Sunny afternoon, 16,000+ and only 800 of them, what could go wrong?
Well, a complete inability to defend in the first half, that’s what.
I was surprised by a back 3 with Sorinola and and Mumba as wing backs. It wasn’t the shape that failed so much as the lack of a Dan Scarr type figure to enforce the basics. I appreciate Cleverley wants to play football but you only get away with so many square passes across the back before disaster strikes. And strikes again.
It was a bad tempered affair with Barnsley showing all the dark arts and we weren’t given a fair run of the green by a poor referee.
The more promising bits were Watts and Amaechi, particularly the latter, who not only played well but orchestrated the crowd and instructed the ball-boys how to return the ball.