVP had an off day. We definitely missed Rooney. Rooney didn't play two of the three games we've lost this season. That says a lot. (Yes, yes, he played vs Tottenham but only after we were 2-0 losing. We absolutely destroyed Tottenham when he was on the pitch.) The guy is captain material. 

We've lost vs Everton, Tottenham and Norwich. We didn't lose a single point in last year's equivalent fixtures. Then again, we didn't win at Stamford Bridge last year so it's definitely not all doom and gloom. Thankfully Chelsea seem to be experiencing a tough period while I'm still not entirely convinced City's performances have been anywhere near last season's, although they thumped Villa yesterday.

I've managed to complain throughout the whole post, true, but that performance doesn't really deserve anything better. We'll have a couple of PL fixtures at OT that I expect us to win easily. We'll get back on track, I'm sure about it. Galatasaray next. Let's hope it's a good game and the red army get out of there in one piece.