Match Report: Stoke City Vs Manchester United (1-2)
Substitutions for Stoke City: Danny Higginbottom (Danny Collins), Eidur Gudjohnson (Jermaine Pennant)
Substitutions for Manchester United: Wes Brown (Gary Neville), Michael Carrick (John O Shea), Gabriel Obertan (Paul Scholes)
Manchester United managed their first away win of the season, courtesy of a brace from Mexican forward Javier Hernandez. The striker is on fire since his arrival from Chivas Guadjalara, and it was his doings that gave the side all three points against Stoke
City.
Stoke were outplayed in the first half of the match and managed to maintain most of the possession in the midfield. The visitors managed 8 shots on goal and found the first goal in the 27th minute. The Mexican used his lightening fast reflexes
to use the back of his head and found the first goal of the match. There was no more drama in the first half and United made some changes just at the start of the second half. Right back Gary Neville was replaced by Wes Brown at the back while utility man
John O Shea made way for Michael Carrick.
For most of the second half, Manchester United looked impenetrable and had 60% of the possession. Berbatov came to close to scoring but saw his shot saved by the goalkeeper. Stoke City; however, broke their Premier League drought of goals against Manchester
United, when Iceland player Tuncay managed a brilliant solo run from the right. Tuncay then managed an unstoppable curler to the right to equalize things on the 80thminute. The goal can be attributed to a mistake made by Paul Scholes which gave
the possession to Tuncay and it looked like yet another draw for the Red Devils.
However, the striker from Mexico had other ideas when he found the goal for the third time in 2 Premier League starts. The player managed a simple tap in from close range, when left back Patrice Evra took a shot which unexpectedly landed into the feet of
the Mexican. The player was in the right place at the right time and scored his second of the match to secure all three points for the Manchester United. The referee gave 4 additional minutes of injury time, but there was no late drama for Sir Alex Ferguson’s
liking as his side managed their first away win of the season.
The Mexican has shown great form recently and has not made the club miss the services of Wayne Rooney. However, Portuguese winger Nani wasn’t his usual self in the match and lacked match sharpness. Left back Patrice Evra had a wonderful game as he did fairly
well in his new attacking position and got forward well. Evra dispossessed the opponents easily but was unfortunate when a penalty was not awarded for a harsh nudge on him in the penalty area.
United remain undefeated this season and have managed 5 draws and 4 wins. Manchester United have catapulted themselves into the second place and are 5 points behind leader Chelsea. However, it was a good end to a rather tense week for Manchester United,
owing to the whole Wayne Rooney saga. As they say, all is well that ends well and it was win-win for the manager. Wayne Rooney signed a new contract with the club while the side managed their first away win of the season.
United’s next fixtures is against Wolves at home in league cup and Javier Hernandez can expect yet another start owing to his tremendous performance today.
Tags: