Five things we learnt from Manchester United's nervy away win at Norwich

Moyes gets it horribly wrong at the start

With Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney out injured, Moyes surprised everyone by starting Hernandez alone up front with Kagawa and Young on either flanks. Hernandez is more of a finisher and isn’t renowned for his link-up play and that showed throughout the half, as he was isolated and barely had any balls played to his feet.

What made matters worse was that, United played three in the middle of the park, with Giggs, Cleverley and Carrick. And, neither got close enough to support the Mexican and as a result, United’s attack lacked any pace or penetration. On the evidence of the half, it didn’t look as though United weren’t going to score unless a change was made.

But, Welbeck changes the game in the second half

The introduction of Danny Welbeck for Ryan Giggs, changed the whole complexion of the game. With the Englishman playing up front with Hernandez, United suddenly had an injection of pace and looked a lot more threatening.

Whilst there was a touch of fortune about the goal, it was Welbeck’s direct running that caused a problem for the Norwich defenders, which eventually led to him scoring the goal. As things stood, that was the winning goal that meant that United continued their winning run and finished 2013 on a high.

Carrick and Vidic show United just what United were missing

Starting his first game since his return from injury, Carrick was a reassuring presence in the center of midfield. With Phil Jones out injured, Carrick started as one of the two holding midfielders and was equally adept at nullifying the Norwich threat and starting United’s attacks. The Englishman was a little slow off the blocks but grew in stature as the game grew.

One man, who wasn’t slow off the starting block was Nemanja Vidic. The Serbian returned to the starting lineup and was rock solid at the back. He cleared everything that came into the box and didn’t give the Norwich attackers, a moment on the ball. At the end of the game, United’s spine certainly looks a lot more secure, even without Rooney or van Persie.

Evra turns from hero to villain in the space of 90 minutes

At the end of the first half, few would have predicted that Evra would finish the game as United’s best player. But, that is precisely what the Frenchman did. In the first half, Evra was caught napping on far too many occasions and was lucky he was one of the team’s senior members, as he would have risked getting substituted otherwise. The Frenchman was a liability in the first half, but turned it all around in the second, by showing just why he is still regarded as one of the best left backs in the League.

In the second half, Evra was a player transformed, as he attacked with a lot more purpose and got his defensive positioning spot on. Moyes will be hoping that he continues to display the form he did in the second half, as the games come in thick and fast.

Norwich fail to take advantage of a vulnerable United

For the first time since Robin van Persie was signed, United started without either the Dutchman or Rooney in the league. With Carrick and Vidic on their way back from injury, Norwich had a great opportunity to get at United and make it two wins in their last two home league games against United.

Unfortunately for Chris Hughton, although Norwich looked the brighter of the two sides, they failed to take their chances and suffered their second straight home loss in the space of three days.

Hoolahan missed a couple of great opportunities in the first half and Nathan Redmond, struggled to find a way past Smalling and the Canaries were just unable to trouble United enough to score a goal that would have at least got them a point. The loss means that the Canaries have just won one of their last six and things don’t look bright for Hughton.