Jones, Welbeck & Rooney: Thoughts on the win over Norwich

Manchester United took the long hard road to 3 points against Norwich yesterday.

The 2-0 score doesn’t tell the full story of the game as we rode our luck at various points before Danny Welbeck made the game safe with his late strike.

He may have come under heavy fire for the naivety he showed mid week againt Basel but if ever a player has responded to criticism positively, Phil Jones did it yesterday.

A colossus at the back, the young defender balanced his defensive duty with his forward forays and subsequently his display was a solid one with him making integral tackles/blocks more than once.

Earlier in the day The Times published an interview with Jones discussing his future as well as the comparisons with Duncan Edwards, men who have seen Duncan in the flesh agree with the comparisons and it’s brilliant that we have a player who just comes close to the great man. So although he is young and does still make mistakes, you can see he is on his way to becoming a great player in his own right.

Yesterday saw the return of Wayne Rooney into the first team and whilst it is great to have him back he looks to have acquired some rust in his brief time off. The striker missed a number of chances and late on made the wrong choice when he had Danny Welbeck in better positions than himself.

Speaking of Danny Welbeck, this is turning out to be a brilliant season for him as he continues to repay the faith Sir Alex has shown in him. The 20 year old hit his 6th goal of the season against Norwich and had he been an inch taller could have got a 7th as well. It was always thought he would find it tough here with the level of competition striker wise but he is more than holding his own and showing he does belong in such esteemed company and long may it continue!

Again our defence is the elephant in the room.

It must be said Norwich could have got something from this game, they had numerous chances and had the likes of Pilkington been on their game we could have suffered. Slowly it is becoming more apparent that despite good showings, Antonio Valencia is not a full fledged right back. He can do a job but thoughts of him in the role long term should make us bite our nails!

Lindegaard was solid in goal and further added to his burgeoning reputation in goal, although De Gea remains our number one it goes without saying he must stay on his toes if he hope to maintain that position.

Slowly and slowly more players are returning and hopefully Vidic will be back before the Liverpool and Man City games because a display like yesterday’s against either won’t make for entertaining viewing for us. United have dropped just 2 points at home since last season and the win over Norwich was our 19th in succession so there is much to be happy about too.

Here are some of your thoughts on our performance taken from our Facebook page, to be included in the next blog (post Liverpool) be sure to like the page and get involved in the disussion!

Terry W: Very lucky to win that game, Norwich played really well and could have possibly beaten us today but now a new record of home wins today so at least thats over with and 3 points are in the bag

Mohammed A: Norwich playED really well but the best team won, my best player was Jones.

Alom M: Defence – Valencia is not a right back and that was made obvious today..
Midfield – Anderson is class but consistency is keeping him from becoming World-Class. He need some more creativity in the middle of the park.
Subs – how well did the substitutions do?? Giggs looks awesome and Welbeck is pushing for the starting line up..
I would love Welbeck and Rooney to start matches with Hernandez coming on using his pace, energy and runs against a tired defence.

Tony K: We could have scored more goals but the ref was somewhat harsh on our side and Rooney missed some clear chances. We possessed the ball but our passing was poor. Credit should go to Lindegaard and Jones as I feel they were the reason for our clean sheet. Here is to quick recoveries for Vida and Cleverley!

Mick J: Thought United were shocking today. Only for Jones we were f*cked. Chica looked off the pace. The center of the park is the big worry, ffs a team like Norwich creating chances at OT because we’ve got no one in there to control it. Really hope Vidic is back for next game and Cleverley. I wouldn’t mind seeing jones as a holding midfielder think hes going to be world class.

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