Red Rants |
- One Down…Oh No! Only Three To Go!
- Giggsy, attitude, J Stand: five things we’ve learnt from United vs Norwich
- Giggs is “built to be a manager”
| One Down…Oh No! Only Three To Go! Posted: 27 Apr 2014 03:58 AM PDT
What a difference a week makes. There is a part of me that thinks that perhaps it would be wrong to get too carried away. Let's not forget that the Moyes era began with a classy 1-4 win at Swansea, but there was something different yesterday. You could sense the nerves through the players early on as the habit of useless possession continued to plague the side. But, once Rooney buried his penalty, there was almost a swagger to it all.
There was a sense of belonging when Ryan Giggs stepped out pitch-side in his suit, turned to face the Stretford End and then, without so much as a second thought, strode confidently to the dugout. He never appeared to be flustered or short of ideas. In all likelihood, he won't get the job permanently this time around, but he is laying the foundation already to be considered a Manchester United boss in the not so distant future. It's almost a dress rehearsal, if you like. He certainly didn’t fluff his lines. There would have been plenty of raised eyebrows when the team sheet was released and didn’t include Juan Mata, but had a place for Tom Cleverley. As well as the odd street party celebrating that Marouane Fellaini didn’t manage to make the eighteen. But the decision to drop Mata, although risky, proved justified and certainly seemed to invigorate the player as he came on to score two. It's not a difficult solution to get the best out of the Spaniard. As Giggs himself quite clearly said before the game, he is a number ten, he needs to play behind the striker. That's what happened when he came on and we arguably saw his best thirty minutes as a United player. Overall, the performance was more like the United of old: completely in control, but also with the ability to take it up two or three extra gears whenever required. It's not going to eradicate what has been a disastrous season, but there is a certain air of the silver lining about it all. Now I turn to you, the reader and fellow United fan. Let's all make a pact shall we? It's time for us to all, once again, hold our heads high and take pride in our club. I say that because I know some fans are utterly distraught with what has gone on this season on the pitch, and, equally, there are plenty who are dismayed by what's happened off the field too. It hasn’t affected our support, just perhaps our belief. But yesterday must be seen as the beginning of a whole new chapter. It's not about forgetting what has happened in these last ten months, because the pain and heartache that that brought will make our next championship even sweeter. But it most definitely is about looking forward to sunnier horizons. I’m sure there will be plenty of rhetoric banding about that it 'was only Norwich' and 'let's not get carried away', but let's remember that this is the same Norwich side that Liverpool were so roundly applauded for beating last week. I’m not saying we deserve any extra merit for yesterday's performance, but we certainly deserve our fair share. It's time to start enjoying watching United again, even if we’ve only got three more games to savour this campaign. Greg |
| Giggsy, attitude, J Stand: five things we’ve learnt from United vs Norwich Posted: 27 Apr 2014 02:24 AM PDT
While the Canaries might not have been the toughest of tests for Giggs’ team (admittedly, that has a wonderful ring to it), there were some positives signs after a season of doom and gloom. Here’s five talking points from Saturday.
1) Attitude In his press conference on Friday, Giggs had spoken of his desire to see his players being brave and determined to attack throughout the game for, as he put it: “if the players enjoy the game, then things become a lot easier for them and that’s playing football the United way”. Giggs would have been pleased with what he saw, particularly in the second half when, for the first time in 10 months, every single player in a red shirt seemed to be wanting the ball, rather than treating it like a bomb ready to detonate. The sacking of David Moyes alone was probably enough to lift some of the doom and gloom that had blanketed over players and fans this season while the decision to appoint Giggs as interim manager was the perfect way to ensure a raucous response from the crowd, it looked yesterday as if it was the key to get the players to perform too.
