Nani Sinks Stoke

Manchester United 2 - Stoke City 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (27), Nani (62)
Stoke City: Whitehead (50)

Team: Kuszczak, Vidic, Smalling, Rafael, Evra, Fletcher, Gibson (Carrick 78), Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez (Owen 78)

Once again we failed to overwhelm our opponents despite dominating the bulk of the game. The good news however is that we still managed to gather all 3 points after a lacklustre display.

Hernandez opened the scoring when he nipped in front of Shawcross to poke home Nani's low cross to send the Old Trafford crowd wild. We should have had killed the game but no one had their scoring boots on. All our shots went wayward.

Inside the first 5 minutes of the second half, Stoke equalized via a header from Whitehead. Our defenders were caught in Neverland and Whitehead capitalized to pull the game level. We looked shaky until Nani's wonderstrike just after the hour mark.

From then on, we completely kept Stoke out of the game without threatening to pull further away. Our passing in the last third was severely lacking and the game petered out to a close 2-1 victory.

What was encouraging was the play of both Smalling and Rafael. Both handled their defensive duties well. The only blemish was allowing Whitehead's header, but that responsibility fell mostly to Vidic and Evra.

On the attacking side, Nani was a welcome sight. He's goal brought us the points, and while he did show his usual scintillating runs down the flanks, he did a wonderful job providing the spark and link up play.

If there was one downside was the play of Gibson. I'm beginning to feel very underwhelmed by him. Besides a wicked shot (which has been missing), he's just a very mediocre player. There is nothing outstanding about his play. At the same time, there's nothing he does poorly either. Perhaps that's exactly his problem, he's a very average player when his shot is not there. Probably someone good enough for a second rung club like Birmingham or Wolves, but I don't really see a future for him at United. Afterall, as Kentona once mentioned, we already have Carrick for that.

All in all, it's a good result today. We've come away with 10 points from a hectic festive fixture and that's a really good haul.

Next we get to play Liverpool in the FA Cup this weekend, followed by another imposing game against Spurs, who'd love to avenge the defeat at Old Trafford.