Match Report 040920 at Manchester United: A night to forget

1-2. A very poor performance. Maybe we need Murphy to score the 1-0 win. The defense has problem (a yet to be solved one) facing crosses, midfield just let MU run the show, and Cisse/Kewell were just disappearing. But the worst news is that Gerrard was injuried, and report said he may be out 6-8 weeks, if not longer. This will be a hugh blow to us. But on the other hand, maybe this is an opportunity to promote John Welsh.

Despite this loss, I still hold the opinion that we will be at 3rd place challenging 2nd place. The key is how we react without our influencing captain.


Player rating:
Dudek: 6.5 Can't blame him on both goals. But defense as a unit need to improve ASAP, especially facing crosses. Did made a few good saves.
Josemi: 6 He's probably guilty of not marking Silvestre for the first goal. It was a bit harsh for the yellow card as it was a ball-hit-hand case.
Hyypia: 6 Defense as a whole need to be improve! BTW he did not concede a foul that lead to the 1st goal. It should just be a throw in.
Carragher: 6 Maybe Carra still need to improve coordination with Dudek.
Riise: 6 He's somewhat guilty for not marking Silvestre for the 2nd goal.
Finnan: 6 Very quiet in the game except for the header that confuse every MU player and lead to the O'Shea own goal.
Alonso: 6 Not as effective as last match. Had a moment of genius when trying to lob Carroll from behind our own half but unfortunately Carroll managed to save it.
Gerrard: 5 Very quiet and was injuried. We need to react well without the mighty captain.
Kewell: 4 Apart from the set piece that lead to the goal, what have he done?
Garcia: 5 Nothing really spectacular from the game.
Cisse: 4 A night to be forgot.

Substitutions:
Hamann 6.5 After his introduction into the game, we seemed to get more possession in midfield. We need Hamann to play well and Alonso to go on attack in the next 2 months.
Baros: 4.5 As bad as Cisse.

Rafa: 5 Need to sort out the defensive set piece problem ASAP. And how he react without Stevie G is a very important. Especially we are visiting Chelsea 10/3.

MU: 7.5 We were completely outplayed. The return of many key players really help them a lot. But Poll helped them a lot. Why they have so many fouls but only 1 yellow card is a mystery to me. For the 1st goal, it was never a free kick but should be a throw in instead. For the 2nd goal, that shouldn't be a corner. It should be a goal kick.

Man of the Match: Hamann. We need him to perform well to survive without Stevie G!