Preston North End vs Manchester United, FA Cup 5th Round, Deepdale, Kick Off 19:45 Local time
Preston: Stuckmann, Clarke, Huntington, Wright, Laird, Humphrey, Welsh, Kilkenny, Gallagher, K. Davies, Garner
Man Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Rojo, Shaw, Blind, Herrera, Rooney, Fellaini, Di Maria, Falcao
Subs: Valdes, Evans, McNair, Januzaj, Mata, Young, Wilson
Another week and another dull performance. And the big question on everyone’s lips is ‘when will Manchester United awake from their slumber?’
Yes there were injuries early season. And yes it takes time for new players to gel. But even the individual performances have been bad this term. And we have to surmise at this stage that the squad hasn’t, so far, responded to the methods of Louis van Gaal.
That is not to say we have lost faith in the Manchester United manager. He has made excellent decisions in terms of departures and arrivals. And, in a year from now, we are still confident that the team will be purring again. But a number of Louis’s contemporaries have done much more, in much shorter periods and with much less money at other clubs this season. He won’t be too happy with the status quo, whatever he says in public.
For now, all we really want to see is some decent football. Manchester United almost invented it but they seem strangely unable to serve it up this season.
