Reading 3 Manchester United 4

Whether you want to call it a disastrous defensive display or a superb offensive one, it's still 3pts in the bag.

1. As SAF also agreed, this must be one of our worst defensive performances of the season. All three goals we gave up were really soft, two coming from corners. Where was the marking? We have to stop leaking goals like that.

2. The biggest culprit was probably Rio Ferdinand, who was having a surprisingly anonymous game. Hardly saw any of the ball, and nowhere close to being able to attack the ball when their goals were scored. Age is catching up with him.

3. Rafael was another big culprit although he was rightly substituted for Smalling very early on, likely due to his rash yellow card. He looked absolutely dismayed, but it was right thing to do. He seemed to be dominated by Reading's winger up until then.

4. Although I felt Evans and Evra had decent games, they also made mistakes and were slow to react in the lead up to those goals. However Evans, in particular put in another very good shift helping bridge the midfield and the defense, even helping to get us a penalty. Evra also looked like a stand-in winger at times. But he definitely has zero chemistry with Young.

5. This week's midfield of Carrick, Fletcher and Ando seemed quite formidable (apart from those goals), but we lost Ando to a hamstring injury, and one suspects Fletcher is still not good enough. In the end, just like any Man U midfield combo this season, they didn't impress enough. Probably Carrick-Scholes-Fletcher will be the combo for our next game.

6. Speaking of Ando's hamstring tweak, it's really unfortunate. The boy is currently having another good run of games and then he gets injured. Again. You have to wonder how much patience SAF has left on the boy. Its happened so many times. Scored a beauty for our first equalizer.

7. At least something we didn't have to worry about was the form of both our starting strikers, Rooney and RVP. Rooney still doesn't look 100%, but his work rate is far better than anyone else right now. RVP looks rusty somehow, but glad he got a goal, and should have gotten one more that was wrongly disallowed.

8. Once again, for the millionth time, I have no idea what Young was out there for. Maybe it was to add width but he seriously sucks. Whether he had the ball or not, he was always less than impressive. I wish we had better options on the wings but now we only have him. Still I think even Welbeck on the wing is better.

9. Lindegaard definitely couldn't have done much about all 3 goals that were scored. But somehow he doesn't look at good or secure as what I think De Gea could have been. There's something about his positioning that seems to affect our own defence. Can't wait for DDG to get back in the fold.

10. Our subs weren't spectacular but did their jobs. Smalling can't pass for nuts, but defends quite solidly especially in the air. Great to see Phil Jones back. He showed some skill and like Smalling, adds to a more solid defence, even when he's in midfield. Hope he gets a good run of games to come. Welbeck looked lost after coming on for RVP. Plus his standard industry seemed missing. He better start taking his chances else he's gonna get stuck in the pecking order.

A win is still a win, but it's the 10th time we've had to come from behind in the league. That speaks volumes about our defence which we really need to address. Still, 3pts clear at the top of the league with Shitty to play next weekend, we can't really ask for more, especially when we've already lost 3 matches compared to Shitty having not lost a game yet. Hope we beat them next week!

GGMU!!!