Red Rants

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No home comfort for United? Posted: 20 Dec 2013 12:31 AM PST Patrice Evra has said United must overcome the fear factor that they’ve developed when playing on their own turf this season, which has been seized upon by other clubs with United having already lost three games at home in the first four months of the season. The Reds welcome West Ham United tomorrow, having lost consecutive home games in the league against Everton and Newcastle, failing to score in both games. United’s home record this season has been far from impressive, with United winning just three of their eight games played at Old Trafford this season and, even more worryingly, scoring just eight times, the league’s third-joint worst record. Evra believes United’s problems at Old Trafford this season have been self-inflicted and he admitted David Moyes’ men can’t afford any more slip-ups at home. “When we lost against Everton and the game against Newcastle, it was obvious we looked a little bit worried,” the United defender told the Guardian. “The crowd were not happy sometimes. It is not easy for anyone. “But we play for Manchester United. We have to deal with that because we need them [the supporters]. We have to show them first on the pitch by playing well. If they want to criticise us, we deserve that because when you play for Manchester United, you have to play with the pressure.” Having won their last two games away from home without conceding a goal, Evra is desperate for United to build on wins against Aston Villa and Stoke and embark on another unbeaten run. “I want to get another unbeaten run going but this time we do not want to slip back again,” said the Frenchman. “It is too painful. It is too painful for us, for the staff, for the fans. We have to make sure we keep winning games. We must not slip again because we have already done that too many times. “I am not looking at the table, I look at the next game which is West Ham at home. Last year we won that kind of game. We have more trouble at Old Trafford. That is where we have to show our character and our personality and play with the Manchester United spirit. Of course we need points. I wouldn’t lie and say anything else. I just want to rest and be focused on Saturday. You can talk a lot; what counts is how you act on the pitch.” United’s new-found defensive solidity – David De Gea has kept a clean sheet in the last three games in all competitions – is pivotal to the Reds’ hopes of climbing up the table. “The team is really focused on that [keeping clean sheets],” said the United defender. “We know when we get some clean sheets we can win games. The conditions at Stoke were not easy but you could feel the Manchester United spirit coming back. To win 2-0 at Stoke, it has to be a great performance. Even the players who have not played very often, like Ashley [Young] and Anderson played very well. “That is the name of the game now. We have to focus only on the present. We do not want to let down the Manchester United fans and the staff and ourselves. When we lost against Everton and Newcastle it was a massive blow but we have reacted well with three wins in a row. We have to make sure we win on Saturday. That is my concern and that is my focus.”

Have we become a cup team? Posted: 19 Dec 2013 05:23 AM PST Another cup win. This time under bizarre conditions. Nobody fancies a cup quarter-final at the Britannia on a windy Wednesday night. Glad we got through it, all the more in convincing fashion. The score ended 0-2 to United with Darren Fletcher coming off the bench again much to the delight of the away fans who were raucous throughout. Looking at it, we are in the knockout stages in the Champions League where we have been at our best and we look like we might progress further, we are in the semi-final of the league cup. Only Gus Poyet’s Sunderland stands in the way between Manchester United and Wembley. Au contraire, we sit 8th in the league with 25 points from 16 games that includes 5 defeats. (3 at home). Ring a bell? The first half looked like a repeat of the way we played the same against Shaktar at home in our last group stage encounter. Ridiculous amounts of possession inside our own half and we were going nowhere with the ball. David Moyes, who looks to have settled now did not panic, I suppose. And I wonder what his team talk was. Whatever it was, it certainly altered the way Ashley Young played. Ashley Young had a game of two very different halves, scored a blinder plus set up the other, living up to the #18 shirt he’s wearing and we never looked back. Roll back to the early weeks of December. We were not that bad against Everton in that first half, for the record. We made Howard work, drew a couple of good saves off him.  In the second half, we were good in parts but then a mix up towards the end, we conceded 3 points. The game against Newcastle that followed was total misery. Much poorer performance and endured the same 0-1 loss and conceded 3 vital points in the process. Roll back further. We played our league cup quarter-final opponent Stoke at home, back in October. We edged it 3-2, courtesy Chicharito. We had to comeback twice. Let me rephrase it. We were down twice. Not to forget, they could have scored more that day and put that game to bed. It was our goalkeeper that kept us in the game in the first half with two stunning saves from point-blank range. Though we ran away with all 3 points, it was a performance to forget. The reason I brought that game up is, we outplayed the same opponent away from home under difficult conditions, yesterday. Blimey, it’s not the league! Though I love us being a cup team at the moment, it is absolutely imperative we put in a string of wins now in the league. We have won 3 games in a row now, in 3 different competitions with 3 clean sheets. We have to see Welbeck, Cleverley and Young get their names on the score-sheet. Rosy, ain’t it? But nothing, absolutely nothing beats a better position in the league by the turn of new year.

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