United ended their Champions League group stages with defeat against Romanian side CFR Cluj on a cold night at Old Trafford. Although he stated otherwise, Sir Alex probably had one eye on the Manchester derby when picking his team for this one.
We started off playing the better football, our front three of Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney caused a few problems to the Cluj defence but no real clear-cut chances fell to our front men.
The best chances of the half both fell to centre-back Chris Smalling, who probably shouldve buried two headers. The first was a deflected Nick Powell shot which he guided over the bar, and the second was a free header from about four yards out that he headed wide.
Cluj took the lead at the start of the second half with a goal that no keeper would’ve got close to, Luis Alberto took aim from 25-yards out and it came off the post on it’s way into the back of the net.
David De Gea – The Spaniard didn’t have much to do, he organised his defence well and looked calm and composed from set pieces. 6/10
Phil Jones – Only his second start upon his return to the first team fold, he offered himself as an outlet down the right all the time and played some nice balls into the box. 6/10
Chris Smalling – Probably not Chris’ best night, he looked shaky at the back and played a few wayward balls forward. 4/10
Scott Wootton – He looked confident and did his job well, he put in some good tackles. Man of the Match. 7/10
Alex Buttner – Didn’t have an awful lot to do defensively, but looked great going forward. 6/10
Ryan Giggs – He looks more out of place with every passing game, his passing game was off and he didn’t provide much cover to the back four. 5/10
Tom Cleverley – Looked decent until he picked up an injury. He played the ball forward whenever he could, his injury probably cost us the game. 6/10
Nick Powell – Nick had a mixed night, he scuffed a few shots and probably took too many touches on a couple of occasions, however he has plenty of time to learn from his mistakes. 5/10
Danny Welbeck – Full of energy as always, he provided the best moment of the match when he beat a couple of Cluj defenders with some nice skill. 6/10
Wayne Rooney – Didn’t really seem interested in the game, he had a chipped shot saved at the end of the first half. 5/10
Javier Hernandez – His all round game is forever improving, he played in a few decent crosses but nobody got on the end of them. 6/10
Subs:
Paul Scholes – He had an off night by his high standards, a few too many passes were wayward from the Ginger Prince. 5/10
Federico Macheda – Looked lively when he came on, held the ball up well and played a few nice passes. 6/10
Darren Fletcher – Not enough time to mark.
Be the first to comment