United review in the EFL cup (a)
That was disappointing. The game was a bore and there isn't a lot to say. United won 1-0, deserved a 1-0 in my opinion and I was a little bit disappointed with the team in the second half.
In the first half, we did well. Navas did a beautiful cross, iheanacho heads over and was a real chance. Iheanacho intercepted passes a couple of times, Nolito and Sane too. The passing from midfield to attackers was disappointing last night and ultimately lost City the game. City started with a couple of youngsters, Maffeo and Garcia who both did really well. Maffeo tried his hardest, tackled well and read the game well. He looked out of pace but with more first team appearances, he'll get a lot better. Garcia passed the ball well, controlled the midfield play in the first half and showed real maturity with his play. We made no mistakes in this game, which was good to see and we played a little more direct and Caballero did well with his handling, judging when to come out and clear and even did a tackle at one stage to break up play. City played a little more direct and it worked well. Kompany's passing was a little off but with more games, he'll get better. Clichy did good down the left side and Otamendi's tackling in the game was good, excellent in the first half I thought but his passing needs to improve. Fernando did well in the middle too. United never pressed City so it suited City's passing and direct play, I expect WBA at the weekend to do the same, they don't press high and they aren't full of pace. The only disappointment I had was up front. No shots on target and that just is not good enough. 5 shots all game. United weren't much better with 8 shots and only 2 on target and had a strong team out (as strong as it could be for them with their injuries at the moment).
The only goal came via a long ball up field, Ibrahimovic controlled past an overcommitted Otamendi and dribbles the ball out wide. Young Maffeo is caught square on his man, Rashford is unmarked and the ball is squared across the box by Ibrahimovic, Fernando rushed in and it played off the ball by Herrera (weak but not a foul in my opinion) and Mata is left unmarked to slide into the bottom corner. I was disappointed in Kolorov's defending in the centre, standing still and not closing down play. I mean, at least try and block the shot. I don't rate Kolorov at CB, unless we dominate the ball all game then he is useful. I don't rate him that much at LB either with his lack of pace and judgement off the ball isn't great either. Will he survive the January window? Well, City need signings and we need rid of couple of players too and full backs are a problem with their age. Sagna is another in trouble and Clichy too. Zaba will survive until summer I think. A wide player needs to leave with the incoming Gabriel Jesus too (Navas is in trouble, he played well first half but he doesn't get in scoring positions and we need wingers who score, like Nolito and Sterling did earlier on). Overall, disappointed but we didn't have extra time and the youngsters did well. The true test and worries come at the weekend with a trip to the hawthorns. I'm confident that if we can get back to winning ways that we can really kick on from there. Here is hoping, aye.
