Manchester United vs Wigan Athletic
15th September 2012
Old Trafford
MUFC Goals: Scholes, Hernandez, Buttner, Powell
Starting X1: Lindegaard, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Buttner, Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Hernandez, Welbeck
Wigan are a side which have given us United supporters many happy moments, such as the numerous home wins against the side, the Carling cup victory in 2006, and of course winning the league at the DW stadium, or formally the JJB. However they have also given us many nightmare moments, such as our 1-0 defeat last season which swung the premiership pendulum City's way due to Shaun Maloney's winner. Thankfully Saturdays game was another day to remember, with many bright performances from both young and old. When I refer to young and old you know exactly who I am talking about, Paul Scholes our midfield maestro, who once again he was instrumental in our win, pulling the strings from midfield playing gravity defying balls out to our wide men, and scoring the goal which opened the floodgates and led to our eventual 4-0 romp.
At the other end of the spectrum you have the exciting performances from the two new debutantes Nick Powell and Alexander Buttner. Buttner's performance was a massive relief for many a red, who have grown increasingly unnerved by Patrice Evra's below par performances in the left back position, and cried out for some top notch competition for his place to keep Pat on his toes, Buttner's performance will certainly give Fergie food for thought when it comes to picking his team for the trip to Anfield this weekend, however I expect Ferguson to stick with Evra for the game due to the fearsome atmosphere we can expect and Evra's obvious experience in these circumstances.
Another highlight of the game was Nick Powell's stunning debut goal and overall performance, where he looked every inch the type of player capable of playing for United in the near future, his finish for United's fourth goal was majestic and defied his tender years, he's only just turned 18 believe it or not! Hopefully we'll see more of Nick now after his exciting introduction. With a tough week ahead for United it was imperative we beat Wigan, and our convincing win has allowed us to move ahead of our main title rivals City by one point, after they endured a frustrating afternoon at the Britannia.
One interesting talking point from the victory over Wigan came from the United player who was least involved , Anders Lindegaard, his selection splits opinion amongst many a red, personally I see his selection as massively frustrating one, with young David being left on the side lines despite an excellent opening day performance against Everton, where he was our stand out performer and kept us in the game for much longer than we deserved. Hopefully David De Gea will start against Galatasaray, and impress Fergie sufficiently enough to maintain his place for the trip to Anfield this Sunday, but I am not holding my breath!
So overall Saturday was a very satisfactory day for Manchester United, 3 points, 4 goals, some very impressive performances and moving ahead of City in the premier league table, granted its early days, but things are looking promising.
No comments:
Post a Comment