Man Utd vs West Ham FA Cup 3rd Round Replay (Welsh Wizardry not on the wane)

By: Ian | January 17th, 2013

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Giggs. Is there a player that epitomises everything about a club more so than he does for Manchester United? I can think only of very few select others, an elite if you will. Lampard at Chelsea, Gerrard at Liverpool, then further afield, Del Piero playing at Juventus, Maldini at Milan, and the mercurial Totti at Roma. There may be more, but already it reads like a fantasy team. Why do I mention this? Because Giggs has had his critics this season, some even going as far to say the wizard has lost his powers and that he is being kept around now purely for sentimental value and long-service recognition. The replay against West Ham, although rather a flat affair overall, proved all that to be utter rubbish.

It was a side sent out to get the job done. Lindegaard, Rafael, Jones, Smalling, Buttner, Valencia, Giggs (c), Anderson, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez. A slightly junior defence, but more than up to the task, with Rooney returning from injury, along with Anderson and Nani. West Ham’s team news revealed the absence of Cole and Collins, the combination that worked so well in the first tie. United started with fizz, looking like they wanted to get this thing done and dusted. As a result, the goal came within the first ten minutes. Anderson sent the ball from the midfield, splitting the defence superbly, Hernandez the receiver staying just onside. The Mexican turned on the motor and he was away, looking up just to slide the ball to an oncoming Rooney for an easy slide-in. A very neat goal, and for Rooney there was a personal dedication in a tough time for his family, but it was to prove the only real highlight of his game.

I thought an avalanche was coming – Utd looked in the mood for it. The next chance actually came near the half-hour though, and it took some good defending to keep out. Good work out on the right led to Nani powering in a angled volley. The keeper was beaten, but defender Potts slid in and got it away. Play went on, culminating in Smalling heading tamely straight at Jaaskelainen. More efforts came from distance; Nani and Rooney both trying their luck. No chances to report for West Ham, they looked down and out.

The tradition of a half time break stopped the ceaseless Utd pressure, but only temporarily. 2-0 looked a certainty after the restart as Diarra mis-controlled on the edge of his box. Hernandez took it and you would put your house on him just guiding it in. In a moment of rarity, however, it was screwed over and the young striker looked like he knew he should have done better. Utd’s inability to make their dominance count gave the Hammers heart, and it was Utd’s turn to defend as West Ham, for the first time, pressed forward. Taylor’s efforts came closest, but the defence held firm.

Carrick then came on, followed by Scholes, Anderson and Nani making way. Ando was decent, Nani, not so much. I won’t really go into that as they’re coming back from long absences. West Ham made changes too, a place in the competition at stake of course. But Giggs, stunningly in control from the word go, lead by example and mesmerized the crowd with some glorious footwork to glide forward, between the defenders (nothing more than minor obstacles to him), and hit in a cross that was handled by young Spence. Deliberate? Difficult to say, but penalty was given. A phrase used to describe Giggs’ run was ‘rolled back the years’. Rubbish, it wasn’t as though he stopped doing that sort of thing at 30. It was vintage Giggs and he’s never stopped doing that – he’s just had less chances and games to try it. Anyway, Rooney stepped up to take it. I thought Giggs himself would have taken it, but Wayne it was. He stepped up and skied it. A truly dreadful spot kick to add to a pretty dismal penalty kick record for both him and the club. The only two scored this season come from Van Persie (even he missed one) and Giggs. It isn’t a difficult thing to get right for players with such quality.

The whole thing became immaterial as the whistle went with Utd as 1-0 winners, but if such a thing happens against Madrid, where would we be then? Take your chances when you get them, and they don’t get much more straightforward than penalties. But anyway, Utd progress to meet Fulham, another Premier League clash. That game will come very soon, after Utd have navigated the Tottenham game this weekend. It will then only be another game against Southampton before Fulham will be met in the league too.

So overall, it was about the progress and progress we did, so all is well. And Giggs never lost it. He’s still here, and we should count ourselves fortunate for every game we can still watch him play, however long that may be.

