Well I think that it’s fair to say we have really come far as a team, picking up a point away at Old Trafford and feeling disappointed, having fielded a weakened side due to injuries to key players.
It was another excellent performance, with everyone doing their bit to make it a success and to come away with a very well deserved point against the Red Devils.
It did not start off well with the news that Lanzini picked up a knock in training the day before, but he should be available again for next week against Stoke.
Zarate put in another excellent performance, with Carroll playing much better too, but the man of the match performance has to be awarded to the rock that is Winston Reid. What an absolute blinder of a performance from him, making it very hard for United to break us down and I thought he did an excellent job all around.
We started very well in the game creating an early chance with Victor Moses who went through one on one with De Gea, but produced a disappointing shot straight into his hands.
We then could have had two goals in two minutes, the first attempt coming from a cross down the left hand side, but in the end Smalling hit it onto his own post and out it went for a corner. From the resulting corner, Reid rose above the rest, but could only find the post again with a bullet header, so we could have been 0-3 up and out of sight in the first half hour.
Our injury list again increased when Moses picked up what looked to be a hamstring injury, which could see him out for the next 3-6 weeks, depending on how bad the injury is. Antonio was the man to replace him, but he did not impress me as much as I would have liked, but it was a big ask to play away at Old Trafford for his longest game of the season so far.
The second stage of the second half was definitely a nervy finish to watch, but we defended excellently and limited them to one shot on target the entire game, with everyone to thank for that.
Zarate had a great chance to win it in the second half, but he could only put a snap shot wide from just under 10 yards out.
Overall we got the point that we thoroughly deserved, and it was great to see Alex Song get 75 minutes under his belt after such a long absence.
Everyone is very happy on social media, which is good to see, and hopefully now we can take not just this result, but the level of performance into the next game against Stoke and get our first win in five games.
An excellent performance from everyone, we just cannot be stopped by the big boys!
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