Match Report

Well,

That was underwhelming

First half we were all over them without really doing much, apart from smashing Vidic's face, then scoring a very well taken goal.

Second half bottled, Carrick came on and all of a sudden we were shit, it just all went a bit wibbly, one Geordie does not a midfield make!

Boruc: I knew where Mata was going to put the freekick, I wonder why Artur didn't? Apart from that he was excellent with his usual "dodgy kicking" appearing in places but generally not bad.

Clyne: First half very good, second half less effective and I did feel that he was slightly bitched by Evra, who's experience showed against a couple of our younger players. Not bad, but not his best day either.

Lovren: okay, did not very much wrong… Not much else to say

Fonte: as above

Shaw: Did a good impression of a marauding left back, seriously pissed off Januzaj, but otherwise looked good, whilst performing well within himself. That says a lot, he performed much better than some people.

Davis: First half not so good (laying on Rickie notwithstanding), second half looked better.

Wanyama: The two faces of Victor, first half imperious, second half chasing his own arse and giving away a senseless free kick right where we didn't need it to occur. He needs to do the first half stuff more and the second half stuff a lot less. Much improved, but he definitely can get a lot better… A lot, and he was lucky not to get sent off with a second yellow.

Morgan: Good, but strangely subdued I thought. World Cup on his mind?

Cork: For me one of his strange games today, he was everywhere but somehow I feel he could have done better. This is one player I think we may well not see again. It'll be a shame if that's true, but I wish him all the best with Everton (that's where I would go, European football & everything).

Lallana: Flickering today. Closed down a lot. In the first half Giggs was patently shit scared of him, because he had Man United players all over him whenever he even looked at the ball. Second half he faded, but by then we were chasing them for some inexplicable reason. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of him in a Saints shirt, but if we have, I think he's the one we can do without the most, or rather, most easily replace.

Lambert: Knackered, but took his goal well. I hope he goes to the World Cup, even if he really could do with the rest of not going.

Subs

Gallagher: Came on and ran around a bit. Nearly got on the end of a couple of things, but he obviously needs to work on his touch as things are not sticking to him as they are our more experienced players. It'll come though.

Ward-Prowse: Underwhelming, he needs to go and play somewhere. He's not good enough for us at the moment. Let's send him away and see if he can play enough football to show us what we all hope he can. At the moment, what he's giving us is not good enough… I want it to not be true but it is, he's just not showing his quality ATM.

Chambers: Looked a bit off the pace, but tried.

Conclusion:

In the first half we should have won, in the second half we were lucky to hold on. Don't really know why, as we were easily superior to them, even if they did have players worth megabucks.

The only players in their team I thought were worth a shit were Vidic (but only in the air) and RVP who looked class.

I found it strangely unnerving that Carrick could improve them so much, just think what a decent defensive midfielder would do for them!

I applaud their fans over the last half an hour and I roundly condemn the humourless arseholes in the first half.

At the end of everything I'm glad it's all over, what will happen will happen and I will see you all again (those of you I do see when we're at the games) in the preseason friendlies I expect.

I'm curious to see what comes next