Stoke 1 Manchester United
Shawcross 2 Falcao 26
Louis Van Gaal may have been in charge of Manchester United
for over half a season now, but as many will agree, a manager has never been
fully baptised into the uniqueness of English football until they’ve come up
against a windy day in Stoke.
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| Radamel Falcao celebrates United's equaliser |
For now three points at the Britannia Stadium remains a box
unticked in the list of credentials Van Gaal’s United, who in his words aspire
to become Premier League Champions in the next three years, nevertheless their
1-1 draw yesterday afternoon can still be seen as a good point gained and a
result which extends their unbeaten run to 10 games.
Even so things could easily have been different, and on the
day clubs began lining up their business in the January transfer market,
United’s defensive frailties were once again a pressing issue.
Their three man backline was breached inside two minutes
when Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross headed home the first goal of 2015, while
direct balls up to Peter Crouch caused continuous havoc in the visitor’s
penalty area. In Van Gaal’s assessment United “were simply not good enough.”
It could have been worse. Stoke could quite easily have had
a penalty when Chris Smalling appeared to handle the ball in the area and
Crouch saw his header rebound off the post, all after Radamel Falcao’s first
half equaliser.
A classic to start the year, this was not, a dogged and
tenacious Stoke performance, it certainly was. And to those pessimists who bang
on about Stoke’s “long ball” tactics bear in mind this was only the Potter’s
third set piece goal of the season, simply a case of playing to their strengths
in tough conditions.
A Stoke victory wouldn’t have fashioned too many complaints,
for starters they had double the amount of shots as their visitors who spent
most of their time building up play harmlessly in their own half.
But let’s not forget this is still a United in “transition”
and who lost at this ground a year ago. In their last 10 games they have picked
up 24 points, that’s almost double the amount they achieved in the first ten
games of the season. Progress under Van Gaal is clear to see.
A wretched 2014 was as good as forgotten about, however from
Stoke first corner 2015 began in a similar fashion. United must have known
about the aerial threats of Crouch and Shawcross and yet, somehow, the two
Stoke giants found themselves unmarked to open the scoring, with Crouch winning
the original header allowing Shawcross to turn the ball in.
One nearly became two with 19 minutes gone. Erik Pieters’
long clearance twisted and turned in the blustery conditions, United defender
Jonny Evans made a mess of it by letting the ball bounce and Stoke forward Mame
Biram Diouf nicked in to create a golden opportunity, but he couldn’t even hit
the target.
The United side from a year ago may have buckled at that
point, under Van Gaal they are quickly rebuilding with sterner stuff. On 26
minutes they were level. Wayne Rooney’s corner was flicked on by Michael
Carrick and Falcao bundled the ball past Asmir Begovic.
From there United did their best to try and build up some threatening
steam; however Begovic was rarely tested and had a quiet afternoon. Stoke dug
their heels in until half time and looked comfortable by United’s slow build up
play around the centre circle.
It took until the 64th minute for another real change
of note, when Phil Jones almost turned Jonathan Walters cross into his own net.
By that point Stoke were on top and from the resulting corner Crouch’s header
hit the dangling arm of Smalling but referee Michael Oliver waved play on. Five
minutes later Crouch hit the post from Marko Arnautovic’s free kick, all after
the lively Falcao had been surprisingly replaced by Ander Herrera.
That allowed Rooney to join Van Persie upfront, with Adnan
Januzaj also coming on in place of Luke Shaw at left wing back. With 15 minutes
to go United lost Ashley Young to a hamstring injury forcing Van Gaal to bring
on Rafael, the only change to the outcome appeared to be a Stoke winner.
With 9 minutes to go Mark Hughes introduced Oussama Assaidi
and deep into stoppage time the Stoke winger cut in from the left to shoot,
however De Gea saved comfortably and the points were shared.
Man Of The Match : Ryan Shawcross
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