NUFC vs MUFC my two cents.

Absolutely fabulous group effort from the lads for the most part, we bossed the midfield for extended periods, looked mostly solid at the back and even got forward and attacked them and had them seriously on the wobble in the first 20-25 minutes.

So many positives to be taken from this other than just the scoreline, the fact that if we had slightly better firepower up top we could have nicked a win, Stephen Ireland made his debut and played very well, the crowd gave him a very loud and encouraging entrance which I was happy to be part of, Tim Krul's kicking seems to have massively improved, its like every ball he punted forward was a magnet for Sholas head, surely hes been practising this in training because his distribution was superb tonight.

Nice to see Danny Guthrie have another decent game aswell, didnt set the world alight mind but did well to help us keep control of the midfield, changing my mind about keeping him as a squad player, still wouldnt be my first choice mind.

The only negative I could see was Jose Enrique, dont get me wrong he had a good game, defended well and got forward well at times, but (and I dont know if I'm just being paranoid) but his body language seems all off in my opinion, just doesnt seem to have that aggression and determination that he once had, hoping his thoughts arent elsewhere.....

Overall a great night, thought the stand out players were Williamson, Coloccini, Tiote and Gutierrez.

My player ratings would be:

Krul 8
Simpson 7
Coloccini 9
Williamson 9
Enrique 7
Barton 7
Tiote 8
Guthrie 7
Gutierrez 8
Lovenkrands 7
Shola 7

Subs: Ranger 6, Ireland 7

Your thoughts?

 

Would give all the midfield an 8, would also give Loven an 8 but Shola a 6

 

Krul 7 - Solid display in general. Wasn't too troubled.
Simpson 7 - Solid in general. Looked decent going forward and defensively he was assured.
Willo 6 - Suspect in the first half. Improved a bit in the second but have my doubts about him. Looked shaky and I was nervous everytime someone was running at him. Average performance IMO.
Colo 7 - Colo day!!! Solid as usual, kept Hernandez quiet and it was a generally assured performance.
Barton 7 - Decent display. Good in the first half, average in second. Worked hard and his crosses were top-draw as usual but lacked someone of Carroll's quality to put them away!
Tiote 7 - OK display in general. Picked up his usual yellow card & wasn't his best game but still put in a very good shift.
Guthrie 8(MOTM IMO) - Controlled the midfield well. Made decent passes, put himself about, he was ''active'', worked his socks off and is starting to look like his ''usual-self''. Strong display by the 23 year old.
Guti 7 - Worked hard, troubled O'Shea throughout the first half but was quiet in the second. Worked his socks of as usual and a mainly decent performance by the south american.
Loverman 7 - Decent display. Looked sharp, decent movement and could've scored twice in the first half. Faded in the second but put in a very good shift.
Shola 6 - Average in general. Looked lethargic(probably had a slight injury problem), slow and clumsey. The ''usual'' Shola shall we say.

Subs :
Ireland 7 - Impressive cameo. Nearly scored a goal. Showed how technically gifted he is. Good movement, good passing and with a bit more match sharpness I'm sure he'll be quality for us!
Ranger 5 - Meh display by him. Nearly scored at the end though.

The general performance was very good IMO. 8/10. We played the better in the first half but United came back stronger than ever in the second and we had to defend much more.. with limited options this was a cracking display. IMO if we had Ben Arfa we could've nicked it or at least scored

Need a clinical and quick striker though with technical ability to get the best out of our midfield.

 

My thoughts?

I'd love to shag the arse off wor Cheryl...

 

My thoughts are that yi divnt stand a chance!

 

Krul - 8 - Brilliant, couldn't have done better.

Simpson - 7 - done well, solid.

Williamson - 5 - was the weak link of the team(behind Shola).

Colo - 8 - Solid, mopped everything up, janitor like.

Enrique - 6 - Solid but not great. A lot of sloppy passes tonight. Just kept showing Nani inside... where he can shoot.

Barton - 8 - awesome deliverys mostly, defensively solid, bit quiet in second half.

Tiote - 8 - Solid display, pure quality, would be a 9 and motm if it wasn't for the needless booking.

Guthrie - 9 - MOTM - Was awesome tonight, retained possession well other than a couple of passes. Was always available for the pass, dropped in all the right holes, defensively sound and gave excellent protection to the defence.

Jonas - 8 - Done well at the back, and done well going forward, started really well but after that was quite quiet.

Shola - 4 - Really? Awful. Slow, lazy, lost 90% of headers, failed to hold it up most of the time.

Loven - 7 - good work rate, missed a good chance but was always trying to make the runs and put the effort in.

Subs:

Ireland - 7 - awesome movement, almost scored straight away. Looked bright.

Ranger - 5 - Won a couple of headers. But made all the wrong runs and then when he did get the ball in the box, took too long!

 

This is why I spend so much time on these boards; the constructive arguments, the intelligent debates, the wit involved in the aforementioned, etc.

 

This.