Ams' Blades v Man Utd Report
Monday, November 20, 2006
Blades 1 v Man U 2
A daunting prospect, the big guns of Manchester United coming to town and so it proved with Rooney ensuring that the league leaders left with all 3 points.
The Blades lined up with a 4-5-1 formation. Kazim started as did Law for his first senior start in the Premier League. Davis returned at the back in place of Morgan.
From the very start it was obvious that it was going to be a struggle against technically superior opposition.
Man Utd won a couple of early corners and generally looked composed and eager to attack at every opportunity, but to the surprise of most supporters in the ground the Blades took the lead on 13 mins.
Geary broke free on the left and produced a wonderful cross to the right where Gillespie was waiting to steer a header into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.
A great start for the "real United", but this didn't stop the constant flow of Man U attacks.
The lead lasted only 16 mins as a swirling cross from Neville found Rooney at the near post, who just managed to sneak past Davis and guide a shot into the net.
Man U had a couple of penalty claims in that first half, but both were turned down flat by the ref.
So at half time we went in with a respectable 1-1 scoreline, which actually disguised the fact that we were on the backfoot for most of the half.
The second half continued much the same as the first with the Blades defending deep and wave after wave of Man U attacks coming at them.
Finally, after some brave and determined defending, especially fom Jags, Rooney added to his tally on 75 mins.
A cross from Evra on the left was missed by Davis and Rooney waiting at the far post volleyed across Kenny and into the far corner of the net.
Both goals were in part down to slips by Davis, but a lot of credit has to go to Rooney too, for taking the chances well.
We can forgive Davis too, as he has been a rock for us this season and it was his first game back after injury. Still, don't do it again Claude!
The game fizzled out after this with the Blades offering very little up front and Ronaldo missing from 2 yards out, which amused many in the ground.
In summation a respectable defeat against the league leaders.
Difficult to say whether we would have done any better with a more attacking formation. We could have had a stuffing with 2 up front and that would have not helped confidence levels going into three very important games against relegation candidates.
Player Ratings :
Kenny - 7.5/10 : A couple of world class saves (again) and a
good confidence booster for him after last week's events.
Kozluck - 7/10 : One amazing tackle to win the ball in our pen area. Overall solid.
Davis - 6.5/10 : Good apart for the mistakes for the 2 goals.
Jags - 9/10 : He is getting better and better at centre half. A
top performance and must be forcing his way into McClaren's thoughts at this rate.
Geary - 7/10 : Defended well and produced a perfect cross for the goal.
Gillespie - 8/10 : Battled well the whole game and scored a class goal.
Leigterwood - 5/10 : Poor performance. Too many misplaced passes.
Law - 7/10 : Difficult one to call this. He was hard to
notice at times but still managed to keep Scholes quiet for most of the game, which is no mean task. Satisfactory debut.
Quinn - 6.5/10 : Always looks to press on, but gets knocked off the ball too easily at times.
Kazim - 6/10 : Poor defending let him down in this game. Never got into the game in an attacking sense.
Hulse - 7/10 : Isolated for long periods, but always gives his all.
Subs:
Nade - Too little time to make an impression.
Kabba - Again, no time to do anything of note.
posted by Blades Bees @ 12:13,
