Analysis: Manchester United 4 Stoke City 2

Premier League, Saturday 20^th October 2012

This home match to Stoke City promised goals as soon as Sir Alex Ferguson put three strikers down on his teamsheet, and goals there were. Rooney, Welbeck and van Persie scored four between them for United, and combined superbly throughout the match. Stoke’s two goals ensured some discomfort in the Manchester camp, but ultimately the Reds were too strong. Here’s some talking points from the game:

Fluid front

The formation assumed a familiar 4-4-2 shape. Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes played in central midfield, and Antonio Valencia played wide right. Meanwhile the front three of Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Robin van Persie interchanged between the two striker positions, and the left forward area.

This forward interchange worked delightfully. When Welbeck and Rooney moved left they offered a direct threat by coming inside and becoming an extra man in the middle. When van Persie moved left he offered the threat of crossing on his left-foot which he did sublimely to set-up Rooney’s first goal. The fluidity of these front three meant constant dilemmas for the Stoke defence. Meanwhile, Valencia offered a further attacking dimension down the right side, something utilised particularly well through the expansive passing of Scholes and Rooney, and this came to fruition as Valencia assisted van Persie’s goal from that side.

Every silver lining belongs to a cloud

In this game against Stoke we saw once again the good and the bad of Paul Scholes. His passing was, as usual, excellent. He also got forward to good effect in the first half, adding numbers to the United attacks and making well-timed runs. However this game lucidly exposed some of the flaws in his game, flaws which could’ve cost United in this match.

Scholes’ tackling was typically errant, and somewhat untypically unwise. It is often said that Scholes knows what he’s doing when fouling a player, that it is tactical. In this particular game however, he committed several rash fouls, seemingly not learning from the previous, and appeared lucky to have not been sent off for accumulation of yellow cards.

The other downside to Scholes’ game is, naturally because of his age, his intensity. United often look weak with only two players in central midfield, and Scholes does nothing to ease these fears. An ageing player, sublime with the ball at his feet, is not a Scholes at his defensive best. He can be lacklustre in his defensive duties, and this can contribute to more dangerous attacks from the opposition.

Scholes is a truly great player, and has been a blessing to United since his return from retirement in January. It would be foolish though to ignore that he, like any other player, has his flaws, and that they contributed to some nervous defensive moments against Stoke City.

Going Forward

This was overall a confident performance from United, somewhat shaken by two unlucky concessions, but crowned with a fantastic attacking display from the forwards. It can be expected that Sir Alex will rotate the team for the Champions League clash with Braga on Tuesday, with any of Fletcher, Kagawa, Cleverley, Anderson, Hernandez, Giggs and Nani coming in, and perhaps a return to the diamond (4-3-1-2) formation. United have now scored the most goals in the league this season, a proud statistic for the team. Now they must look to cut out the goals conceded.

Ratings

[4-4-2] De Gea-7, Rafael-7, Ferdinand-6, Evans-7, Evra-7, Valencia-6, Carrick-7, Scholes-6, Welbeck-7, Rooney-7, van Persie-8*, 

(Anderson-7, Nani-6, Hernandez-6)

*Man of the match

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