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Manchester United – Complete, Utter, Continuous Failure
There’s something to be said about a manager, David Moyes in this case, who has months to prepare in his head for the biggest match Manchester United have this season, and he decides to go with a lineup and especially a midfield combination that he knows is his worst. You can field all the Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney type players in the world up front, but when the rest of the field is in shambles, the result will be like the one we’ve come to expect from this side this season.
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Manchester United – Danny Welbeck Decision Shows David Moyes is Learning
Playing against an aggressive, counter attacking side on the road, David Moyes decided he’ll go for speed and physicality by using Danny Welbeck as his striker, playing ahead of Wayne Rooney and between two true wingers in Adnan Januzaj and Antonio Valencia. It worked out quite well for Manchester United, maybe starting once again their slow climb up the Premier League table.
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Manchester United – David Moyes Has to Stop Blaming Luck
No one expected for David Moyes to have an easy first season at the helm as Manchester United manager. However, no one expected it to be this bad. What’s more frustrating for those who have the club’s best interest in mind is that there’s no sign of improvement, consistency or some sort of instilling football philosophy. David Moyes is diverting attention from himself to the players, mentioning luck and other things as the culprits in the bad results, but it’s hard to deny he has a huge part in everything that’s going on.
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Manchester United – Marouane Fellaini Partially Succeeds in New Role
Considering the rain of criticism falling down on David Moyes, an away draw in the Champions League inside a very tough stadium is nothing to be ashamed about, as Robin van Persie felt quite alone without Wayne Rooney by his side, while Marouane Fellaini might have been the most important player on the pitch in his advanced role, which is also keeping Shinji Kagawa out of the lineup.
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Manchester United – Robin van Persie Can’t be Replaced by Danny Welbeck
Even without Robin van Persie, Manchester United shouldn’t look this bad. However, when the manager is David Moyes, it wasn’t surprising to see a man-for-man switch by putting Danny Welbeck, who is anything but a goalscorer, instead of the team’s best player.
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Manchester United – Wayne Rooney Is Not a Second Option
Getting his first start of the season for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney did show how valuable he is to the team thanks to his ability to play several roles during the 90 minutes (although it wasn’t enough for a satisfying result). Too bad his manager wasn’t brave enough to make some attacking changes to actually make a difference.
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Manchester United – Nani Scoring Doesn’t Make Him Important Again
Making the most of your opportunities doesn’t put you back in the lineup picture, and Nani is still a fringe player for Manchester United, even if he impressed in a friendly match featuring those not joining the main part of the squad in the Far East tour.
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Manchester United – Robin van Persie in the Shadow of Ryan Giggs
It’s happening less and less, but Ryan Giggs can still steal the thunder from even the biggest of stars. Even when Robin van Persie scores his 19th goal of the season, it was Giggs with the opener the gave Manchester United the right kind of push and inspiration to tighten their chokehold over the Premier League title.
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Manchester United – Robin van Persie Saves Best for Last
He played for only 24 minutes, but Robin van Persie got to be the only scorer for Manchester United in one of their hardest-earned wins of the season due to the terrible pitch conditions which deprived them from a more free flowing game and because of a very persistent and hard to handle opponents.
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Manchester United – Robin van Persie Wasted by Bad Defending
At the end of the day, Robin van Persie was probably feeling a bit more angry towards the player that shot a ball straight to his head from point blank range, although he should be angry at the Manchester United defensive crew, which had another bad performance, allowing two points to slip away.