Stoke City 1 Manchester United 1

Don't really know if it’s a Christmas treat anymore when the performances are poor and the results aren't coming.

Another away fixture without a win. As LVG himself said, “You cannot challenge for the title if you don’t win games like these.”

Here’re my usual five thoughts:

1) Shit Defence As Always
I’m writing this till the cows come home man. This is akin to the hashtag #moyesout last season. Basically a fixture on my blogs posts after every game. Last night we started with a back four of Jones, Smalling, Evans and Shaw. We weren’t particularly terrible when we have four at the back, but maybe we hadn’t awoken for the game yet and therefore conceded a lousy goal. Also we should have been familiar enough with Stoke’s modus operandi (setpieces) to defend better.

2) Substitutions Changed The Game
The key substitutions that changed the game was the double switch of Herrera for Falcao, Januzaj for Shaw. From 4-4-2 we also changed formation to 3-5-2. LVG probably wanted to attack the game and put Stoke on the backfoot. Instead, we got pegged back very aggressively and by the time Young pulled up with his hamstring injury, I honestly was happy to settle for the draw. Maybe Herrera and Januzaj weren’t match fit, but they certainly had an adverse impact on the team makeup.

3) Ashley Young
I have been giving this guy shit all of last season. But this season he seems like a completely changed player. Making the wingback position his own, he could play on both sides of the field and he’s finally finding the form that made SAF splurge to buy him from Aston Villa. So when he pulled up while running to try and reach a pass from Herrera when we were on the break, I knew the game was over for him, and for us. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

4) Land Of Giants
It’s amazing how Stoke manages to accumulate these gigantic players. They have the tallest squad in Europe, and are menacing at set-pieces. The funny fact is that with all their height, they have also conceded just as many goals from set-pieces. Yet if you knew this, you’d have thought that our defence would have trained specifically to counter this threat. Instead, we were in bits and pieces each time there was a set-piece and Stoke really milked it for all it was worth. Luckily for us we have the rub of the green with one Crouch header hitting the post and a Smalling handball not given any penalty, and then of course Stoke’s poor accuracy with only 2 shots on target. Else we would’ve lost this game.

5) Poor Away Form Of Players
For some weird reason, our players are shit poor when it comes to away games. Maybe the boys are tired, maybe they miss home, maybe they are just not familiar with the pitch and atmosphere. Say what you want but 2 away wins all season long is simply not good enough. It is a reversal from last season when our home form was shit while our away form was superb. Rooney in particular plays very poorly when away. Evans last night was showing that he belonged to the bench, and Mata, while improving, had many periods of anonymity. Even the most constant of the side, Carrick and DDG were having pretty blah games by their standards. Hopefully things improve from here.

Next match, at home to Southampton next Monday.

Hope we can win that one.

GGMU!!!