I doubt we have performed any better than today at home this season in the league. In the City derby, we defended like a Championship side, against Arsenal, we got lucky and the rest were pretty much close shaves.
The 3-0 scoreline today wasn't flattering and I think we could have got more. The main concern for us now should be the difficulty we are facing in getting goals. I mean we have created enough chances in our last two games to win four games comfortably but we only have three goals to show. The number of goals we have compared to the ones Chelsea and Arsenal have goes to show our weakness upfront. I wish Valencia could adopt the philosophy he took on in the second half today---shoot on sight. It's an old cliche that if you don't shoot you don't score and I hope the deflected goal he got today will show him that. Having a defender infront of you should not hinder you from taking a shot because it might as well be the reason as to why you'll beat the keeper! The same pretty much applies to Carrick who also got his reward today.
Now, today, Old Trafford witnessed one of its best goals of all time---yes, of all time--from Darren Fletcher. From the moment that ball hit the back of the net, I was reminded of Zinedine Zidane's goal in the Champions League final of 2002 against Bayer Leverkusen. It was that good and it goes to show how much the Scot has improved in the last couple of years. He was my man of the match.
I thought we did well defensively and mention must go to Evra, who ran his socks off on the left and kept trying to create the much needed spark we needed.
I thought Giggs was a notch lower than his average performance for us this term. Owen was a bit too heavy on his touches and too slow to react to situations.
In the end though solid performance, clean sheet, three points that should kick start a long run of wins. We're second now but it remains a five point gap to eat into.
Labels: REVIEWS
