The result isn't what has got me down - My thoughts on the game

Disgraceful challenge by Valencia when Anita was going no where.

This season just isn't going to go our way. Injury after injury, and bookings just happen to fall right at the most inconvenient times.

Hitting the post a couple of times, and just couldn't quite finish it off.

We were good for the most part, but late on some of our more experience players let us down.

Ratings -

Krul - 7 - Some fantastic saves. I wont be too critical of him for the 2nd United goal, his view was blocked.

Simpson - 5 - Disappointing finish to the game, since he was excellent in the first half. He really threatened United, but lack of composure and getting ahead of himself.

Colo - 5 - Some great composure at times to get us out of trouble, but poor defending towards the end, and ball after ball over his head. Hernandez was always gonna score, and I saw it coming a mile off.

Willo - 7 - I can't really fault him today. I thought he was good. Won a good amount of headers, and knocked down well for set plays.

Santon - 6 - Questionable defending at times, but overall not bad. Some good runs forward.

Bigi - 6 - He was OK, and his potential is undeniable, but I can see why Pards doesn't start him, he's not quite ready yet.

Anita - 7.5 - Hope the lad isn't injured, he's been fantastic recently, and he was very good today.

Marv - 6.5 - Some great passing and runs forward, unlucky not to have a goal. But some silly decision making around our own box.

Perch - 6 - Decent performance, good positioning for the goal.

Ba - 5 - I really hope he ****s off, in fact I would just leave him on the bench next game, I'm getting sick of his greed. He can **** off in Jan.

Cisse - 8 - Very good. Brilliant ball control, skill on the ball, great team work and fantastic finish. Hopefully he'll pick up his goal scoring boots just in time.

Obertan - 6 - Good impact and great finish. He can't cross for ****, but his ball across the ground are pretty threatening. A canny sub app.

Shola - 5 - Didn't really do much.

Sammy - n/a - So unlucky not to score.

MOTM - Cisse.

Overall - I can easily brush off this disappointment to hear that Anita is ok and it's just pain from the collision. PLEASE don't let this be another injury.

Regardless of what you say about us not buying players, NO side in this division can cope with this much damage. What is it now? 15? Almost all of our first 12/13 have been injured at some point, including important fringe players.

 

You really think scoring three goals at Old Trafford, hitting the woodwork on multiple occasions and only losing the game in the dying minutes, really merits average scores?

Marveaux was excellent - could have confused him for Ben Arfa at times. I'd give him an 8. Almost made it 3-1 with a Robert-esque free kick.

Cisse was good, but why is he rated 3 higher than Ba? I'll tell you why - it's because we are so used to Cisse being poor to average this season, while Ba has been scoring bucket loads, so we won't appreciate when he has a slightly above-average game. His shot made the opening goal, which set the tone for the game. I'd give him a 7. He worked hard.

I'm sorry but giving 50% scores to Simpson and Coloccini is idiotic. Simpson was a menace - almost like a right-winger at times, and produced a wonderful ball which caused a clusterfuddle for our second goal. A 7. Colo similar - he helped us out with fantastic composure.

Were it not for defensive failings, we could be talking about Obertan producing the match winner, so surely above a 7 for him.

Santon made some good surging runs into the box as well, so let's be throwing a 7 or 8 his way.

Make no mistake about it - it was a heroic team effort. Plus it was a 4-3-3 - thought that would have satisfied your good self.

 

Looks like a lengthy layoff for our best player Anita. And may I know if anyone has any insights why did AP take off Cisse, who had just scored our 3rd goal and replace him with Sammy? I know Sammy had that chance that rolled its way to the post, but why do you take off your deadliest striker? He had just scored a goal reminiscent of his form last season and was gonna be feeling it, AP responds by taking him off as if on a routine.

AP does make horrible decisions. I thought Obertan deserved a bit more than a 6, and I think Marveaux is good in attack , but very bad in helping the defence. Marveaux had several decent chances too, one FK off crossbar one nice volley saved.
Proud of the lads for their effort, but not for their defending and Mike Ashley and co needs to bring in reinforcements.

 

A lot of players that produced quality also played a part in our downfall though.

Marv was good up front, but stupid passes around our own half gave United chances.

Simpson got into some fantastic position, but squandered chances and decided to be greedy. The last kick of the game was him trying to volley from 30 yards instead of trying to put a ball into the box where we had 5 6ft + players waiting for the ball. United were under pressure and we had them by the balls. Simpson played well but he couldn't really make much of his work rate.

There's not point in Colo producing skill and quality, but ****ing up at vital moments. He gets done far too easily by balls over the top, and doesn't play to the whistle. These were the mistakes he was making when he first came here, he tries to appeal to the refs instead of finishing off the job.

Santon made some good runs, but he wasn't great overall.

