Clough Arrival Inspires Derby

Derby 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Derby: Commons (30)

Team: Kuszczak, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Rafael, Scholes (Ronaldo 63), Anderson (Carrick 74), Gibson, Nani, Tevez, Welbeck (Rooney 63)

Totally uninspiring. We were not only poor but abysmal. Credit to Derby for pulling out an unexpected result. They were hungrier, more passionate and, generally, put in more effort in this game.

They started the game putting pressure on our boys and never relented throughout the game. In all my years of watching United play (28 years and counting), we've never looked so poor. Even in the dark years in the 80s, what we lacked in talent, we made up in desire. And when we fell short on desire, there was still the occasional flair to fall back on. This season, we lacked everything.

Despite the stats saying that we forced 4 saves, only Carrick's late late injury time header looked like a genuine shot on target. Even then it's a stretch to call it a shot. It was a tremendously weak header straight at Roy Carroll. That was our best chance on target. Pretty much sums up the night.

The early pressure by Derby put us off our element and we never recovered. Our passes throughout the night were either too long or too short. Welbeck and Tevez never had an ouch of service.

Nani cuts inside too much and always makes the wrong decision. Gibson, who played on the right, was totally non-existant. Ferguson must have something against Gibson to play him so horribly out of his comfort zone in the centre of the park. I foresee another prospect ruined by Ferguson tinkering and playing him out of position ala O'Shea, Alan Smith, Phil Neville etc.

Anderson was doing everything wrong in midfield. His passing was simply atrocious. Practically every single pass went wayward. Scholes could hardly keep up with a midfield that was giving up the ball all night long. No wonder he looked knackered when he was substituted.

Speaking of subsitutions, Rooney was a headless chicken, much like Tevez the entire game. While Ronaldo had decent chances, he just didn't seem like putting in any effort on a freezing night.

I'm not touching on the defenders coz I thought they did a decent job considering how the other 6 in front of them were pretty much mucking around.

Once again, all credit to Derby for bringing the fight to us. They showed us what cup passion is all about. We have been playing like zombies in a poor B grade movie for quite sometime now and unless we take a lesson from Derby on this night, we're in for a really rough time against better equiped opponents.

There may still be hope yet for us to find that elusive spark to jumpstart our season, but on the evidence of tonight's game, it's a long way to go. I'm not even looking forward to Chelsea's game this Sunday.