More than just a win (vs City)

That was a fun one wasn’t it?

It didn’t even remotely resemble the incredibly boring encounter at the City of Manchester Stadium back in Nov. The first 10 minutes of this game produced more action than the entire 90 minutes of the previous meeting between the two.

Straight to the impressions:

1. We had all sorts of trouble dealing with reverse passes into the box. They carved us open repeatedly in the first half when they took this route. For some reason, none of our players ever picked up their runner into the box. I was glad that it didn’t occur with more regularity in the second half especially with players like Tevez and Silva who have super quick feet and the ability to thread a pass with the best of them.

2. David Silva would have been a great replacement for Giggs down our left wing. He found space well in front of our back four and was able to pick out passes at will. The reality is that we would never have been in contention for his signature after City registered their interest in him.

3. Giggs was unusually poor today with his delivery. He attempted crosses into the box, but almost never found his intended target. Granted, the City defenders were big and imposing, but he gave up possession way too many times. He did have his moments starting with that touch to set Nani away for our first goal. He also played the smart football at the end bringing the ball into the corner and keeping it there for as long as possible.

4. We would not be even close to competing this year if not for Nani. If we are going to make a deep run in the CL and stay on top of the PL, we need Nani to keep playing at this level. His movement today was fantastic and his ambitious runs from deep had City backpedalling. His first touch to control the lofted ball from Giggs was outstanding. It afforded him the chance to gallop away from Zabaleta and strike it in stride. Zabaleta will have nightmares about Nani after today’s game.

5. Smalling had 2 perfectly timed tackles on Tevez in the first half just as he was creating that bit of space for a shot on goal. He also had a timely interception deep in injury time to break up one of City’s final assaults on our goal and helped preserve our lead/win. The partnership maintain their 100% win record and Smalling takes yet another step closer to being our CB for the next decade.

6. Ando’s touch in and around the box was generally pretty awful. He looked clumsy with the ball, but did provide something that neither Carrick nor Gibson would have been able to produce-the tenacity that we needed for this encounter.

7. Rooney still gets the call for the big games at Berba’s expense. SAF’s selection was vindicated by that superb overhead kick, but it did happen with Berba on the field. As was plain to see, we looked more cohesive when Rooney had his strike partner with him on the field.

8. Lastly, WAYNE ROONEY. Wonderful. And it’s about time too in my opinion. Please let this be the turning point in his season. Even if he doesn’t find the net with the regularity of last season, I hope that he at least gets sharper in front of goal where he’s proven to be somewhat wasteful at times this season. He also worked his socks off when playing up front on his own for slightly over an hour.

Another 3 points. But of course, this result means more than just another win. That the winning goal came so close to the end made it that much better. The ultimate treat of course was not just the nature of the winning goal, but the player who actually scored it.

Imagine that barely 4 months ago, we faced the possibility of seeing him line up in City blue.

How sweet the sight of red.

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Category: English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports