Abhranil Roy
Boring Boring Manchester United!
Manchester United played out a drab FA Cup 3rd round tie versus League One side Sheffield United at Old Trafford. After an exciting win against Swansea City last week, one hoped that the Red Devils would come out and create more, but it was exactly the opposite. Early in the season, we were creating enough chances but were not able to finish them, but at the moment, we seem incapable of creating any noteworthy chances and look completely devoid of an imagination of any sort upfront. The home side had only 2 shots on target the entire game, one of them being a toe-poke by Matteo Darmian while the other was the penalty Wayne Rooney took that sealed the victory in the 93rd game. Our opponents parked the bus in front of their goal, but to their credit, they maintained excellent discipline all through the game except for the ill-timed tackle Hammonds made at the end which cost them the match. Here are 3 things we learnt from the game:
1. WAYNE ROONEY CONTINUES CLIMBING UP THE SCORING CHARTS
Wayne Rooney scored his 239th goal for Manchester United, which leaves him just 11 goals shy of breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249 goals for the Red Devils. He was started upfront at the start but dropped to the no. 10 role as Louis van Gaal brought on Memphis Depay and Jesse Lingard at the end. However, all through the match, he made excellent runs which unfortunately, went mostly unnoticed. After dropping deeper, he continued to work for the team, trying to pick out the wingers via accurate diagonal passes and helping the team shut off the odd Sheffield counterattack every now and then. There were flaws of course, but at a true captainesque performance!
