Player Ratings

Seems strange how nobody seems to mention the good points about Willo. He won most headers, made a couple of vital interceptions, his positioning was generally good, made some good tackles.

And for the people who talk about the lunge, if he didn't do that they would have been through on goal. Tiotes deliberate block on Rooney was the exact same thing just further up the pitch.

Edit: Also he didn't just whack it up field tonight, which could be down to the Man Utd forwards not pressing him. But generally played the simple pass to either Colo, Simmo or Tiote

 

Hell, it was a great team performance ...................... give them all 10!

 

He was unchallenged on 90% of his headers... and they went to nobody. Obviously Ameobi being useless in the air didn't help when it came to passing. His lunging in was atrocious, he was caught out of position regularly, was slow and generally awful.

 

Yes he was Awful and generally very slow which is why we didnt concede today?

some ppl are just too harsh, i watched the game and thout he was awsome, certainly alot more involved than Collo, although Collo was a rock today and dealt with everything that came his way but most of the challanges came Williamsons way and i thout he was awsome, always have thout that!

 

Yeah purely cos of Willo we didn't concede... not because Guthrie and Tiote were awesome in the middle, Barton and Jonas gave absolutely immense cover on the wings and Colo mopped up everything that went through. Oh and Krul was brilliant. Jose and Simpson also pretty good. Williamson was the weak link today along with Shola. So many big performances meant we got away with Willo being pretty poor, Shola was just ****e though.

 

I think Williamson had a good game today. I don't know if it is me but I think he is lacking a bit of confidence.

I agree about his lunges though, a bit unnecessary.

 

Krul - 6 - Made one quality save at the start but had one shaky moment. Oddly enough, he didn't have much to do.

Simmo - 7 - Solid
Williamson - 7 - Cut him some slack, he was up against Rooney and Hernandez FFS!
Collo - 8 - Class act as always
Enrique - 8 - Barely gave Nani an inch

Barton - 6 - Some good tackles but disappeared second half.
Guthrie - 7 - Apart from a few loose passes he played well
Tiote - 7 - Wasn't his best game
Gutierrez - 7 - Had the beating of O'Shea in the first half but tired in the second. Also helped out Enrique a lot (one brilliant slide tackle)

Shola - 7 - Won his fair share of headers against the best CB in the league (IMO).
Lovenkrands - 6 - Worked hard and could've had a penalty, but should have hit the target with his header at least.

Overall team - 9 - Not many great individual performances but brilliant as a team

Ref - 7 - Havent seen the penalty incidents again yet but I think he got them right. He also clamped down on the diving of Nani and Gutierrez quite well and didn't give a free kick every time they fell over.

Crowd - 8 - Brilliant atmosphere first 30 minutes but then it died down a bit.

 

Why is everyone being so harsh on Shola? I thought he had a OK game up aginst Vidic, and won quite a few headers which is no easy feat. I'm slightly concerned because he was holding THAT HIP AGAIN just before he went off.

 

I think people need to stop focusing on the negatives! It was a great all round performance, sure some people didn't perform as well as others, but everyone put the effort in and there were some great performances from Colo, Jonas and Tiote etc. The fact that Nani and rooney were so quiet in the game shows how well we did.

Let's all just agree that Big Sam is a twat.

 

Thought Krul did well for not having played for a while. His kicking has improved and he wasnt frightned to go for the ball.

Collo and Williamson both solid as was Jose, Simpson a bit shaky.

All midfield put a shift in, but Jonas edged it for me.

Shola and Lovenkrands should have done better and put some of their chances away, we missed Nolan.

 

Guthrie was my MOTM

The amount of clearances he made, giving time to re-organise. Always in the right place.

 

Tim Krul - 8 - Some good saves and a cool head.

Danny Simpson - 7 - Good game.
Mike Williamson - 6 - Shaky at first but improved.
Fabricio Coloccini - 8 - Another fantastic game.
Jose Enrique - 7 - Good game.

Joey Barton - 8 - Class act.
Cheik Tiote - 9 - Solid as ever, had shrek in his back pocket.
Danny Guthrie - 8 - Fantastic in bits but he has a habit of going missing for the odd 10 mins or so.
Jonas Gutierrez - 9 - MOTM - Hammered o'shea, brilliant skill, dribbling and crossing.

Shola Ameobi - 4 - Hopeless.
Peter Lovenkrands - 7 - I feel sorry for him, he makes great runs but the pass to him is always ****e or non-existent.

SUBS
Nile Ranger - 5 - Didn't make ant impact whatsoever.
Stephen Ireland - 5 -See above.

Ref - 9 - Consistent all game, wise to manure being diving bastards.
Pards - 8 - Dodgy substitutions but everything else was spot on.

