5 Talking Points: Manchester United vs Norwich City

Manchester United lose yet another game as they go down 1-2 to Norwich City at home, following a disastrous run of poor form. While Jerome opened the scoring for the Canaries right before half-time, Tettey doubled the score for them 10 minutes into the second half. Only in the 60′ could the French lad Martial pull one back for the host, but there was just not enough from the United squad to rub out that one point from the game.

Here is Essentially Sports bringing you the talking points of the game:

5. Defense line is non-existent:

Over the past few games, Manchester United have been terrible in holding their defensive lines. While they often try to push up ahead as a bunch, the defense forgets its real position in the team- the last line before David de Gea. Previously, in the initial half of the season, the defence was performing spectacularly well. Chris Smalling, Darmian and Luke Shaw  held the back well, and tracked back as and when the opposition showed signs of attacking. They covered the gaps, despite their aggressive nature of play.

The new or rather the secondary Manchester United defence just cannot handle the sudden shift in the direction during the play. Manchester United have quite clearly been using zonal marking under Louis van Gaal. While this works for teams and players who are capable of positioning themselves well, it depends on the opposition’s tactics as well.As it happened in the last few games, here also  zonal marking failed terribly. Players moved up ahead and when counter-attacked, they’d move up to tackle rather than covering their bases or maintaining a defensive offside line. It leaves a lot of space in the centre of the ground, in the box region. This gave players like Vardy and now Jerome a free run into the goal, both of who easily converted  their chances.

4.  Jerome’s rampaging run:

While Manchester United did not play to the best of their abilities, there was one Norwich man who was ready to take the few opportunities which came their way. Jerome had a field day at Old Trafford, scoring one  goal and assisting in another. His pace and acceleration proved too much for either Jones or Smalling to handle. Even David de Gea, who would have been repenting his decision to stay at the club, could do nothing but make a weak attempt at a save after his clinical finishing.

Although the lad had has a poor season so far, scoring just 3 in the last 17 Premiership League games, he seems to have justified his name on the team sheet and proven a valuable asset for the Canaries.

3. Fans have lost hope in the manager:

This cannot be more evident than it had been right after the game ended. With Norwich battling for relegation at the 16th position, this should have been a walk through the park for a team like Manchester United. An upset would have been akin to the tale David vs Goliath. But the times have changed, and so have the voices of the fans.

Right now, they no longer believe Manchester United to be the Goliath it once  was.  Rather, their expectations from the team have gone so low that a win against any team would come as a surprise for them. And much of the blame for the whole situation goes to the Dutchman Louis van Gaal.

His tactics have been severely criticized. Unlike the Manchester United which once used to play counter attacking football, he now has them play a purely possession based game, recording close to 60% possession almost every other game. The change has been not well received, with the manager being booed at the end of the game.

Louis van Gaal may have found some respite in the form of Antony Martial, who managed to tuck one away. But the reality of the situation is driven home when even the commentators at MUFC TV could not really support or offer any sort of  consolation for Louis van Gaal’s managerial style.

2.  Norwich’s ability to perform against bigger clubs:

Norwich’s position in the league table does not really do justice to their football on the pitch. Sitting at the 16th position, just overtaken by Chelsea, they have proven themselves to be a pain in the pinky toe for all of the ‘bigger teams’ in this competition. And surprisingly, they seem to work good only against the bigger teams.

They only just lost to Manchester City in the closing days of October by a 1 goal margin of 2-1, despite having troubled the Citizens quite a lot. They went on to draw against Arsenal and Everton. A draw against Arsenal during their best footballing period is an achievement for the Canaries. And now, they have defeated Manchester United. Despite all these, they lost 2-0 to Sunderland too.

It seems that Roy Keane does a good job of firing up his team and picking up the tone of the game a notch before the bigger clubs. Although the same needs to be replicated against the clubs lower in the League too, it seems that he is leading the club on the right path.

1.The Lack of Confidence in Manchester United’s squad is apparent:

While one might argue all day about how the back four have disappointed the club day in and day out, one cannot but accept the lack of chances which are being converted by the forwards too. With almost every game being dominated by possession, the ball often rotates among the feet of the forwards- Mata, Martial, Rooney and Depay. But the confidence or rather the risk factor is missing. The team does not take chances from outside the box. They do not believe in themselves to go in and fight for the ball.

Wayne Rooney looks a totally different version of himself as it seems like his goal drought has got to him hard. With a multitude of chances coming up from the wings, he was hardly ever in position or showed an intent of pushing himself ahead. Depay, being unsure of his decisions, took too much time on the ball- giving the defence enough time to settle. While Mata can not be really blamed for his play,  the lack of players looking for a run does not provide him a chance to look out for those cheeky through balls or the one two’s. Martial has been the only United lad who has seemed critical and hungry despite his discouraged team. Maybe it is time United found some newer blood to add some energy to the team.