Musings on United’s win over Norwich
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.