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Category: Manchester United

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Ian

Agree with pretty much all of that, Ahmad!
Valencia really does seem at a low point right now, but there was a period towards the end of last season where that powerhouse aspect of his play was winning us games. That kind of form was devastatingly good, and I agree that he needs to get some form from somewhere to get back to somewhere near that level. Because, as you say, what we're seeing at the moment isn't good enough.
Jones, agreed, very good performance. Can't remember the exact moment but there was a bit later on in the second half when he was under pressure, but didn't panic, and just shifted around the defence to out wide, then booted it clear. Good stuff.
I think you hit the nail on the head with Rooney's penalties. It's that shooting style of his. It's like he's trying to take a free-kick, but its a penalty. Maybe that's why it rose so much. I think Sir Alex said he wants an American football rule brought in so he can bring on Giggs just for a few moments, if he's not playing, so he can take it, then go back to the bench! So why he didn't let him take the penalty against the Hammers is perhaps even more mysterious. It certainly didn't help Wayne's confidence.
Scholes came on, got a yellow. It's what he does, and why we love him :)
I hope the next round is not too tough, or rather I hope Utd don't make it tough, but should we progress, the fifth round is sandwiched between the Madrid games. Squad rotation there, but should we be successful, what a marker to lay down.
Ahmad

Giggs is THE Manchester United Icon, he represents just what United is all about, that never die attitude that he has is so powerful. Not going to spend time mentioning how orgasmic his performance was, that would take ages so I'll move on to the other aspects of the game.

Nani and Anderson, just glad they're back, they both had a good moment or two throughout the game but nothing spectacular (Anderson made that pass to Chicha and that pretty much put us 1-0 up, while Nani had a nice volley in the first half unlucky to see it not go into the net). But they look rusty nonetheless, so hopefully in a week or two we'll see them hit higher forms and this is crucial come the Madrid games since I assure you both have a very important role to play in any if not both of these games and they need to be top level by then. Wazza had an off game by his high standards, goal well taken, but what a horrendous penalty that was! Never mind the fact that we won and overall it was an easy game for United but when it comes to penalties, we should be more than guaranteed that we'll score. There is something about the way Rooney takes his shots that worries me greatly, he always tries to swerve it past the GK rather than a power shot which shot be utilized. Giggsy is a much better PK taker and if was in Fergie's boots I would've told Giggs to shoot it no doubt. But i'm not :) I still remember when Ronaldo used to step up to shoot a penalty, I never doubted he'll smash it into the back of the net even if the GK guessed where it's going; with Rooney it is a 50-50 chance, and that's me being lenient. I'd like to see RVP or any other player start taking the shots from now on, Rooney can stick to free kicks for he has a nice curve on the ball and with exercise he can master it.

Very few post-match remarks from United fans gave Jones the credit he deserved, he was very good during the game.

Scholes, the regular: dictate tempo, sexy passes, do a sliding tackle, get a yellow, etc... How can you not adore this man?

Valencia: Just awful, I understand Nani and Young are not that great as well, but for someone who many United fans regard as our best winger, I sure as hell don't see anything promising in his performance. How can a winger NOT know how to cross a ball? This is seriously frustrating. Nani, for example, can have a horrendous game yet manage to throw in a good cross or two, and we all know how good his crosses can be. Valencia is a powerhouse winger, very physical but yet knows very little about crossing which is a main asset in English football. Ferguson needs to speak to him about this. Given Nani inconsistency, he is still considered one of the best assisters in EPL's history, he is in the top 10 list in that category! I love Valencia but United's well-being is more important to me, he needs to get his act together ASAP.

We meet Fulham now in the fourth round. Should be another win to United, hopefully if we beat them the lads will start thinking to themselves that 'hey! this is a trophy I do want to win' since I know they must be focusing more on the CL and EPL. It's been 9 very long years since we won it. As for Tottenham, the equation is easy: Win and we'll have one hand on the trophy; losing is not an option, we have won the big games so far this season and this is by far the hardest won yet, since the other BIG games will be played at Old Trafford and that should make things a lot easier than expected.