PL: Man Utd h Ratings and Reactions

[ClaretMahoney]

Milner had a chance that was well saved, Sidwell almost had it in the upper corner, Dunne and Carew almost nicked it at the death. We really showed no winning mentality did we. From minute 65 to 90 we were the ones pressing and had them on the back feet. Don't tell me we didn't try winning it. There is a reason why United are 2nd best to us in defense.

[emma_villan1]

Defence had a good game as per usual. Midfield looked lacking in places, thought Delph was playing very well and would have liked to see him on the pitch longer, we looked lacking when he went off and same with Petrov the work hard in the middle.

Sidwell is woeful, did he make a pass to a villa player when he was on the pitch? Carew is so lacklustre its unbelievable he came on and hardly touched the ball, when Friedel took a goal kick towards Carew he didn't even jump or attempt to win the ball.

Overall as everyone has said happy with the point just thought we could have made more on the night.

[roscoe]

Good points CM. Yes we are out of form at the moment (except for the defence!), but we are still well within striking distance of the top 4 after a tough, tough run of fixtures. I would have much preferred our 'lull' to come during this run of fixtures, and to have not lost too much ground, than to experience this form dropp-off against the lesser teams and in the Final at Wembley over the next few weeks.

Hopefully the boys can turn it around now against some 'lesser' opposition and get some confidence up to churn out some good results in the next month and beyond. We're still well and truly in The Race for 4th!

[Shillzz]

Can anyone explain why the manager was at fault and what they would have done differently? I was sat in the holte thinking that martin had done all the right things, but also knew that he would come in for a lot of criticism on here.

On a side note, im not enjoying this traffic jam on the m5!

[Mr_Dogg]

Can anyone explain why the manager was at fault and what they would have done differently? I was sat in the holte thinking that martin had done all the right things, but also knew that he would come in for a lot of criticism on here.

On a side note, im not enjoying this traffic jam on the m5!

I don't think taking off Delpg for Carew benefited us in anyway. We were already struggling for possession with Delph doing well. I think MON could have waited until 70 or 75 to make a move.

But then Petrov got injured so we had a CM with no ball winner in there and we made only a couple of chances after that.

But I'm happy with a point so :|

[benireduk]

Should have had a penalty for the pull on Carew. Having said that we didn't deserve to win. I'll take a draw if we beat em at Wembley!!

[mikeyp102]

At the start of the season 4 points off Utd we would have been delighted, and in a way still am. But cant help thinking that that was 2 points lost today. Utd were there for the kill today, however we sat back and looked like the team with 10 men. Cant believe how negative we were. Utd and Roney showed their class.

Can't for the live of me understand that Delph was taken off, he looked very assured. The 451 really helped him and allowed him to shine. After that the only person who wanted the ball was Milner.

[carlitobrigante]

Never thought id ever be so frustrated coming home after watching us draw with Man Utd.

Yet another massive missed oppotunity. We looked like we didnt have a clue what to do once they went down to 10 men off. Taking Delph off seemed strange but I could kinda understand it at the time, yet made to look stupid by the fact Petrov then got injured.

Friedel - 9 - Great saves, always alert, Very Solid.

Dunne - 9 - Man of the match (again) so solid, barely put a foot wrong and made some nice passes (unlike the midfield)

Collins - 7 - Doesnt look quite as good as he did when he first signed. He is becoming my 3rd choice CB, behind Cuellar and Dunne once Warnock is back.

Cuellar - 7.5 - Great goal, some good defending, and to be fair his distribution is slightly better than it was. Still way too many aimless hoofs to no-one, but then again his isnt a RB.

L Young - 7 - Solid, wasnt overlapping with the wingers enough for me. Didnt see him do much wrong.

Downing - 6 - After a bright start he has been very very poor last few games. Please dont encourage these voices at the back of my head saying we got the more limited, expensive, older, and more injury prone winger from Boro than the one Man City have just bought. Still early days, he looks unwilling to put his foot in at times which i guess is a knockon effect from his injury. Needs to improve though andf quickly as we know he can do alot better.

Milner 6.5 - Was going to give him a 7, but this was very poor by his usual standards. At least he was willing, but looked slightly slower than usual, made multiple stupid passes and looked abit jaded.

A Young - 6.5 - Every time he ran at the full backs he was doubled up on since he was getting no support from our own full backs. Didnt really see him do anything noteworthy.

Delph - 8.5 - Looked great. He still lunges in slightly but less than he did when I first saw him. Much more comfortable on the ball and snappier with his passing and tackling than most of our other midfielders. Barely put a foot wrong. Was very surprised when he came off.

Petrov - 8 - Good game from Stan till the injury. I cant believe some of our fans dont rate him. He is our most intelligent player helps keep us somewhat coherant when in possesion. Yes he tires towards the end of games and yes he tend to go sideways a little too often, but he tackles well, rarely loses the ball and did some good stuff tonight.

Gabby - 6.5 - Bit harsh seeing as he had almost zero service. But he didnt offer any threat tonight. He never bothers looking to make runs off the shoulder of the last man anymore, probably because he knows none of our players seem capable of threading a through ball at the moment. He still doesnt utilise his pace as he should. A couple of good pieces of hold up play and that was about it.