 

I almost soiled myself when Guthrie gave away that back pass...

He had a good game overall but he really has to pay more attention to where he's passing as well as his positioning.

Tiote was everywhere whilst Danny was far too central at all times.

Krul - 8: Great save from Cheatarito
Simpson - 7: Fought hard all match
Willo - 6: Sloppy to start but gained confidence as the match progressed
Colo - 8: Solid throughout
Enrique - 7: Worked hard in defence and getting forward
Barton - 7: Good defensive work on the right to help Simpson and managed to get the ball forward.
Tiote - 9: Bossed Man Utd
Guthrie - 7: Best he's played this season but faults mentioned above
Jonas - 8: Never stopped running and worked his socks off again. I love him.
Ameobi - 7: Just didn't get into the game fully and still can't decipher the offside rule but played a part in holding the ball up.
Lovenkrands - 6: Should have had that header on target and I still believe it WAS a penalty.

Ireland - 6: Linked up well going forward but the midfield seemed a tad more open for Man Utd to advance

Ranger - 6: Still waiting for that goal but was tenacious up front and harried the defence.

Pardew - 9: Got the tactics spot on.

 

I can't remember Guthrie doing that, reminded me of another Williamson howler though! And yeah but staying central was Guthrie's role last night. He was always an option in the middle, holding the midfield together while Tiote chased around.

 

When Barton had the ball on the right and was looking for a player in space; Tiote went towards him.

When Jonas had the ball on the left and was looking for a player in space; Tiote went towards him

Guthrie can still leave the centre circle to move towards a player who is looking to offload the ball but his well documented aversion to straight white lines seems to stop him.

 

Agree with OT, except Guthrie's style of play is different to Tiote, his style reminds me of Xavi Alonso(nowhere near his standards but you get the point), he likes passing from deep, getting the ball.. he's like a crappier version of Alonso(deep-lying playmaker?).

 

Personally, I'd say:

Krul 7 - had a quieter game than you'd expect from Rooney and Hernandez, but was spot on when called upon, except for one minor communications error first half

Simpson 7 - solid game, still managed to get forward a bit and wasnt caught out as he sometimes is
Williamson 7 - also solid, cant fathom all the abuse he gets, I sometimes think people want him to be bad because of this ridiculous Samba fantasy
Colo 8 - another great performance, solid as usual and on Coloccini day as well! (MOTM, but could have gone to 3 or 4 players)
Enrique 8 - looked back to his best IMO, some wonderful attacking runs in the first half and solid again defensively

Barton 7 - drifted away a bit in the second half but another good game, deliveries from set pieces showed definite improvement on recent games
Tiote 8 - as I predicted, he had the beating of Carrick and bossed the midfield. Typical Tiote performance, unfortunately highlighted by another yellow card
Guthrie 7 - impressed me, looks like he can genuinely fill in for both Nolan and Tiote when missing, and brings a different passing element which we saw today
Jonas 8 - tireless, helped out in defence and crossing was better as well

Shola 6 - couldnt match Vidic in the air but won a few headers, cant recall a shot on target but the effort was there
Lover 6 - again, gave his all but no one spots his runs and he isnt big enough to handle the likes of Vidic and Smalling, which isnt his fault of course

Subs:
Ireland 6 - wasnt on long enough to get higher than 6, but some very nice touches and nearly scored with a lovely half volley
Ranger 6 - the usual impact from Ranger, caused his fair share of trouble at the back without a goal

Ref 8 - a lot better than most we've had this season, glad he didnt fall for the dive. Some soft free kicks given both ways though.
Pardew 8 - brave decision to go 4-4-2 against Man U, but it paid off and we played some good football as well.

 

Agree with most comments made, obviously credit to such a strong midfield performance, and of course any clean sheet earns credit for the back line and keeper. I thought Williamson was more patient than usual -- especially regarding his distribution, and FOR ONCE I felt like Simpson was more aggressive in closing down men off the wing instead of giving them all the time necessary to work into the box and pass to the middle. Krul is also looking a lot more confident with crosses and through balls and I thought he really dominated the box.
Strolla Ameobi was at his absolute worst tonight, and although Peter gave 110% as per usual, and maybe even was a little more patient with the ball, just didn't have the necessary quality.

 

The people giving Ameobi low ratings are ridiculous, are you forgetting he provided the flick ons for Irelands snapshop volley, a couple of chances for Lovenkrands and came close himself 2-3 times? Also seen him win a lot of battles in the air, remember this is Man Utd we were playing, I thought he made a good account of himself and was unlucky.

 

Tiote was absolutely immense. We miss him so much when he's out.

And did anyone see his interview? The guy's a little cutey with his cheeky grin.