‘Roo Shall Not Be Moved’ 5 Things I Noticed – United v Villa

4. Silent Suppliers (Makoun & Carrick)

Carrick midfield statistics: (41/51 Successful Passes, 4 Interceptions, 1 Tackle) Makoun midfield statistics: (85/94 Successful passes, 1 Interception, 3 Tackles)

Whilst this was a match in which the neutral would’ve come away with having seen the traditional big hitters for both sides having been pretty influential, for the more keen-eyed observers two players in particular stood out despite barely making a noise in terms of end product and goal mouth action.

Messrs Carrick and Makoun aren’t very flamboyant and in your face, but what they are is very intelligent and capable of doing football’s ugly stuff, with a sort of elegance that is to be envied. Both of them were destructive metronomes tonight, winning back possession off the other team and distributing it with the mimimum of fuss to more creative colleagues further up the pitch.

There were however subtle differences in how they went about their duties, Carrick relied more on his anticipation to cut out passes and then when in possession, he was keen to distribute it as pretty quick, first time if possible and his range of passing tonight was superior to that of the Frenchman. On the other hand, Makoun completed a heck of alot more passes due to his superior confidence in carrying the ball and willing to be on it, he was very neat in possession and always ready to recieve, his passing however was alot more conservative, understandable given it was his debut away from home. Not to mention the ex-Lyon player was more likely to go to ground and make a tackle rather than wait for a misplaced pass like Carrick, two distinct styles but Carrick’s was more influential on the final result.

5. Opposition MOTM: Brad Friedel

There’s something about Friedel… why is it he raises his game to such a level against United, what have we ever done to him? it was Liverpool who never thought he’d make the grade not us, I think the poor pr*ck is like a bull, just swears vengeance when he sees Red.

Three stops in particular stood out, in the first half a Nani left-footed blockbuster on the half volley heading for the bottom-right hand corner, which was followed in the second half with a terrific save from Nani again when put through by Berbatov and yet both these were eclipsed by the miraculous save to deny Rooney his hat trick goal, an aforementioned howitzer of the highest order.

As a disgraced former pundit would say.. take a bow son.

Conclusion:

Overall a pretty solid performance and it’ll always be remembered for Vid Vicious’ right footed thunderbolt which I’ve sadly neglected to mention thus far, what a freaking strike!! Seriously though, our forward players Giggs, Nani, Berbatov & Rooney seem to love playing with each other and they’re producing mesmeric football, only slight issue was that we seemed to be sitting off Villa a tad and giving them too much possession, which might have been a tactical instruction which in that case is fair enough.

From a Villa perspective, they’re looking pretty decent and the squad seems to be shaping up nicely, from what I’ve read over the years about Houllier he’s a real footballing nerd and I like him, he should do well at Villa if they put their faith in him. I reckon Makoun and Bent will prove good acquisitions even if I’m disgusted with how much they paid for the latter. Anyway enough from me, see you for the Wolves game

Written By

Raees Mahmood Follow me @ RaeesM (RedRae7) on Twitter