Mid-Season Review

19 games into the Premier League campaign, and Manchester United find themselves sitting pretty on top of the table. Despite a disappointing Capital One Cup exit, the Red Devils are into the last 16 of the Champions League awaiting a mouth-watering clash with Real Madrid. Now is the time to take stock, and review Manchester United’s season so far.

The story of United’s season has been defensive calamities combined with attacking excellence. The Reds have scored goals at a fantastic rate, but have needed to because of the uncharacteristic rate of conceding. United have already let in more goals than in any of their entire title-winning seasons in recent years.

If Sir Alex Ferguson’s team can go on and keep winning games however, then this will be seen as a great season. United are in a great position to regain the title, and will be looking to go far in the FA Cup and Champions League.

Below are the mid-season awards:

Players

BEST PLAYER:

Wayne Rooney

This may seem odd to some, but Wayne Rooney is certainly up there. A dreadful start against Everton, and a dreadful recent performance against Swansea have been but the rare lowpoints of an impressive campaign. The iThinkUnited player ratings system ranks Rooney as the most impressive player this season, and superb performances against Tottenham and Manchester City are among his highlights. Robin van Persie and Rafael are not far behind.

WORST PLAYER:

Nani

Like Rooney, Nani started this season dreadfully against Everton, and simply hasn’t recovered. Rumours of injury and dissent are common when the Portuguese is mentioned, and Nani simply isn’t having a good season at all.

BEST TEAM:

De Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley, Anderson, Rooney, van Persie, Hernandez

According to the iThinkUnited player ratings system, this eleven has been United’s best this season.

Matches

BEST MATCH:

Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3

Manchester United have been part of some extraordinary matches this season, but the Manchester derby has to be the highlight. Though torture to some, the dramatic victory over United’s cross-city rivals will be hard to beat for entertainment.

WORST MATCH:

Manchester United 0 CFR Cluj 1

In the context of the season, United have performed worse than this game, but if you had to miss one United game this year, it would be this. A dead-rubber as far as United were concerned, they never got going, and eventually lost to the Romanians. As boring as they come.

Goals

BEST GOAL SCORED:

Robin van Persie vs Fulham

Van Persie’s first goal in a United shirt was excellent. He hooked a volley into the corner from a difficult angle, and thus started his flourishing Manchester United career. Tom Cleverley is a close contender with some excellent goals against Newcastle and Sunderland.

WORST GOAL CONCEDED:

Adam le Fondre for Reading

There are unfortunately many contenders for this award, but after weeks of lessons not learnt, calamitous defending at the Madejski stadium was hard to believe.

Moments

MOST ENTHRALLING MOMENT:

Robin van Persie vs Manchester City

The late goal that won the Manchester derby has to be the most enthralling moment of the season so far. Late winners against Southampton, Aston Villa and Newcastle aren’t far behind however.

MOST DISAPPOINTING MOMENT:

The first half against Tottenham

After a shocking performance against Liverpool the week before, lessons were not learned as United were beaten in the first half against Tottenham. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes started, and were exposed. Giggs’ substitution for Rooney at half-time highlighted the ineffectiveness of United’s old guard, and it was a sad sight. Thankfully Giggs had improved his form since then.

BEST MISCALLENOUS MOMENT:

Darren Fletcher’s return

It was feared the Scot would never return to the first-team football after he was diagnosed with illness, so when he made his comeback as a substitute against Galatasaray it was a truly magnificent moment. His goal against QPR on his Premier League comeback was also special.