1) Another 19yr-old Impresses
Gotta give it to LVG. So many youngsters are getting chances and taking them in fact. Last night was young Paddy McNair, playing in the centre of defence as CB alongside Marcos Rojo. On the 60' mark we began to be on the receiving end of West Ham's endless swarm of attacks and boy did that boy impress. His one backward header foiling a near certain goal was probably the moment of the match.
2) Wayne Rooney's Moment Of Folly
As if I don't hate Rooney enough. Last night for the first 60' he actually appeared to have listened to our complaints and played more inspirationally and with more fight. And then he cynically kicked out at Stewart Downing when they were about to break. In front of the referee. Straight red. Some people have the cheek to compare him to Solskjaer's one-on-one chase and hack against Newcastle a long time back and I just don't believe it. This one just looked stupid. Maybe the good thing to come out of it all is that he'll be missing for our next three games. Time to appoint a better captain maybe in RVP, Blind or Fletcher (even if he's not good enough).
3) Rafael
What a difference a match makes. After his folly last match against Leicester, Rafael turned in a MOTM performance last night. Resolute in defence, swashbuckling going forwards, he is such a joy to watch when in such form. Even defending he wasn't rash and he actually won more headers last night than the rest of the season so far. Hopefully he can keep himself injury-free this season.
4) Poor Outings
IMHO Angel di Maria was one of those who didn't play as well. Perhaps West Ham wanted to neutralize him as a threat and fouled him too often early on. He lost abit of inspiration as the game wore on. Marcos Rojo wasn't that good as CB either. Maybe he wasn't used to the pace of the EPL yet. RVP still isn't in 2012-13 form yet, and he and Falcao still need time to develop some form of understanding.
5) Uncertain Defence
Somehow whether because we lack more world class talent or we just can't gel as a back four, our defence seems very uncertain and unconfident. If midtable teams can stay in the EPL on the back of staunch defences made up of journeymen, then there is no reason why our back four can't improve on it's communication and coordination. At the moment, the best back four we have now would probably be Rafael, Evans, Jones, Shaw. Yet our CBs are almost unable to ever play together more than one game.
Next up, Everton at home! Hopefully we can beat them!
GGMU!!!
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