Match Report: Norwich City 1 - 2 Manchester United

Norwich City 1 - 2 Manchester United

Sunday 26/02/2012

Premier League

Ryan Giggs snatches all three points for United on his 900th appearance for the club.

For the second game running Wayne Rooney was not fit enough for the squad as United were looking to close the gap at the top of the Premier League to two points. Chicharito partnered Danny Welbeck up front in Rooney's absence as Dimitar Berbatov was dropped to the bench.

Paul Scholes was selected along side Ryan Giggs who was making his 900th appearance for the reds. And it was Scholes who made an instant impact, heading home a Nani cross from close range after just seven minutes.

Norwich were struggling to contain United as Danny Welbeck almost made it two as John Ruddy just managed to turn his shot around the post. Despite this early pressure the home side slowly began to get a foothold in the game and were increasingly looking the more likely to score as David De Gea had to be sharp, repelling brilliantly with his feet from a close range Anthony Pilkington shot.

Norwich forced De Gea into another good save as he reacted quickly to hold onto a Grant Holt effort. United managed to hold on to the lead going into half time, Alex Ferguson must have been disappointed that after such a bright start his side were unable to put the game to bed. Norwich seemed determined to not give United an easy time of it as they began the second half how the left off in the first, pushing the visitors deep into their own half.

Norwich's attacking threat was being kept at bay by impressive defensive performances from David De Gea and Jonny Evans. In the 65th minute United had another great chance to go ahead as Danny Welbeck saw his chip over Ruddy cleared off the line by Zak Whitbread. Ten minutes later United came close again, this time denied by the crossbar as Ryan Giggs's volley thundered against the woodwork from a Phil Jones cross.

Going into the last ten minutes of the tie Norwich again upped the tempo, firstly Aaron Wilbraham's long range effort forced De Gea into another good save, before Grant Holt turned Rio Ferdinand in the box before firing into the top corner of goal.

Norwich more than deserved their equaliser as United now only had seven minutes to find a winner. Just two minutes later Welbeck should have had it, as he got onto the end of a fantastic Ryan Giggs cross, only to head wide. Just as it seemed that Norwich had done enough to earn the draw, Ryan Giggs popped up at the far post flicking home a superb Ashley Young cross from close range.

The 1,500 travelling United fans went wild inside Carrow Road as they snatched all three points at the death courtesy of their talismanic Welshman Ryan Giggs.

Match Report: Manchester City 2 - 3 Manchester United

Manchester City 2 - 3 Manchester United

Sunday 08/01/2012

FA Cup Third Round

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney scores twice to knock out cross city rivals at the first hurdle, as Paul Scholes makes a surprising return from retirement.


The return of Paul Scholes was the main talking point before the game, as Manchester United's legendary midfielder earned a place on the bench for the second Manchester derby of the season. Other changes saw Danny Welbeck return to the starting lineup, ahead of Dimitar Berbatov, partnering Wayne Rooney up front. Chris Smalling was fit enough to start as United's makeshift defence of recent weeks was beginning to look more familiar, he lined up along Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Phil Jones.

City started the better, pushing United deep into their own half as they tried to take advantage of their home support. However that crowd was soon silenced as Antonio Valencia's cross was met perfectly in the air by Wayne Rooney who headed an unstoppable header past Costel Pantilimon. The goal was United's first attack of note and they had made it count.

Just two minutes later the Blues took another blow as their captain Vincent Kompany lunged in recklessly on Luis Nani. The Manchester United winger just managed to get himself out of the way but Kompany had gone in two footed, making Chris Foy's decision easy, sending him off after twelve minutes.

One goal to the good and a man up, United were fimrly in the driving seat as they looked to settle the tie early. The away side piled on the pressure as their 5,000 fans sang the loudest. In the 30th minute United doubled their advantage as Danny Welbeck fired home an excellent volley, again leaving the outstreched Pantilimon no chance. The young Englishman was the only Mancunian to feature in the derby and he reeled away in exstacy following his brilliant strike.

The league leaders were in pieces, and in the 40th minute Rooney hit his second and United's third. When Aleksander Kolarov felled Danny Welbeck in the box Chris Foy pointed to the spot, and despite the City keeper stopping Rooney's initial strike he couldn't get to rebound as United took an unprecidented 3 - 0 lead at the Etihad stadium going into half time.

United had one foot in the fourth round and at the half time break City removed two of their more attacking players in David Silva and Adam Johnson for the more defensive options of Stefan Savic and Pablo Zabaleta. Moments after the restart City had a lifeline, Patrice Evra was deemed to bring down Micah Richards on the edge of the area and Kolarov's freekick found the bottom corner of the net to reduce the deficiet to 3-1.

