…yet we’re still going to Wembley!
A shambles what. Side become we’ve an average . Philoshophy not clearly the working is…
It doesn’t make sense, does it? That’s because the words are out of position, a bit like the United players were on Sunday. Let’s try again…
What a shambles. We’ve become an average side. The philoshophy is clearly not working…
That’s better, and it was easy to put all the words in their right position and make sense of it all. If only Louis van Gaal did the same, at least then the players might do better and the team we love and support so much starts making sense whenever they play too.
It’s been happening for most of the season, but the game at Tottenham on Sunday brought it all to the top, especially when Ashley Young replaced Marcus Rashford at half-time up front. Rashford was definitely not having one of his better games (though who was apart from Fosu-Mensah?), and maybe it was only fair to take him off and freshen things up. But when you then keep someone like Martial on the wing and put Young in as a centre-forward instead, it shows that no matter how long Van Gaal stays for, it will not get much better while he’s in charge. Apart from the fact that Young has never played up there (apart from with the U/21s a few days earlier), he’s just coming back after being out injured for months, so we doubt he could have made a difference at this level even if he was indeed a striker.
The tragicomedy started even before the game kicked-off as United’s coach got stuck in London traffic and got to White Hart Lane late so the match had to be delayed by half an hour. United then started well enough, even if they didn’t create any chances. Tottenham themselves only had one decent chance in the first half, and that was wasted by Lamela.
The problems on the pitch started as soon as the ineffective Rashford was replaced by the ineffective Young. When Fosu-Mensah had to be taken off with just over twenty minutes to go, it got worse as Spurs opened the scoring just two minutes later with a move that came from where the eighteen year old had been playing so well. Six minutes later it was 3-0 as Tottenham scored two more quick goals while the United defence crumbled around them.
Come to think of it, Fosu-Mensah went off around the time the game would have finished if it had kicked-off at 4pm, so maybe the other players thought that it was full-time and stopped playing. Pity, as the non-show in those last twenty minutes meant that Spurs beat United at White Hart Lane for the first time since 2001.
On Wednesday United were facing West Ham in the FA Cup quarter-final replay. Thankfully the coach got to London and Upton Park early this time, and things seemed even better as all eleven players seemed to be starting in the right positions (yes, even with Fellaini in there). Though West Ham started the better side in their last cup tie at their home ground (they move to the Olympic Stadium from next season), apart from a couple of good De Gea saves, there wasn’t much to be worried about. United got more into the game as time passed, and by half-time looked like they could give this a real go.
With Fosu-Mensah being a rock at the back and Marcus Rashford a menace up front, United went ahead after fifty-four minutes as Rashford was picked out by Martial and wrong-footed a West Ham defender before bending the ball excellently into the top corner. With twenty minutes to go the lead was doubled as Fellaini bundled the ball into the net with his thigh. West Ham woke up after that and bombarded United’s goal for the last fifteen minutes, and when Tomkins pulled one back with just ten minutes to go, it was all hands on deck for United as they defended in numbers to try and keep the Hammers at bay. De Gea showed why he’s one of the best keepers around as he made a couple of excellent saves to make sure United still lead 2-1 when the final whistle went to the relief and joy of the nearly 5,000 United fans in the ground.
David de Gea rightly got the man of the match award for his late saves, but huge credit must go to Fosu-Mensah, Rashford, Blind, and even Fellaini, who seemed to fit in nicely in this kind of formation.
So after a pathetic display against Spurs that left all of us having fits about positions and Van Gaal, our moods took a swing for the better as United made it through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they’ll be meeting Everton at Wembley on the 23rd of this month. Talk about a roller-coaster of a ride eh?
Tottenham’s win against United keeps them second, still seven points behind Leicester as the Foxes won 2-0 at Sunderland; Arsenal faltered to a 3-3 draw at West ham after being 2-0 up; City beat West Brom 2-1 to go four points ahead of United in the fight for Arsenal’s 4th place trophy; Southampton beat Newcastle 3-1; Klopp’s L’pool won 4-1 against Stoke; Chelsea lost 1-0 at Swansea; Bournemouth won 2-1 at Championship side Aston Villa; Palace beat Norwich 1-0 then drew 0-0 at home to Everton, who themselves had drawn 1-1 at Watford on Saturday.
United play twice again in the Premier League in the next seven days, with both games being at Old Trafford. Aston Villa come up first on Saturday (3pm UK time) before Crystal Palace travel to Manchester for Wednesday’s match (8pm UK time). Here’s hoping for two wins that might get us closer to a top four finish … COME ON UNITED!!!
