It’s been a very tricky December for us so far and results clearly haven’t gone the way we’d have liked them to go with two defeats to Manchester City and then Bristol City in the League Cup. As well as two draws in our last two outings against Leicester City and Burnley. Now I knew myself it was always going to be a tricky month with total of nine games all together, but we’re Manchester United and should be able to cope with the squad we have. We’ve played of those matches so far and we have Southampton at home today, if we do not beat them comfortably by a few goals then more questions may be asked?
I watched Southampton’s last match on Boxing Day away to Spurs at Wembley on the TV in the Quadrant Pub near Old Trafford and they were truly awful. I got to the Quadrant just as the game kicked off to catch up with friends after Christmas for a few pints before we headed off to the Stretford End for the United game against Burnley. Spurs just walked through the saints midfield and defence with ease and in the end Southampton could have conceded another three or four more than the five they did let in.
Mourinho has hinted in the last few days that Lukaku may need a rest considering how many games and minutes he’s played this season. Surely though if we are on it as a team today and we create a bucket loads of chances then Lukaku could get back amongst the goals big time. Clearly Romelu hasn’t been playing great recently but to be honest as a team we have not created enough chances for him as much as we should have done. Saying that, I think Jose played the wrong formation against Burnley on Tuesday as I would not have played Lukaku or Zlatan.
Burnley are fantastic at defending and have been all season, it is what they do and what they love to do. For us to then attempt to try to get crosses into our front two against Burnley all the time was pointless. As soon as I saw the team sheet I said that to my mate, to me I thought playing either Rashford or Martial up top or both at once would have been better. Getting that ball on the floor and into their feet would have been a much easier plan than allowing their back two clearing header after header.
Mourinho eventually thought something similar too when he brought on Lingard and Mkhitaryan at half-time but if we weren’t two nil would he have made those substitutions? Either way, we started playing better football straight away and no surprise Lingard scored from a pass along the floor from Young. I’m not one to criticise individual players, it’s a team effort and I include us as fans as part of that team. I just think at times we should play different attacking lines depending on who we are playing against. Anyway, hope you all had a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year ahead. A home win to finish the year and an away win to start the year would be ace.
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