Soon after the goal Valencia found himself in the City penalty area and as he outsmarted Kolarov the Serbian defender brought him down, stunningly Foy didn't award a second spot
kick for United, despite the clear foul. On the hour mark we saw the return of Paul Scholes, on as a substitute for Nani, however he made an instant impact for the wrong reasons as a stray pass allowed Sergio Aguero a shot on goal, his attempt foruntaley was parried back in his direction to give City their second. With just a single goal margin the home side were looking to complete an unlikely comeback.

But as the half wore on United shored things up with Paul Scholes making amends as me made 71 passes in his 30 minutes on the field with a 97% completion rate. This defused the City comeback and they had one final chance in the dying minutes as Kolarov struck another freekick from the same position as his first, but this time Anders Lindegaard repelled the effort as United completed a famous victory against their rivals.

United will now travel to Anfield to face Liverpool in the 4th round of the FA cup as the draw brought up another tough opponent away from home.

Match Report: Swansea 0 - 1 Manchester United

Swansea 0 - 1 Manchester United

Saturday 19/11/2011

Premier League

Manchester United record their third successive 1 - 0 victory in the Premier League.


After the international break United were looking to continue their good form, which had seen them win their last five games in all competitions without conceding a single goal. Wayne Rooney found himself in a more familiar role up front, with Micheal Carrick and Ryan Giggs deployed in central midfield. United were facing a Swansea side who were unbeaten at home and had only conceded one goal at the Liberty Stadium all season.

The opening stage were cagey with neither side taking control of the game. Despite this the first real action of the game resulted in a goal, when after 11 minutes Ryan Giggs took advantage of a defensive error by Angel Rangel, squaring the ball to Chicharito who simply dinked the ball over Michel Vorm in the Swansea goal to give the Champions the lead.

Swansea looked stunned as they had more than equalled their opponents, but found themselves behind. The game continued to pass with little incident until the 22nd minute when Scott Sinclair found himself 5 yards from goal destined to score, however he managed to get his feet completely mixed up, letting United off the hook.

As the half grew older Michael Carrick found his feet as United dominated the rest of the half without really threatening to extent the lead. The Swansea manager Brendan Rogers needed to change things in the second half if his side were going to maintain their unbeaten home record. The introduction of Joe Allen seemed to have the desired effect as the hosts came out with increased vigour in the second period.

Sinclair almost made up for his woeful miss earlier as he forced David De Gea into a good save at the near post. The Swans were coming into their own, gaining more of the possession, showing United that they weren't going to get it all their own way. However the Welsh side struggled to create any clear cut chances and as the game drew to a close it was United who almost wrapped up all three points when first Phil Jones struck the post after a powerful run from right back, followed by Luis Nani who curled a low shot inches wide with seconds remaining.

United hung on for the victory and another improved defensive performance, which can be attributed to the return to action of captain Nemanja Vidic. The Champions stay five points behind their city rivals in the race for the title, but with 26 games to go there is still everything to play for.

Match Report: Manchester United 1 - 6 Manchester City

Manchester United 1 - 6 Manchester City

Sunday 23/10/2011

Premier League

Manchester United crash to their first home defeat in 18 months against their cross city rivals.

In the build up to the game it was announced that club captain Nemanja Vidic wasn't ready to start as Jonny Evans retained his place at centre back, alongside Rio Ferdinand. Confirmation came from Sir Alex Ferguson that after Vidic's six week injury lay off, that he wasn't quite ready to start such a big game. Danny Welbeck was preferred to partner Wayne Rooney up front, ahead of Chicharito.

And in the opening stages it was all United, as the home team pushed City way back into their own half. Ashley Young was running rampage down the left flank drawing multiple fouls from James Milner and Micah Richards, both parties incredibly lucky to avoid yellow cards. However United were not converting this pressure into chances as the killer ball evaded them. After 22 minutes a clear cut chance came, but it was completely against the run of play, as Mario Balotelli stroked the ball home from just outside the box to give the visitors a 0-1 advantage. Balotelli was booked during the celebrations for removing his shirt and revealing a t-shirt baring the slogan "Why Always Me?" United will have felt hard done by, as up until this moment they had dominated possession 70%-30%.

The rest of the half was much more even, with neither team able to control the game. City maintained their lead going into the break, and the match was well poised for exciting second half, with United looking to turn the tie around. 2 minutes into the second half United's task got a whole lot harder, when Jonny Evans was turned on the edge of the area by Balotelli and in a desperate attempt to regain possession hauled down the Italian striker. Evans was the last man, and the red card was inevitable, United now needed to play almost the entire second half with only 10 men. They didn't let the sending affect their game, dominating the next 10 minutes, despite City having the numerical advantage. But still United couldn't find their cutting edge, and as the game wore on the away side began to impose themselves on the game.

