Manchester United proved yet again that they are absolutely toothless as an attacking force.
The return of Wayne Rooney only proved what everybody already knew, he is past his sell-by date. It was as though he had never been away. He got straight back into his stride by giving the ball away, shooting very wide and generally contributing nothing to the cause.
The scary sight for United fans was the sight of the three players furthest forward on occasions. For Messi, Neymar and Suarez read Fellaini, Smalling and Rooney. That may give you an idea of what at least one of the problems is at Old Trafford.
Of course the fact that Fellaini was playing meant that the ball was being sent wide to be crossed in. The problem was twofold. Firstly, the crosses were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence. Secondly, any headers Fellaini actually managed to connect with were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence.
Norwich defended with relative rase and took the lead because United couldn’t do the same. First Phil Jones missed a tackle, then Ashley Young missed a tackle leaving Cameron Jerome the relatively easy task of beating De Gea who seemed to dive out of the way of the ball.
The first half ended with the team being jeered off the pitch, unsurprisingly, as it is not easy to watch them at present.
The second half was almost a carbon copy of the first. Rooney’s sole contribution was to give the ball away again, this time significantly as it led to Norwich’s second goal.
Eventually, United did pull one back through Martial but it never looked like they would equalise. Their desperation was such that Smalling finished the game as the furthest United player forward with even Rooney and Martial behind him.
The positive for United was Fellaini going off to be replaced by Herrera which at least made them look more dangerous at times. It was surprising that Herrera didn’t play from the start when you consider that his form had been good up until the injury.
What was also surprising was that Rooney WAS playing from the start when you consider that his form had been absolutely awful prior to his injury, and obviously hasn’t improved since. So what merited his inclusion I will never know. Only van Gaal can explain his very strange decisions and he won’t.
Towards the end of the game Ryan Giggs saw the necessity to get to the touchline and shout some instructions to the team in a bid to equalise. Louis van Gaal did not think it worth getting wet.
Is this the end for van Gaal? He is now out of Europe, out of the Capital One Cup and out of the top four. Jose Mourinho is currently out of a job. Pep Guardiola will shortly be out of a job. United should move now before there is nobody available again.
The alternative, of course, is to wait until the end of the season, when they maybe haven’t qualified for the Champion’s League and are without a trophy again. By this time, Guardiola may have pledged his future to City, (which he may very well do anyway), and Mourinho could be back in work. That leaves Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, who has already ruled himself out of managing United at any time.
There is always David Moyes, of course, who was no worse than van Gaal in a lot of respects.
Not much of a choice really, so why wait?
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 