United have been absolutely dreadful this season, something both Giggs and Rooney have recognised admitting players needed to take their responsibilities for Moyes’ sacking, but the sense of relief was palpable yesterday, on and off the pitch. After a ponderous first half, the shackles were well and truly off in the second half, as United played like they didn’t play all season, making Moyes’ tenure look like nothing but a nightmare that will – hopefully – soon be forgotten. 2) Attack, attack, attack United had score four or more goals in six occasions under Moyes, three times in the league (away at Swansea and Newcastle and at home to Aston Villa), one in the Capital One Cup (at home to Norwich) and twice in the Champions League (home and away against Leverkusen) but yesterday they had more shots on target than in any of the 34 league games played under Moyes. While Giggs’ decision to start with a traditional 4-4-2 left some puzzled – and, let’s face it, that line-up would have been widely criticised had it been chosen by Moyes – and United did not burst into life until the second half, the difference in philosophy between Moyes and Giggsy was there for all to see. With United two goals up, Giggs replaced a striker – Danny Welbeck – with an attacking midfielder – Juan Mata – and then brought on Javier Hernandez for Tom Cleverley, thus ensuring that United did not sit on their lead but kept going forward looking to add to their tally, the polar opposite of what we had become accustomed to under Moyes, who always seemed to prefer to shut up shop at 1-0. 3) Changes are needed David Moyes might have made a lot of mistake during his 10 months at Old Trafford, but it’s hard to disagree with him regarding that United do indeed need fresh faces. The overhaul might not be as drastic as Moyes had wanted it to be, nor will it be carried out as the former United boss had hoped, but the simple fact of the matter is that some United players simply aren’t good enough, regardless of who’s in charge. Patrice Evra was excellent going forward in the second half, but was his usual, distract self at the back, while not even Ryan Giggs could get Tom Cleverley to produce a good performance and Antonio Valencia to cross a ball properly. Cleverley was useless as usual, spraying the ball sideways without ever attempting a through ball, while Valencia wasted a couple of decent opportunities in the first half by either failing to beat the first man or adopting his “smash it through the box and hope for the best” crossing technique. For both, as indeed for other, time could be up at United and whoever will take over from Giggs will have a sizeable job to do, though there were positives to be taken from yesterday: Juan Mata looks increasingly at ease in a red shirt, Shinji Kagawa put in another good performance and David De Gea was excellent again. 4) Wayne’s world Having gone a month without scoring, Wayne Rooney yesterday scored his 16th and 17th Premier League goal of the season – curiously, it was his third consecutive brace – at the end of what was a man of the match performance from him. Rooney has divided opinions for over 12 months now – some would rightly argue that he’s been doing so for much longer than that – and despite signing a new five-year deal, things haven’t improved much.
Paying a striker – one who had scored three times in 15 games before signing his new contract – £300,000-a-week was always going to be a risky strategy, even more so when Rooney was asked to play even when clearly unfit as it was the case against Everton and Bayern Munich but, at the same time, United would have arguably been worse off without Rooney’s goals this season. Against Norwich, Rooney looked fully fit and he was at ease when asked to drop deeper as Hernandez came on and a strong finish to the season could see him heading to a major tournament without any injury worries for the first time in a decade. What happens after the World Cup, however, remains a question mark: Rooney has often struggled to be in top shape after the summer but if he can return to Carrington fully fit in August, then the new manager’s job will be a lot easier. 5) J Stand We’ve endured an absolutely dreadful season, arguably the worst in a quarter of a century, but our support has been fantastic this season. Even at Old Trafford, where the atmosphere has been subdued for a large part of the last decade or so, United fans have vocally got behind their team this season, disproving the myth that portrays us as small-time, wannabes glory-hunters.
It was therefore sad to see a day such as yesterday, with the class of ’92 taking charge of United for the first time, marred by an incident in J Stand, where stewards tried to seize a banner against the singing section, reading: “Loyalty = Eviction”. Any initiative that might improve the atmosphere is obviously welcomed – even though the whole ground should be a singing section – but evicting fans who have stood or sat for years in the same seat isn’t the right way to go about the business. Numerous fanzines have voiced their discontent, but the club has yet again shown no interest whatsoever for many loyal fans and that’s a real shame. |
| Giggs is “built to be a manager” Posted: 27 Apr 2014 12:05 AM PDT
Giggs’ managerial career got off to a winning start as United trounced Norwich 4-0, producing the sort of performance that they seemed incapable to deliver under David Moyes. After a slow start, United kicked on in the second half, attacking with conviction and swagger and playing at the sort of tempo Giggs had said he wanted to see from a Manchester United side.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game, Norwich are fighting for survival,” Rooney said after the game. “But thankfully we got four goals and a comfortable win. We’re the ones on the pitch, we have to take a lot of responsibility [for David Moyes losing his job ]. “We have to share a lot of the responsibility but it is also important for us to move on. It was tough at the start against Norwich but once we scored we were able to break them down more easily. “We’ve had a tough week and there’s been a lot of negativity towards us as a team. We were hurt by that and we wanted to put that right. It’s important for us to end the season well.” Rooney scored twice against Norwich and was full of praise for interim manager Ryan Giggs, who made his managerial debut yesterday. “Giggsy has come in, he’s a really experienced player and he’s built to be a manager,” he said. “We can see that as players, we can see how he’s handled himself since he took over. Giggsy has got all the credentials to be the next boss but that decision is down to the board. “He’s built to be a manager,” said Rooney. “You can see that from the way he handles himself. Giggs admitted losing sleep ahead of yesterday’s game, as he worried about leaving out players he had been training with until last week. “Leaving out players was the hardest part,” Giggs said. “I’d never had to do that before, but I picked a team I thought could win the game.” Juan Mata was left on the bench, but came on to score twice in 30 minutes as Giggs’ first substitution as a manager worked a treat. “I think as a manager a win comes as more of a relief,” said Giggs. “Juan was disappointed to be left out, and I expected that, but he was professional about it and when he came on he showed his class. He put on a half-hour masterclass.” |
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