28 Sep 2014 09:31:31
I haven't had the benefit of seeing the game on TV, just live in the ground but we dug a result out in an unexpected way.
We scored two good goals and should have had more in the first half, particularly the DiMaria chance and played some really good entertaining football.

What happened at half time? It looked like we had the half time tactics talk about keeping the ball and dragging them out of shape but not the Churcillian up and at them one, because we were so much slower and more circumspect at the start of the second half. Then the fun started, it looked a handball before the Rooney sending off, similar to last week where the referee somehow missed the first offence. At the time it looked like Rooney was trying to trip the West Ham player who was in his own half. Yet I don't think it was that that made people angry at the referee, just the inconsistency because when one of their players took out Herrera it was only a booking. The ref did get one thing right and that was to book the WHU player after 3 mins for persistently fouling DiMaria in what looked like a preconceived attempt to get him.
Once Rooney went off our team spirit shone through and we battled brilliantly for the remaining 35 minutes including injury time. I have to mention the excellence of the defence, McNair on his debut actually reminded me of a young Alan Hanson especially when he carried the ball forward a couple of times. I thought Rojo had an outstanding game with Shaw and Rafael not far behind him. When our backs were to the wall I watched Blind giving everything but also organising.
I didn't herald the goalkeeper because when WH scored in the first half we didn't clear the second ball and overall I was a bit concerned about DeGea not commanding his area yesterday, it needs working on.
One thing I didn't agree with was making RVP the sole striker, I believe LvG was wrong with that, he doesn't have pace to run beyond the line nor did he hold the ball. It seems LvG has too soft a spot for RVP because Falcao would have been a far better bet to do that and in fact I was saying later in the game that LvG would have been better putting someone with pace up there as an outlet, a DiMaria as it would have given us the option to put balls over for him to run on to and hold waiting for support. It showed me that LvG has a blind spot with RVP.
Yesterday I said about the crowd getting behind the team when we need it and we did, I was hoarse after the game, a game that showed we can battle and it made me more hopeful than before it for the rest of the season. LvG trusted a young lad to make his debut in the centre of what has been a rocky defence, what a great message for the young of our club. Lastly, whilst not a great win, score wise, it was a significant one yet the concern after it is that referees are not giving us a fair playing field. It was tense but we showed the determination needed to win and that is very confidence building.

1.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 09:52:53
Would particularly agree with your thoughts about lvg and rvp. We should be playing Falcao in the same sort of role as Van Nistlerooy. Play him right up top looking for space in the penalty area to do what he does best, score goals. Don't ask him to drop back and link up play. Rvp has been brilliant for us but should no longer be regarded as an automatic pick imo.

2.) 28 Sep 2014
Totally agree watched it in the stretford end and the ground was right behind the team all game espesh those last 20 mins? But I came home ready t watch motd and see the bad referee decisions but we didn't see the countless fouls on angel, the handball before Rooneys foul and the biggest 1 Adrian handled outa the area and ref gave yellow card which should b a red and I thought was as big a call as the Rooney one but motd didn't even show it? We've had 2 bad refereeing shows last 2 wks but unlike at Leicester we kept our heads n the crowd was brilliant for wat seemed like the longest 20 mins of my life.

3.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 10:06:45
Red man I agree with everything you said apart from your view on Falcao being substituted and RVP left on.In an ideal situation with height in defence and midfield,Falcao who was having a tremendous game dropping into midfield,holding the ball up and bringing other people into the game and also chasing down defenders would have been the player kept on. However in the situation we found ourselves in ,crosses coming into the box from set plays on a regular basis, I feel that RVPs ability to defend his own box with his extra height was the reason for his reprieve.

4.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 10:41:43
United99,

Handball outside the area by a goalkeeper is only a red card if it stopped a clear goalscoring opportunity. If he hadnt handballed it then it would have been a corner, so a yellow is the correct decision.

I actually think the ref got most of the big decisions correct yesterday, we just seem to be on the end of 50-50 decisions going against us at the moment, but I am sure that will even out over time.

5.) 28 Sep 2014
United99. Totally agree. The ref was abysmal. And the cynical trip in Shaw in first half when he was clean past the right back, didn't even get a yellow card. The lunge at Herrera by a player already booked, didn't get a second booking. The handball before the Rooney sending off didn't get a mention, the handling of the Adrian outside his area only got a yellow card.
How long is it going to be before referees actually start getting punished properly for this kind of "cheating". And I firmly believe it is cheating as the ref was there on every occasion but failed to make the right calls. Maybe a 3 match ban should help matters.
It is a shame that Phil Neville didn't have the balls to mention all these on motd.

6.) 28 Sep 2014
Raffa

I appreciated the height issue and felt that may be the reason for the decision at the time but West Ham pushed up to play a higher line because of RVP lack of pace. We couldn't put a ball behind them, also RVP didn't harry as much as I would have expected of a lone forward or retain the ball.

7.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 11:17:17
I agree on Ddg actually. Quality young keeper with lots of promise but still has lots to work on, there are certain situations where he lacks confidence or does not come across as commanding enough. hopefully when we get a settled back 4 it will help him but for now I think he is slightly overrated by our fans at times.

8.) 28 Sep 2014
I didn't feel the ref got the "big" calls wrong I.e Rooney off but it's the "little" things that lead to them like the handball b4 Rooney kicked out and last week the push on rafa before the pen? I just wish the refs had consistency? On a + note how good was rafa yesterday and Rooney before his sending off he looks like he's loving playing with the new quality signings?