3 Manchester United players who should be benched after Swansea defeat

Manchester United’s season reached a new low after being unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by Swansea yesterday as they lost their fifth home game this season. In the fall out that will ensue, here’s a look at three players who deserve to be benched following their performance last night.

Manchester United’s Ecuadorian midfielder Antonio Valencia

Antonio Valencia

The Ecuadorian had a very dodgy outing last night, and failed to seriously trouble the Swansea defense. His deliveries left much to be desired, and being surpassed by Chris Smalling in terms of attacking output speaks volumes about the performance the winger put in. He continued his poor run and failed to make any meaningful contribution down the right hand side of the pitch, with his lack of willingness to cut inside onto his left foot being sore to the eye.

The emergence of Adnan Januzaj has meant that Nani’s absence has hardly been felt, and the United fans will undoubtedly be calling for Wilfried Zaha to be given game time ahead of Valencia rather than shipping him out on loan. While a couple of weeks on the sidelines could actually do Valencia some good, United need to shore up their wing problems before their season gets locked into a downward spiral.

Tom Cleverley

The young Englishman lacked any presence in midfield even though he saw plenty of the ball, and failed to create any significant impact on the game. The fact that he was upstaged by Darren Fletcher, a player who spent over a year on the sidelines due to a chronic bowel condition, speaks volumes about the sort of performance he put in yesterday. The only thing of note he did in the entire game was a second half free kick that hit the wall.

Darren Fletcher easily looked one of United’s best players on his return, and with Micahel Carrick expected to return to the playing eleven next week, Cleverley doesn’t deserve to be starting for United based on his performance yesterday. If United do sign a midfielder in January, Cleverley may be pushed further down the pecking order, especially once Marouane Fellaini returns from injury.

Shinji Kagawa

Kagawa was deployed on the left wing by David Moyes in what was a rare start for the Japanese international, but he constantly drifted infield, narrowing the playing field and exposing United’s lack of width. He was forced on the back foot and was playing in a much deeper role to get on the ball and never made any real impact on the game. Although he showed some nice touches in the final third, he was largely anonymous in the wide areas and he dallied on the ball too often and ended up losing possession.

A performance as bad as yesterday’s deserves more bench time for Kagawa and with Januzaj coming in to take up his now-regular place on the left wing, Moyes has to sort out his best starting XI. With Rooney playing in the hole behind the lone striker Danny Welbeck, Kagawa can expect to spend more time warming the bench in the near future.