From Spurs To Burnley - Manchester United

Normally, I write an article after every match to review, analyse and offer my own views on how the match went but I have been busy so here I am summing up the last three Manchester United matches.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United

I felt it was our best performance in a long time. Could Paul Pogba have got sent off for an elbow at Serge Aurier while shielding the ball? He might have been. He got the benefit of the doubt. We thought we scored first and it was a great move and goal. It was disallowed after a VAR review for a foul on Son Heung Min by Scott McTominay. Son was touched as McTominay tried to brush him off but was it enough to warrant a foul? It’s just one of those that can be given for or against you I suppose. We did lose our heads after that goal was disallowed though.

The goal we conceded soon after that was a piece of terrible defending. Victor Lindelof played so well against Granada in the Europa League quarter-final, 1st leg, the Man Of The Match and then goes and make an elementary mistake like air-kicking the ball. It just exemplifies his inconsistency.  After that goal, I feared we might lose the plot in anger but thankfully we channelled it very well in the second half. I was surprised by the identity of the equalising goalscorer, Fred, of all players! He was doing his best to be wasteful in possession but a lovely give and go and sidefooted finish into the top corner just makes you wonder where was this player hiding?

There were a couple of big saves from Dean Henderson to keep out Tottenham before we took the lead. A great cross by Mason Greenwood met by a great header by Edinson Cavani. Greenwood then added the icing on the cake with our third. Cavani and Greenwood were two players that thoroughly deserved their goals.

Manchester United vs Granada

A great goal by Cavani early on worked nicely to settle our nerves and increase our buffer from the first leg. It was a finish typical of a high-quality number 9. How we missed having a player like that in our ranks? Granada was not your typical tiki-taka Spanish team. They are a prickly side, similar to Atletico Madrid. We managed the game well and dealt with whatever threat Granada posed. I was asleep when we scored our second. A semi-final against Roma awaits us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhM8z-yXio

Manchester United vs Burnley

I sensed that we made a sloppy start and I was nearly vindicated. Burnley put a long ball into the box and it was met by Chris Wood, not a threat that we were unaware of. Thankfully, VAR came to the rescue and disallowed it for offside. It was a dull first half and had given up hope of staying awake for the second half but I persevered.  I was surprised to see that one of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s favourite sons, Fred was brought off at half-time for a striker, Edinson Cavani. It was a progressive move that brought immediate dividends. A brilliant dummy by Bruno Fernandes was met by a finish with aplomb by Greenwood.

The equaliser though was a sickening kick to the nuts. We should have done better to stop Dwight McNeil. He ran through and was well-tackled by Harry Maguire. After a good piece of defending, Maguire showed his own inconsistency. From the resulting corner, Maguire was easily out-muscled for Burnley’s equaliser. We held our lead for 2 minutes! We were pushing to get back into the game and got a stroke of good fortune. Greenwood’s shot took a deflection for our second. On a fluid counter-attack late in the game, we scored our third through Cavani and closed the lead on Manchester City to seven points.  



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