Carling Cup: Man United Struggles Against Derby County

The look on Wayne Rooney's face says everything about the way Manchester United played Wednesday against Derby County. It was a very frustrating game, and United are definitely lucky to be down by only goal going into the second leg of their Carling Cup semifinal.

United started the day with only three regulars: Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes, and Carlos Tevez. Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, and Ryan Giggs were all on the bench and the rest were given a day's rest.  With the Premier League match against Chelsea coming up, one can easily understand why manager Sir Alex Ferguson chose to go with the players with less experience.

The game started off badly with a few blunders on defense. Rafael seemed liked he was more interested in attacking then defending. He probably thought he was playing right mid rather than right back. 

John O'Shea—let's just say I am glad Patrice Evra is going to be back for the Chelsea game. Jonny Evans did a good job for the most part, Vidic was strong on defense as usual. Tomasz Kuszczak was good in goal. He was the busier keeper, which is kind of rare for a United keeper. 

The midfield was mediocre. They rarely created any chances, and they are all better off forgetting the day. Anderson had a nightmare. It is hard to believe that he still has not scored a goal for United.

Scholes had a few missed chances but did not have the game of his life. Nani was easily the best player United had on the pitch. Other than set plays he did a good job.

On attack, we can't really rate these players because they did not really get too many chances, but Tevez was OK at best. The pace of the game definitely changed when Ronaldo and Rooney came in but it was a little too late. Ronaldo even came inches away from a goal when his free kick went past the far post barely missing the inside of the net.

Overall it was a game I would like to forget, but again I would much rather lose today then lose to Derby at home. Let's hope they come back strong in the Carling Cup.

NEXT FIXTURE

Chelsea

This should be a good game. United should be back at full strength as long as Rio Ferdinand is fit. Evra finally comes back from suspension.

My starting lineup would be:

GK—Edwin Van Der Sar
Def—Gary Neville, Vidic, Rio/Evans (depending on fitness), Evra (thank God he is going to be back)
Mid—Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Nani
Strikers—Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov

Bench
Tevez
Kuszczak
Giggs
Ji-Sung Park
Wes Brown