United-Man City: Shaky Defense Costly

Manchester United couldn’t effectively neutralize Manchester City today, falling 2-1.

Here are some observations from a United fan.

I thought the starting formation was really bad. I mean City had five midfield players and we have Scholes and Anderson, who are attack-minded, in the middle. We should have had Carrick or Hargreaves, who can hold the City players and cut the balls from the midfield, launch an attack.

I don't know what to say about the defense.

They let some really bad passes go through and at the end of the day, the back wasn't very solid. They were a bit slow even though they did stop a couple of chances for City.

Nani was completely absent from the game, while Giggs was maybe one of the few who had a good game; he had a couple of chances.

Ronaldo shouldn't have started as a striker, he is the kind of player who takes the ball and creates something, as opposed to sitting and waiting for the ball to come to him. Tevez, well what can you say, he was covered really well by Dunn.

You really miss Rooney in these kind of games, because you know he would have killed himself trying, working the defense and eventually creating space for himself and the others.

Carrick and Hargreaves changed the game when they entered. They should both be playing in the Arsenal game. For the left back, you really miss Evra, as Oshea was really bad. His passes were awful and did not connect with Nani at all.

That's what Evra is capable of doing, connecting with the other on the flank to create space and cross or drive in.

At the end of the day, United had a really bad day; I just hope that by the time next Sunday comes, they would have worked out their problems.

With Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Carrick, and Giggs in the midfield, they should be able to play 10 times better and create a lot more chances and stop a lot of attacks in the next game.