Preston NE 1 - 3 United

DDG

Valencia Smalling Rojo Shaw

Di Maria Fellaini Blind Herrera 

Falcao(Young) Rooney

It's pretty much the same feeling I got after the Burnley game; the result is a good one but I thought the performance was mediocre at best. Preston managed to open the score right after the break after a drab first half. Thankfully, we had more than enough time to react to Preson's goal.  We were lucky to get the opener. Rooney, in an offside position, was obstructing the goalie, even though he didn't touch the ball, thus our first goal shouldn't have stood. Thankfully the linesman thought otherwise and Herrera's goal stood. Preston were demoralised and from then on I always felt that United were going to win the game.

The reaction from our players after the goal we conceded was good to see. They looked like they were actually busting a sweat to win the game. Valencia and Fellaini did well today. The latter is increasingly becoming one of my favourite players. He's not a technical player but his height is a worry to any defence he plays against. Upon Falcao's exit, he moved further up the pitch and proved to be a bigger threat to the Preston defence than the mighty Falcao. Fellaini certainly looks clumsy but he has become a very important player in our squad this year. This time last year he was having a torrid time. Fast forward to this present day and I think he's been one of our best players this season. Well played. 

Our third goal also had a touch of luck about it. Rooney managed to win a penalty by  going down a tad too easy, even though Preston's goalie made a very stupid challenge in the box. There was never any contact by the goalie with Roo. Phil Dowd awarded a penalty and Rooney duly delivered. I'm not complaining.

A lot love to point out the lucky breaks United had but fail to mention that Preston should have played twenty odd minutes with 10 men. Kevin Davies should have been sent off after a second bookable offence. The ref decided to turn a blind eye to Davies' reckless challenge only because he had already been booked before. 

So our next FA Cup game is home to Arsenal. There were much easier opponents we could have got but we you're bound to meet a good team in a cup run and the Arsenal game will be a good test for our players. A win against the gunners will give us a very good chance of finally winning the FA Cup again.