Bifurcated Manchester United ~ United vs Norwich

We’re inviting our Twitter friends, and now resident thought sharer Iwan Lehnert, to share some of their ‘Pre and Post Match’ thoughts with us from now on. If you want to share, get in touch! You can still enjoy my nonsensical, confusing, punctuation buffets below their proper good ones…

Iwan (@IwanLehnert):

I don’t think any United fan was particularly desperate to see the sight of Robin Van Persie being substituted due to injury, but look at it this way; even if that unceremonious collision with a camera was causing him so much difficulty that he needed to come off, at least he didn’t pull up or break something, right?

…..Right?

Hold on, my desk is made of wood, so I’m touching that.

Anyway, at this point, with City not playing in the league until Monday, and with Tuesday in mind (I don’t know if you know this but we’ve got a match in midweek? Pretty big one, apparently), I’d rest him. That’s a cautious view, for sure, but with the season that Rooney’s having, I think he needs all the minutes he can get. It’s a Hernandez/Smalling/Anderson match, and that’s not condescending because our starting XI always needs to know that there’s someone who can take their place if they perform well enough. Besides, Hernandez has scored more than Van Persie’s main strike partner. Glad to hear that he’s fit, and I fully expect him to perform a delightful half-hour cameo on Saturday.

Still regard the performance at Carrow Road as the worst of the season. We never looked like scoring, never turned up the pressure and we were magnificently flat. But you could look at it as a turning point. Since then, we’ve lost once in 21 games across all competitions, and we haven’t been as bad as that since. The league performances have become far less about coming from behind and more about getting the lead and strangling the life out of a game. I don’t think it’s made for engrossing football but it’s brought a ridiculously solid set of results to the point where we bear down on March with Norwich and Reading popping over to visit and a jaunt over to see the Mackems (who apparently we should be feeling very bitter towards because they laughed that we lost the league, because no one else chuckled at all…..) with a luxurious twelve point cushion. Those are three winnable games right there, and considering the clinical form we’ve been showing, seven points is probably the minimum target.

What I’m finding to be the most heartening aspect of this season is this unwavering focus. We haven’t been blowing many teams away, granted, but the performances have been unbelievably clinical. Then the manager ruined it and mentioned that the players feel it could be a special season.

Well. That’s us buggered, then.

Yes, we all KNOW it could be a special season. We were all quite happy not jinxing it, though, thank you very much. Honestly….

Can see a repeat of last Saturday’s performance; strong, disciplined without over-exerting ourselves and a line-up with more than one amorous glance on Tuesday night.

To be honest, hearing the manager calling the match a “mundane practical situation” is a little disrespectful when you consider that we were treating QPR as if they were Real Madrid last week. I know we’re all expecting to win, I know we’ve got a much more exciting date on Tuesday, but if I were a Norwich player, I’d feel even more desperate to perform.

It’s all very well and good getting excited because Real are in town next week, but let’s get through this before we start playing the Champions League theme tune in our heads, m’kay? M’kay…

Brett:

In spite of myself, I’m absolutely doing the thing where I just want this game out the way, so I can get all giddy over Real.

We don’t have a decent recent (rhyme time) record against Norwich and it’s a scientific fact that its impossible to not want only good things to happen to Chris Hughton. They have struggled this season to find consistency and that is in part down to the big fella up front getting even bigger for his boots. Of their players, I really like Snodgrass and – this isn’t why I like him – he reminds of a younger Frank Lampard. They will no doubt test whatever team Fergie puts out…

To rest, or not to rest? that is the question … one might usually ask as a manager, however Fergie – as we’re only too aware – doesn’t subscribe to convention. How best to “manage” (a term we love at United regarding injuries) Van Persie’s hip, is something I am unable to provide an answer to. Rooney needs sharpness, the rest is anyone’s guess. Although, you could probably bet on De Gea playing and although I’d love Giggsy to start vs Real, I think he’ll play too. The wingers need to find form faster than they are capable