 

I'd score it thus from my perspective:
Krul - 5 Should have done better with a couple of the goals for me. The saves he did make always ended in goals. He wasn't better than average for me.

Simpson - 7 - Would have strolled man of the match if not for a few things. A) positioning re-offside trap, B) pretty late and wild challenge on Carrick I think, the wet pitch took the blame, deservedly booked. C) Think he could have done better with Giggs a couple of times. Other than that he was good. Offered an attacking option, more so than Santon, and put in some outstanding balls.

Colo - 6 - Pretty poor defending on Man Utd overload, but tried to marshall the line as best he could. Haven't seen a replay, but looked like he could have given away a pen.


Willo - 6.5 - Thought he did well, thought he could have done a bit better in our box defensively, but wasn't bad today. He was arguably better than Colo marshalling the defence, and in general aerially he was good.

Santon - 6 - Ok. Really pushed on as he knows he can, Valencia had a pretty quiet game, and all the attacks came down Simmo's side really.

Bigi - 7 - So composed and natural in DM, he held his position beautifully and stopped attacks really well. When he went off, nobody did this role and we lost goals... What a surprise, tactical slip-up for me in a game Pardew did well for generally. Can't argue with the Ober sub at all, but just not for him, poor decision.

Anita - 7 - He did a good job, worked hard. Hope he's ok, but it looks nasty. Valencia should have gone no question.

Marv - 7 - I don't think he was silly around our box, and he worked his arse off for the team. Pardew can **** off not starting him. Almost a superb free-kick, had quality all day.

Perch - 7 - Great anticipation for the goal, did well generally.

Ba - 6 - Battled all day long upfront. Had one opportunity to pass it to Cisse, but decided to shoot. Not a bad decision considering if he hits the target he either scores or produces a chance for Cisse anyway as De Gea is terrible.

Cisse - 8 - Glad he got his goal, good performance overall.

Obertan - 7 - Needed to come on, and did. we should have used him more.

Shola - 5 - Nowt for Shola upfront really

Sammy - 6 - Sammy, I would have run to Manchester to jump on the pitch.

 

Genuine unlucky. Looking forward to watching it. Sounded a hell of a game.

 

We can say we were unlucky and it was a good effort all we like, but the crucial thing is no points. In the end, Man United have been gifted the points with some soft, soft goals.

I expected nowt from Old Trafford before the match, became more worried at 0-1 and knew we wouldn't hold the lead at 2-3. That lasted seconds and the rest was so boringly predictable you'd say it was scripted on FIFA.

That said, any other manager would be sent to the stands, but Ferguson is untouchable. A superb manager, but within that is a man who has realised how to maximise chances for his team by cheating. Why he was so worried about the goal being given for 1-2, so early in the match, was utterly beyond me. However, Alex Ferguson NEVER argues a decision – he's not that stupid. What he does is intimidate officials enough to influence the NEXT decision. In this instance he didn't need to but Valencia certainly was never going to see a second yellow, and if Hernandez doesn't score it wouldn't have needed Anita to go off to get 8 minutes of Fergie time.

There are positives from frankly un-winnable games like this for the current NUFC side, but the damage is done against the Stokes, Southamptons, West Hams, Swanseas etc etc. Fact is we're now BELOW our bitter North East rivals who have beaten the champions today whilst consistently being one of the poorest teams in the division.

We've had a ton of injuries, an unprecedented amount, but we ALWAYS do. We're traditionally unlucky and get nothing in terms of xmas results so that shouldn't be a surprise. Bottom line is in most of our fixtures we've had enough quality available on the park to get a result of some form and been WOEFUL.

Buying a measley two players in January and letting Ba leave won't be sufficient to re-energise this squad. They either care enough to turn it around collectively or not... Losing can be a tough habit to shake off!

 

Better teams wouldn't be too unsatisfied by that performance. But thats the problem playing top top teams, no matter how well you play they always stand a good chance.

Don't really think anyone deserved less than a seven.

And I'm as tight as Craig Revel Horwood (nobody take that out of context please).

 

I personally thought Willo was ****.....and watching MOTD made that decision a definite. Having him in defence is like putting a kid in a sweet shop it equals disaster.

 

As much as i agree with you about Ba, i just can't help thinking that its odd that we are annoyed with our top scorer and happy with a striker thats scored 3 goals this season! :L but Cisse is looking so much better now, and i get the feeling this time its a genuine kick start to a scoring run

 

I don't think people are happy with Cisse but in comparison with Ba he certainly looks like he cares more bout the team than himself.

I stand by my opinion that without Ba we'd be in a much better position than we are now.

