Given Excellent, when we needed it most. A fine save from Rooney early on which led to Giggs' goal, and a series in the second half - one at Rooney's feet, and tipping another one over the bar. 8
Richards Restored to right-back, and had a lot on his plate - Ryan Giggs throughout, and Rooney cutting in from wide late on. Left for dead more than he would like, but was never punished. Tried to attack but with Patrice Evra in the form he's in it's best to play safe. 6
Boyata First home start for the young Belgian and he did ok. Not an easy game but he dealt with most that came his way. Should play at Scunthorpe, all being well. 6
Kompany Did a fantastic impression of the fortunately absent Nemanja Vidić. Got in the way of everything, particularly set pieces and balls into the box. Able to dominate aerially in a way that evades Kolo Touré and Joleon Lescott. Will be unlikely to lose his place to either of those. 8
Garrido Lost Valencia for United's opener, which characterised a slightly sloppy performance from the Basque. Gave the ball away more than he usually does, but did stick tighter to Valencia in future. 6
SWP His first start under Mancini and he did well. Does not look fully fit yet but he willingly ran at defenders and tried to tackle back where possible. When asked to move inside he battled hard. Missed a decent chance to put us 3-1 up late on. 7
Zabaleta Started on left midfield but moved inside when Mancini dumped 4-4-2 for 4-5-1. Put in his best performance for a while, hassling Fletcher, Anderson and Carrick across midfield without giving away too many free-kicks. Passed the ball neatly too. 7
de Jong Like Kompany, produced a performance to match his pre-derby chat. He was very deep in the first half, but always put in crucial tackles, denying Rooney space when he dropped deep, or Fletcher when he pushed forward. 8
Barry I still think he's exhausted but he did well. Like de Jong, too deep in the first half but was able to dictate the game in the second half. He kept the ball, broke forward when necessary and won free-kicks in that Hamann-mimicking style of his. Needs a rest though. 7
Bellamy Back to near his best when moved to wide left. Loved the battle with Valencia and da Silva, antagonising the former and buying a penalty off the latter. Tracked back to make some crucial tackles when Garrido struggled. A must for Old Trafford. 7
Tévez He loves goals, but these were the ones he'd been waiting months to score. A penalty and a tap-in, but enough to stick it to the baying United fans. Tireless as ever, he was asked to lead the line and held the ball up better than any 1.73m striker I've seen. A goal and progression at OT and he's on the fringes of the history books. 8
Subs:
Onuoha One crucial clearance and a few good tackles after he replaced Boyata. 7
Benjani Sluggish but effective. 6
Sylvinho Too late to mark. n/a
8 comments:
yep, agree, boyata did himself proud, a few panicked clearances, but held his own. Indeed, scunny should be a full game for him. good to see one academy player replaced by another.
Bellamy would be lucky to be a 6. I know you love him as do I, but he wasnt on form, he didnt look to skin anybody, was lucky to win a pen and his movement off the ball was average at best. Not to mention it was his half-assed challenge on valencia which resulted in the cross for the goal.
If you think SWP was a 7 then your dreaming. He has been god awful running at players for the season. Sure he does have the occaisional run and game where he is blinding, but he gives the ball away too much. Get a schweinsteiger (dont know how to spelll that) or something world class to challenge him and we will see the best out of him.
VK for Prime minister, NDJ for Captain.
Oh, and give Benjani a 0.6 not a 6. Pathetic. He belongs at notts county with Sven. Or maybe Bury.
Tevez deserves his praise and his MOTM. Bellamy was blistering down the left but just didn't do it enough. Rafael was there to be embarrassed but he didn't seize on it.
Stevie Ireland was missed. That extra threat in the final 3rd would have made a difference.
Italian manager's mentality doesn't sit well with so many forward thinking players but hey, a win is a win. Bring on next week !
Wasn't Zabaleta playing attacking mid at some points in the game..?! Crazy. : D
Zaba x De Jong x Barry in mid was just too defensive, we looked like we were the away team for most of the game..
Kompany and Boyata did really well,
Not much Bellers and SWP could do as are midfield was again over-run. Two games in a row now, we need reinforcements! Come on Viera!
oh it wasnt garrido's fault for the 1st. Garrido and richards are told to hold their position, and not to go chasing players pullinng out wide! Garrido was in position, and called bellamy to make the tackle, who failed in that respect!
Only 8 for Gatito? Worth another 0.9 at least, if not 0.95!
Benjani was atrocious. Mancini brought him on to hold the ball but he was too slow and too inept. It could have cost us the victory, so badly did he perform.
Ireland spent about an hour warming up and should have come on instead. The midfield needed expanding.
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