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Losing is never nice - but today I thought we fought and worked hard but in the end we were just outclassed. And there is no shame in that from where I am standing. No Trevor Sinclair today - I don't know why. I haven't checked yet. But it was a big loss. Labant was on the left, Carrick returned to the middle and Lomas was back on the right wing as we played a 4-4-2.
We started really well (even if Keane did give Cole an elbow early on) we pressured them and won a few corners. Di Canio and Kanouté were looking bright and you could see that it was going to be a good game. When Di Canio gave the ball to Labant, he delivered a great cross which was met by Steve Lomas who's great header beat Barthez and sent everyone mad. It was great to get an early goal. I felt the only way we were going to win is by scoring early and building on that.
But just a few minutes later our defence was sliced open and Beckham came in from the right wing to chip David James and make it 1-1. It was great goal from Beckham who had a very good game.
That I thought would deflate us and let Man Utd in. But we replied in the best way we knew how - score another. The excellent Schemmel just kept running and his scuffed shot went into the path of Freddie Kanouté who finished first time it a low shot past the Man Utd keeper.
Everyone as you would expect was going mad - everyone was sure that we could do these today.
But it just wasn't to be.
Man U went right back up and got a free kick. Which spelled trouble for us. It's this goal that I was most angry about. Because it was a set piece. What do we do in training? From a young age we were all told when playing football to mark up. Yet we never seem to be able to do this. Beckham's cross was met by Nicky Butt to make it 2-2.
It was there when Man Utd took control of this game. The passed us off the park. Cole and Carrick just looked at Keane, Butt and Scholes in amazement as they just played some great football. It was men against boys.
Half time came and we were pleased, as it was an entertaining half. But in our hearts I think we knew that it was not looking likely that we would get anything out of this match.
The second half started much like the first had ended. Man U had lots of possession and we building towards a goal. The goal came and it was a very soft one. Repka should have never allowed a cross by Solskjaer to be pulled back for Paul Scholes to tap in. It was a soft goal, but it was coming.
That was it after that. Man Utd took complete control of the game and got there fourth when a long clearance from Neville wasn't dealt with by our defence and James also made a bit of a mess of it. Anyway the bottom line was that it was in the back of the net. Solskjaer the scorer. That was it after that.
With about 17 minutes left Jermain Defoe replaced Nigel Winterburn. This was maybe left too late by Roeder, but it was the correct substitution. Di Canio went into midfield on the left - this is something that people (the people that don't hate di Canio but realise that Defoe should be playing) have been talking about. It's definitely something we accommodate. It could work.
Defoe scored with little under 10 minutes left. Good work and a good cross from Kanouté set Defoe up to score. 4-3 with about 7 or 8 minutes left - could we do it?
No I'm afraid.
We did try but Man Utd just were too hard for us to break down.
Man Utd broke and When Scholes got into the box Repka went in 2 footed and a penalty was given. Repka clearly got the ball - BUT there was need to make that challenge and penalty in my opinion it deserved a penalty for Repka's stupidity.
Before you have a go at Repka and praise Dailly think about this - The only reason Dailly is said to have good matches is because he is largely anonymous.
Repka seems to do all the work and as he does more work he will make more mistakes - that is why we need a new centre half to replace Dailly. If Foxe came into the team he would be no worse than Dailly. Average player - not having a go at him but he is just an average player!
Beckham stepped up to take the penalty and scored to make it 5-3. And that's how it ended.
It was a good effort from our boys. Don't be too disheartened with the result. It is a bonus though that we don't have Arsenal next week.
Overall - No shame in losing to these. Man Utd were excellent. We done well. Got 3 goals which usually is enough. Lets just keep going and get as high up the league as we can.
Ratings:
David James 6 - Made a few decent saves but maybe was at fault for the Man U 4th goal. But did ok.
Nigel Winterburn 6 - The game just passed him by. I am a big fan of Nutty Nige but he looked a bit out of his depth today.
Tomas Repka 7 - All you remember him for is the mistakes he made. And some of them were bad ones and I agree with you on that one. But no one will remember how he held the defence together for most of the match.
Dailly 6 - I don't remember anything he actually did of any note! Won a few headers and was sound at the back.
Schemmel 8 - He was excellent today and was very close to giving him our man of the match. He attacked well and done his job in defence even better. Gets better all the time.
Labant 6 - Had a decent first half but faded badly in the second. Made the first goal though.
Cole 6 - Way way out of his league. He was up against top class players today and it showed. He just didn't do it for me.
Carrick 6 - Like Cole he didn't fair well. But done a little bit better. Still looked a bit lazy and causal.
Lomas MoTM 9 - People may disagree and fair enough. I'm not a fan of Lomas and never have been. But today he gave his all for the team. He worked his bollocks off. Excellent.
Kanouté 7 - Whatever you say about him I think different! He worked really hard and looked very good. I mean it's hard not being a target man but still expected to win every ball in the air. Got his goal - which was a great finish. 7
Di Canio 7 - Like the team, he was excellent in the first half. It was the best I'd seen Paolo in a while. He looked up for it. Sure he faded in the second half but tell me who didn't? It's nothing to do with Paolo if our defence can't defend! Gave the ball away a little - and you'll think of him for that in this match because you all expect him to pick out the right ball all the time. He wasn't great overall today, but didn't do badly.
Subs
Defoe (on for Nige) - Got his goal. Is pushing more and more for a first team place.