 

Defend like that and any team who loses 4 goals deserves nothing from any games
What do we expect with bloody Williamson and Simpson in the team

 

Watching Danny Simspoon blaze cross after cross over, get skinned by 39 year old Ryan Giggs and do his stupid scrunched up whiney face for 90 minutes...not fun. I've defended him so many times but he can **** off. Ba was super selfish as usual.
Thought Marveux was decent, Bigi and Anita bossed it in the middle. Fun day out, shame about the result.

 

Fergie was a total disgrace with his referee antics... again...

 

Yet it was Colocinni and Santon at fault....

 

So what if Cisse is looking better? He can look better for all he wants, he is only going to play 60 minutes at most. We have an idiot of a manager who decides to sub off his biggest threat to score, at 60 minutes, with game tied at 3-3, and replace him with Sammy fooking Ameobi?!


Now I don't care who he is replaced with, but Cisse had just scored a brilliant goal like he had been doing last season...If that did not bring his confidence up a notch nothing else would.. And our manager proceeds to help him by............replacing him. F*ck off please, what he should have done IMO, is put on the service for him....Fergie or Sammy, replace Marvo with fresh legs or something, keep the supply to Cisse going for F's sake...Instead you bring him off, and we play Shola "Mr. No-Off-the-Ball" Ameobi alone up there.

Way to encourage players to play better, way to encourage your strikers to score when the moment they do, they are brought off the field.
I will say this, what any self-respecting player absolutely hates, is to be brought off the pitch when we aren't comfortably winning or even leading, and when he's performing well on the pitch, because bringing him off isn't justified. If Cisse had confronted Pardew or something, he would have my support. It's just pretty much dumb substitutions by Pardew.

 

Colo by far our worst defender on the day followed by Santon. Willo and Simpson both made errors during the game undoubtedly but Simpson was easily one of our better players on the day. Should he have come out at the end? Possibly but it was a suicidal offside Colo tried to play again. Willo should have stood his ground and headed that away but he had a good game overall and won some towering headers. Overall both had good games. I honestly think at times people just give Simpson and Willo blame/poor marks without having watched the game. Colo has been our worst defender in something like 5 out of our last 6 games. Having an awful error strewn season.

Don't get me wrong, I see our best defence as Santon right back, Colo and new centre back in the middle and new left back. However I don't think its right to pretend Simpson and Williamson to blame for every thing that goes wrong. Being made scapegoats now.

 

Krul - 5 One step forward, two steps back. I thought he was returning to form but he could have done better with two of the goals. Greasy pitch but still.....

Simpson - 7 - Would have been man of the match but made a couple of errors which downgraded him from an 8. Superb first half in particular and linked well with Cisse.

Colo - 6 - Pretty poor defending overall. Loads of errors and tried another kamikaze offside which cost us. Definite penalty too.


Willo - 6.5 - Thought he did well overall but knocked down a mark for following Colo's lead on the crazy offside. I understand that but he had to take responsibility and just head it away.

Santon - 6 - Just Ok. Did well going forward but hasn't got a clue with off the ball runners. A lot of that is down to being on the wrong side though to be fair.

Bigi - 7 - Did really well. Had to come off as he was paggered. Just ran out of steam which is not surprising given the amount of work he got through. Wish we'd had a natural replacement but I suppose that is just the lightness of our squad being exposed. Felt sorry for him because they were just gliding by him in the end, his legs just ground to a halt. Great prospect.

Anita - 7.5 - Excellent again. Worked his socks off.

Marv - 6.5 - Worked harder and finally showing something. Can't defend for **** and he was pathetic with Evra for the goal, really weak. We just have to use him wisely and remove defensive responsibilities where possible. Luxury player but has undoubted natural ability.

Perch - 7 - Great anticipation for the goal, and worked really hard.

Ba - 6 - Needs to get his head up when he had Cisse in a better position. Great shot for the first goal though so it is a fine line. Average overall and may need a rest.

Cisse - 8 - MOTM. Played really well. Worked hard for the team. His all round game is coming on leaps and bounds. Looked tired towards the end obviously so understandable when he came off. Very impressed and deserved his goal. Great movement.

Obertan - 7 - He is a left winger without doubt. Looks a lot better at present and did really well. Even won a towering header to defend a corner!! Great cut back for the goal and learning to pick someone out. Due a start on the left.

Shola - 6 - Bit of a struggle but showed plenty of desire. We were guilty of not feeding it into his feet on several occasions.

Sammy - 6 - Not convinced but he did hit the post and tried his best.

I feel as though I'm harsh in some ways as it was a really game hard working performance. Score 3 away though and you should take at least a point.

 

What else can you add to that.

Williamson partnered Colocinni during last season's record breaking clean-sheet run and has been decent of late, very decent. He shouldn't be our first choice centre-half but he is a more than adequate squad player. But why let the facts get in the way of a Chronicle inspired 'opinion'