Sidwell - 5 - I think this guy is utter tosh. He cant pass, he cant seem to tackle, he cant head a ball. Where the hell has the player that Chelsea signed gone? Its lookign more and more obvious that he simply had a decent one off season in a Reading side who were flying at the time. I see so many midfielders better than him in teams in the relegation zone / Championship.

Carew - 6 - Pains me to say it but i think the big mans time is up. Offers nothing anymore except the odd flick on that Gabby cant read anyway. His first touch has gone, he looks clumsy and slow. Does he just need a run of games?

We are never going to finish top 4 while we are so poor at simple pass and move football. We only ever seem to have one player at a time making himself available for a pass, meaning our every move is telegraphed to the opposition in advance. No one touch football, no movement off the ball. To be fair alot of it was down to how damn good and expierienced the Utd squad is, but its not just tonight Im afraid. Is it a confidence thing? Is it a traning ground issue? We have seen in patches that we can play good stuff but its not clikcing at the moment.

Im still a massive MON fan and still think he is the right man for the job. We have major work to do this summer though if we want to keep pace with the others around us.

[The_Steve]

Definite penalty for the foul on Carew.

[Big_John_10]

Yes man u went down to 10 men but those 10 men were still quality players who know how to keep the ball and they still

had the best player in the league up top.

Good point in the end and keeps us in the mix.

Going to villa park is beginning to not be fun, too many **** moaning rocket polishers around.

Man u were getting well on top when we changed it and although delph was playing well he was the only one who could go off when we put another striker on

[ryu.yokoi]

Sidwell is woeful, did he make a pass to a villa player when he was on the pitch? Carew is so lacklustre its unbelievable he came on and hardly touched the ball, when Friedel took a goal kick towards Carew he didn't even jump or attempt to win the ball.

Overall as everyone has said happy with the point just thought we could have made more on the night.

What she said...

[stewiek2]

“Whenever an individual or business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.” Thomas J. Watson

I think a few players need putting out to pasture. Looked bereft of any get up and go, and those who have played solidly looked a wee bet leggy.

[TheSufferingVilla]

Can't believe I'm disappointed getting a point off ManU but that's how I feel. Cuellar was superb, goal aside I watched the game surrounded by Man Utd fans who couldn't believe how brilliant he was and kept asking me who he was and if he was always this good. I'll honestly say the Nani sending off did not do us any favors, up to that point Petrov had run them ragged and totally nullified their midfield, he was a shadow of this after the knock. While I applauded MON bringing on Carew he's still a few games away from full fitness hopefully he'll be pumped to earn a place in the cup team during the next few games.

[picicata]

We look short on attacking confidence - I dare say all the negativity concerning our attacking abilities over the last few gamess within the media has probably added even more pressure. We just need a game or two against a few opponents of a standard less than Arsenal/ Man Utd/ Spurs and hopefully we will start to regain some of our attacking threat.

If you had offered us in this position after the run of fixtures we had from Christmas until now I would have taken it. Now the important time begins because we have to take advantage of a good run of winnable fixtures.

[rjw63]

Happy to avoid defeat aginst these bastards, but we really should have taken it to 'em a lot more.

Big Brad was MotM for two spectacular saves, but Delph wasn't far behind and didn't deserve to be subbed off

[Demitri_C]

im stunned by these comments. that was arguably uniteds best game all season. united are unfortuantely a better side than us and i think winning the cups going to be so hard on the basis of tonight

downing to me lately has looked average to poor. he needs to step up. after the bright start he has fizzled out

[KAZZAM]

Should never had taken off Delph he looked impressive.I woulda taken a point b4 the game as i was expecting a loss and draw at best,our form is awful lately only our solid defence is our saving grace and to get 5/9 points from fulham(a)ARsenal(h)United(h) is blood brilliant considering we play **** shit atm.

[BigVik]

maybe i've been to too many away games or have become to expectant but our support at home is a shower of shite. Trying to sing in the Holte Upper was hard tonight given the apparent silence half the stand decided to observe.

[villa4europe]

Unsurprisingly we got **** all after the red card, 2nd awful dunne hacked down with no foul call in the last 2 home games, just at the moment it seems like I can moan about a ref after every game, Giggs had the trainer on the pitch for an arm injury, why didnt the ref tell him to walk off?! That break killed the game for me

[spacemanscott]

That was an absolute steaming pile of shite. All I ask for is a decent game.

Man Utd had 10 men for most of the game and offered very little - even Rooney never looked like doing much. Despite that, we didn't look l like threatening them at all. Our play in the final third is astonishigly bereft of any kind of movement or skill.

Friedel was good; Cueller decent; the rest around a 5, apart from the following, who were Gash out of 10:

Downing: he's consistent. Consistently shit. That's not to say he's a bad player, but he has been our worst first teamer this season by a mile.

Gabby: I sat and watched his movement when we had possession and my eyes didn't flicker; they remained completely fixed on the same spot.

Carew: **** hell.

I am peeved that I've just sat in Artic conditions having paid £36 for a shit, font-row seat, only to watch a team of players who weren't interested in winning the game. If you didn't go to the game it's easy to say 'a point is a good result and we would have loved 4 points off Man Utd before the start of the season', but I don't care about numbers on a page - all I know is that I was bored by virtually every minute of it.