Manchester United vs
Fulham
25th August 2012
Old Trafford
FT Manchester United 3-2 Fulham
MUFC Goals: v.Persie, Kagawa, Rafael
Fulham Goals: Duff, Vidic(O.G)
Starting X1: De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Vidic, Evra, Valencia,
Cleverley, Anderson, Young, Kagawa, van Persie.
Great to see firstly our first win on the board and
hopefully we undergo a winning streak as our team will only get stronger. With
people returning from injuries quickly, we could have a full strength X1 in 5/6
weeks. The sad thing shadowing United's win today was the horrific gash on
Wayne Rooney's leg, which has resulted him for now being out for 4 weeks. This
is one of the positive reasons for the purchase of van Persie as we have
another world class striker to step in; understandably Rooney's absence is a
huge blow. Rooney will miss Southampton and Wigan, he could possibly be back
for Liverpool away which will be a tough game. Luckily going forward isn't our
problem at the minute it's at the back. With Evans and Rio expected probably to
both be in the match day squad vs Southampton it is an unbelievable boost. Rio
won't start but he's getting closer and will likely start vs Liverpool. Having
Evans back for Southampton is going to be very big, he's been training for a
couple if weeks so I'm nearly certain he'll start alongside Vidic.
United started the game off poorly vs Fulham, conceding in
the 2nd minute via Damien Duff. A sloppy free-kick was given away by stand in center back Michael Carrick which resulted in the goal but it wasn't only
Carrick's fault. Duff easily lost his marker (Ashley Young) by out
strengthening Young who defended horrifically which allowed him to drive the
ball home to De Gea's right-hand side. This was not the ideal response by the
team after being dominated so easily by Fellaini defensively last Monday.
Thankfully this was the last defensive issues for at least and hour.
That goal triggered Manchester United who started to pick up
the tempo of their play and were really pinning Fulham back in their own half.
Rafael was nearly playing as a striker for 30 mins of the game he was that far
forward. The equaliser wasn't far away as on 8 mins we scored through some good
passing. It came through Anderson to Evra, who didn't cross the ball the best
as the ball bounced up just before it reached van Persie, but for van Perise he
finished it beautifully. He knew exactly want he wanted to do, he judged the
bounce of the ball well, then struck it very well with his instep with power
and found the top right-hand corner of the net.
United continued pinning Fulham into their own half and had
70% possession for most of the half. Anderson and Cleverley were playing very
well as a midfield partnership both playing some very good passes and also
linking up very well with Valencia, Young and Kagawa. We continued to see
Valencia bombing down the wing and causing havoc for the left back, Young who
was careless at times throughout the game shown some signs of changing the game
but for me throughout the game it was all about Kagawa. Kagawa later got his
reward by scoring one of the easiest goals he'll ever score. A whipped corner
from van Persie, headed clear from Diarra under pressure from Carrick,
Cleverley struck a clean hard shot to the bottom right corner, which was saved
by Schwarzer and tapped in from Kagawa. There were appeals for offside but the defense were caught napping by not getting out in time which left Kagawa onside
to tap in Cleverley's saved shot!
Manchester United were continually looking very good and looked
like they were going to go on and finish the game scoring 5 or 6 but that
didn't happen. However they continued playing well and had Fulham on the ropes.
By some very good play by Rafael to get forward, he passed it into Kagawa, who
dropped his shoulder to get a shot away which unfortunately hit the post. The
rebound was saved as Young's shot was saved also, with the ball then entering
Rafael's path who put the ball in the net; though he was correctly ruled
offside so the goal didn't count. It wasn't long after till the little
Brazilian was rewarded through his good work as Valencia's cross dropped to the
feet of Ashley Young, who chipped the ball to the far post which then was
headed in by Rafael to give United a 3-1 lead.
Fulham did have their chance to get back into the game
through poor defending by Rafael. This allowed Dembele to cross the ball in to
the far post where the overhead kick from Petric was blocked bravely by Evra,
the resulting shot by Duff was saved very well by De Gea and he was able to
save brilliantly again with his feet from another chance from Petric; which was
saved onto the bar. Manchester United continued pressing in the half and should
of finished with more than there 2 goal lead!
The second half started better for Fulham as they began to
play their style of football and it was a more even game. With Fulham being
allowed to play their brand of football and creating more chances through the
fantastic performance by Dembele they eventually got a goal to make it 3-2. A
hopeful cross aimed for Petric turned out to be a problem for both Vidic and De
Gea. Petric tried to make it difficult for De Gea to claim the ball which he
did indeed, as De Gea missed the ball resulting it clipping Vidic's heel and
conceding an own goal. De Gea still needs to work on his physical statue and as
he gets older and the work at Manchester United he will be doing that will
come. His achilles heel as a goalkeeper is crosses into the box because of his
size. The staff aren't idiots, they would have and would still be working on
that side of his game. Also a Vidic with more games under his belt would of
lived up to his 'No nonsense defender' tag and cleared that himself.
Dembele looked very good throughout the game and looked head
and shoulders better than the rest of his team mates. He showed great strength
and determination to win the ball back, when gets the ball also and sees space
he will drive with it very strongly and because of his strength he won't lose
it. Also in the last 5 mins he showed great trickery to skip past 2 United
players to create a chance for his team. Fulham will do very well to hold onto
him this summer and with less than a week to go I expect some bids for him. I
personally would attempt for him and at £15 m it would be very good as he is
someone who is determined, battle-hardened, good strength and will win the ball
back.
United were on the back foot for the last 20/25 mins allowing
Fulham to come at United, and De Gea had to deny them on 3 occasions from close
range. United were unlucky not to concede in the last 5 minutes and with 10 men
because of the horrible gash to Wayne Rooney.
Review Finished
