Crap Players Score Day

I must say, once again I was a little bemused by the starting XI against Derby yesterday, but this time we did it with minimal fuss.

To my eyes, the main difference between this game and the first leg of the Carling Cup tie was that the hunger we clearly lacked that night was back with gusto. In the previous game we seemed too reliant on Derby being overawed and expected our reputation to do the work but this time out we saw none of that lax attitude.

Ronaldo was shifted to a more central role, presumably to give him a few more sights on goal and up his surely waning confidence. Personally I think he needs games on the right, which is where he has always done the most damage for us and where Ferguson seems at pain to play him of late. As it turned out, he was virtually anonymous for the entire 90 minutes, partly down to Robbie Savage and partly down to his own lack of form. He did smack the wall his customary couple of times, one setting up a goal rather fortuitously, but that was about it except for a very well taken header when he jogged clear of his marker from an early second half corner.

Again the engine of the team was the mercurial Ryan Giggs, playing in a playmaker role on paper but deeper and more strict on position in reality. Alongside him, the normally woeful Darron Gibson was promoted to the stature of average-at-best. Park worked hard, as always, but lacked any real outlet. The biggest surprise of the day for me was Nani, who outshone his Portuguese counterpart all day, scoring another well taken goal and troubling his full back quite a bit.

The back line did well, but that annoying habit of conceding when we're coasting crept in once more. Winning 1-0 keeps our backline vigilant, but giving them a cushion seems to do them no favours and Derby's goal was all too easy as Addison put a good header out of Ben Foster's reach to threaten a brief revival.

Danny Welbeck's goal to finally seal the game will have reminded onlooking pundit and ex-United player Teddy Sheringham of many of his own goals.

So not a startling performance, but we did control the game with a make shift midfield and were never really in trouble except for a brief spell after Derby's goal which we rode out with aplomb.

The draw sees us away to either Swansea or Fulham which, while not being the hardest draw possible, will not be an easy game but one we should be able to progress from. In a busy period of the season (the game is flanked by games against Spurs in the Carling Cup Final and Newcastle just before, with Inter Milan and Liverpool just after) we have to wonder if we'll again see another one of Ferguson's baffling line-ups.

Next up is Fulham in the latest in a long line of 'must wins'.

Coming up over the next week I'm going to have a brief chat with spooky from DearMrLevy.com about being our feeder team and March 1st's Cup Final.

Take a moment to vote in my poll.