Giggsy started.
His 900th top flight appearance.
The other golden oldie scored.
United looked to be cruising.
Lambert worked his magic.
Norwich equalized.
Nerves jangled.
Giggsy then coolly popped up at the far post, 2-1.
Who writes these scripts anyway?
I watched today’s game with a sense of impending doom. United started off brilliantly with Nani showing us a whole bag of tricks. I thought that he had finally turned a corner, especially since he spoke mid-week about being more consistent. Scholesey popped up in the box to score a decent goal too.
The game slowly settled into a rhythm and Norwich soon got back into it. As the half wore on, Norwich were much the better side. Nani got worse and even worse. Lethargic, indifferent and even disinterested, it seemed.
The second half started and United soon got back into the groove with some excellent possession football. Norwich, however, always looked to have a goal in them. I had this foreboding sense of doom, but then again, I always get nervy. This time, however, my fears were proved right and Norwich equalized. A fantastic goal, I must say. Nothing that De Gea could do about it.
It was then set up for wave after wave of United attacks. And one finally told. Giggsy popped up at the far post to nudge the ball in. a fitting end to game number 900.
United hung on to win.
A few points though. After conceding, United suddenly found these extra gears. From where? Where were they when they were one nil up? Surely, the prudent thing would’ve been to put the game to rest and then play keep-ball. Instead, United, being United, left it late and left us gasping. While on the one hand, this exemplified the United spirit, on the other hand, there is always going to be that one day when United will huff and puff but the house will not get blown down.
My point is that showing such character is fantastic and we all know that United always score but with only 12 games to go, it is quite a gamble to be taking. I’d love to see United closing out games sooner.
Don’t get me wrong; I’d take a gritty 2-1 but I’d more gladly accept an easy 3-0.
One more thing. One more person, rather. David De Gea. The boy had, perhaps, his best outing in a United shirt, not from a saves point of view but from an overall display. No one doubts his shot- stopping ability but today, he was much more decisive in his decision making and hardly flapped at anything.
He got one fantastic punch away, his distribution was good and most important of all, he ran through crowds of players to collect the ball.
I know that one swallow does not make a summer but then again, goalkeeping is a game of confidence and a few more such displays may well see him turning into what fans expected at the beginning of the season – Van De Gea.
Good analisis. Well done
I agree completely with the fact that we need to start killing games off. We are too reflex and lazy in certain games and we then get punished. It happened against Man City in the FA Cup, even when we were 3-0 up. More recently it happened against Liverpool when we were controlling the game and 2-0 up. We should have gone on and scored 3 and 4, but instead we took our foot of the gas and conceded a sloppy goal.
The players have to consider why they started playing so badly after taking the lead. I think there is too much complacency in the team. We made a great start in a tough away game, we should then know that a second goal will kill the opposition and then we can get a third goal. We cannot relax around with a 1-0 and then start playing if its required. Norwich were the better team and deserved a point. If it wasn’t for David De Gea we probably could have lost.
Despite my annoyance over certain laziness in the team I am happy we got the win today. It was going to be a tough away match today and we did well to at least win. The legends of Scholes and Giggs keep saving us but at some point new heroes will have to step up. Nani talked about his own form not being good and he did nothing to change that today. We miss the direct and end product of Antonio Valencia and I hope he is back for Spurs.
It was interesting to see Welbeck and Hernandex start upfront together. They are both very different players but can compliment each other well. Rooney looks to be able to play with both, but has done better with Welbeck upfront. Welbeck should have won the match before Giggs and will need to start scored this chances. Hopefully over the next 12-18 months he will become more clinical in front of goal.
David De Gea deserves a lot of praise today for his performance. He looks like he is growing in confidence and getting stronger. However next week will be a test again against Tottenham and we will see how he does in that match.
We miss a leader on the pitch to keep us going. Evra isn’t Captain material and without Rooney & Vidic we don’t have any real leaders.
Giggs on 900 games, Scholes on 600 odd, Carrick also immensely experienced. Why didn’t they take the game by the scruff of the neck and act as leaders on the pitch? It’s alright Giggsy saying after that we got complacent after the first, but has he not got enough experience to recognise that earlier on in the match and do something about it?
Delighted with the 3 points, typifies our belief but the attitude needs to change. Liverpool, Basel, City, Ajax, Norwich, we need to kill games off. Dare I say it, like City do.