With an hour on the clock City went two goals ahead, and it was Balotelli again who latched onto James Milner's cross. United were in real trouble, with their chances of saving the game fading. In the 69th minute it was 0-3, and it was Sergio Aguero's turn to get amongst the goals as he slotted home from close range. United's depleted defence were tiring, with the league leaders looking to increase their margin to 5 points. A glimmer of hope arrived with 10 minutes to go when Darren Fletcher played an excellence one-two with second half substitute Chicharito, to reduce the deficit to 1-3, with what was the attacking move of the game. The home crowd were invigorated and tried to spur United on, but the game was beyond them. 1-3 would have been a fair reflection of the game. However the game took a turn for the bizarre when in stoppage time City managed to score 3 more unanswered goals, two from Edin Dzeko and one from man of the match David Silva, as United fell apart at the back. The City fans went wild as their team had produced an unbelievable 1-6 win at Old Trafford.

United were stunned as they fell to their worst home defeat since 1955. There were no boo's around the ground as the team left the field, with chats of support for the home side, showing that this is nothing other than a freak result. With a quarter of the season gone United are in a stronger position than this time last season, and will be looking to get back to winning ways when they meet Aldershot Town in the Carling cup on Tuesday night.

Match Report: Manchester United 2 - 0 Norwich City

Manchester United 2 - 0 Norwich City

Saturday 01/10/2011

Premier League

Manchester United maintain their strong start to the season with victory against Norwich.

On the back of the 3-3 draw in mid week against Basel United needed to get back to winning ways to keep up their pursuit of retaining the Premier League title. It was a shaky defence in that game which saw United lose a two goal lead, which lead to switch up in the starting lineup against Norwich. Rio Ferdinand was dropped to the bench as we saw Johnny Evans partner Phil Jones in the centre of defence. Also Anders Lindegaard was preferred in goal ahead of David De Gea in hope of plugging the gaps that were so apparent on Tuesday night.

It was the visitors who started the game the brighter with Elliot Bennett looking looking very sharp down the right wing, causing United problems in the early stages. United's re-jigged defence not looking as solid as Sir Alex would have liked, with both centre backs losing aerial battles against Norwich front man Steve Morison. The match was scrappy, and the free flowing football we were getting used to seeing United play this season, was not coming together. Wes Hoolahan and Anthony Pilkington were very impressive in the Norwich midfield, looking much more creative compared to their United counterparts.

The game was even, with possession 50/50, neither side managed to carve out any clear chances on goal. And it took until the 35th minute for a dencent goalscoring opportunity for either side, when Steve Morison had to clear a Darren Fletcher poke towards goal following a Park Ji-Sung corner. This chance looked to spark the hosts into action as they won a succession of corners, and looked to open the scoring. However the pressure didn't hold as the sides went in level at half time. If United were going to win their 19th straight home league game, they were going to had to improve dramatically in the 2nd half.

The hosts started the 2nd period brightly with main creative forces Wayne Rooney and Nani starting to combine, finally stretching the Norwich defence, something they didn't mange in the 1st half. The killer ball still evaded the home side though, despite the increase in pressure. The game was getting stretched, and in the 63rd minute Wes Hoolahan carried the ball from his own half and with a better strike could have given the visitors a shock lead. The United faithful were getting restless as their team were struggling to gel. The United manager decided to change things up, bringing Ryan Giggs and Danny Welbeck on to replace the lacklustre Chicharito and Nani.

And the substitution made an instant impact, as Ryan Giggs swung in a deep corner that Rooney headed back into the danger area, Anderson rose highest to knock the ball home from close range. There was a huge sigh of relief around Old Trafford as United had finally broken the deadlock with 68 minutes played. The points were far from safe as sloppy defending saw a deflected Pilkington shot strike the post, as Lindegaard was left helpless. Norwich were fighting hard to get back into the game, and were creating chance after chance going into the last 10 minutes of the game. With better finishing from Steve Morison, they could, and should have been on level terms, as he scuffed a brilliant opportunity wide with just 5 minutes left on the clock. Just has it looked like the Norwich pressure was going to pay off, United killed the game off with an excellent passage of flowing football which saw Welbeck finish well after a one-two with Park on the edge of the area. United had sealed all three points with minutes remaining.

It could have been even better for United as deep into injury Wayne Rooney was released one-on-one with John Ruddy, but his chipped effort went just the wrong side of the cross bar. The final whistle sounded and United had returned to the Premier League summit with a hard fought home win. Norwich City could have made an uncomfortable day a whole lot worse for the hosts if one of their many opportunities had been converted. But it was United who walked away with the three points going into the International break. With a bit of luck this break from league action will give United's understrength back line time to recover ahead of the encounter against Liverpool at Anfield.