Just like the opening game of the season, Manchester United were beaten again by a well organised and defensively solid Swansea City side. Yet another chance to close on our rivals missed and yet again, United have been dragged further into the battle for top 4.
1. The full backs are very poor defensively
With Paddy McNair taken off after 45 minutes and Luke Shaw following not long after, it was a clear indication that the manager was unhappy with their contributions today. McNair, early on gave Gomis a free header from a corner and overall offered nothing and looked suspect. Shaw, however, was at fault for the Swansea equalizer and was caught out of position on several occasions.
2. The Fellaini Factor
Marouane Fellaini has his benefits of course, but in the last few games including this one, we were too quick to play a boring style of football where every player looks for Fellaini. While it may pay off sometimes, it is boring and doesn’t represent the type of football United need to play. Early on in the game United looked to pass the ball and look for space and it paid off with a great Ander Herrera goal but soon changed after Ki got Swansea back into the game.
3. Rooney is NOT a central midfielder
Admittedly, there was no set formation as our midfielders interchanged in the hope of creating something and it seemed to work, then United conceded and Rooney became isolated. He was lively and looked to get on the ball but to no avail. He doesn’t have the creative mind of Juan Mata and doesn’t offer much in terms of defensive ability which makes him look poor even though he tries more than most. He needs to be played up top because currently Van Persie and Falcao look incapable of taking a chance.
4. Swansea deserved to win
It all looked bright when United opened the scoring but before we had time to process the quality of the goal, we conceded. Swansea looked poor for the first half hour but then it became clear that they had panicked United and it was an obvious choice to sit and let United attack. Swansea knew United were worried when the first long ball was pumped into Fellaini and they waited for a chance to break and took advantage in midfield resulting in a goal off a long range strike from Shelvey which took a slight deflection and was enough to take it by De Gea.
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