Talking points for the Red Devils: Swansea vs. Manchester United

The return of Vidic was not a celebrated one for Utd fans as their six point advantage over their cross-city rivals was cut to four with a draw at Swansea. Man Utd started the match, as usual, with very strong attacking play. In the first quarter, Young and Rooney forced good saves from Vorm along with a half hearted shout for penalty from Valencia.

The opening goal was, deservedly, scored for the away team by Evra. I think he is turning out to be a serious goal scoring option for Sir Alex this season. No need to mention RVP was equally influential with the assist from the corner.

In the first half, the opposition was good on the attack which was slightly helped by our midfield. Carrick’s unwillingness to press the opponent was the sole reason behind the goal.

Eventually, it was Michu’s persistence that paid off for Swansea with a goal, which made him the Premier League’s top scorer for the moment, overtaking our own RVP, and also turned out to be the final goal in the match.

Just before the end of the first half, Rooney had a golden chance to score, via a cross from Evra, and turn the match in his favour but hit it straight towards the goalkeeper to no effect.

During the second half, the Reds were constantly knocking on the Swansea door but failed to get the much needed second goal. The best chances of this period belonged to the Reds with both Carrick and van Persie rattling the cross bar. The latter one from the Dutchman left Vorm static in his goal thanks to his pure brilliance.

Giggs, who was subbed on later in the second half, made his presence felt by creating a very good chance by finding Evra’s run in the box. Two consequent strikes, one after the other, by RVP and Young, were blocked by the defenders. Though the second one looked like it hit the arm of the Swansea defender.

Throughout the match Rooney looked completely out of sorts. In the 73^rd minute, he failed to provide a straightforward assist to Hernandez who was clearly free in the box and eagerly waiting for the ball to come.

His afternoon was summed up a couple of minutes later when he failed to convert a free kick from a potential goal scoring position and as a result the manager instantly replaced him with Giggs.

The highlight of the match was a stinging shot in the head of van Persie by the opposition Captain Williams or rather a “clearing shot”, as said by him, which left Persie shaken. As a result, he was unable to give his 100% on the pitch after that episode.

Sir Alex fielded a pretty strong side against an impressive Swansea team, but could not dig out the desired result. Gaffer’s post match reaction showed he was clearly angry by the end result. He might have also felt hard done by some soft penalty shouts and, obviously, the van Persie incident.