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MOTD- Manchester United 1-2 Swansea City

By on January 5, 2014

The only possible upside that Manchester United can draw from the loss is that they no longer have to face those irksome midweek cup matches that seem to always sneak into a club’s scheduled at the worst possible of times.  Yet this one small comfort will not be able to overcome the fact that David Moyes’ United side was, and played like, one of the worst United side in over a quarter of a century.

Alexander Buttner supplied ample amounts of tantalizing crosses from the left, but United were hardly able to penetrate through the middle, almost as if they were my FIFA 14 team.  Even midfielder Darren Fletcher admitted this, later saying the loss was: “a massive blow,” while adding, “Let’s not kid ourselves here, this is a really bad result, and there are a lot of angry, hurt players.”

Yet sadly for Moyes, this match pretty much summed up their recent form.  Now four losses in under a month will pose a serious threat on any hopes of silverware this season, or any threat left at least.  Little by little, they are starting to become a easier opponent to beat.  At least, for Swansea City it is.  The Swans were traveling to Old Trafford without a win at the historic ground in their history, but Wilfried Bony’s late winner sent United crashing out of the FA Cup in just the third round.
Michael Laudrup’s side even kept 51% of possession of the ball, and to top it off took an early lead via a brilliant passing move.  Bony laid it into the path of Alejandro Pozuelo, who in turn curled a lovely pass into the run of Wayne Routledge down the middle, and from the edge of the box De Guzman lifted a lofty volley over the head of United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.  However, Swansea’s lead was short lived, with Javier Hernandez putting in the equalizer in the sixteenth minute as Buttner swung a beautiful cross into the six yard box from the left.  In between the Swansea defenders Hernandez guided the ball home before sprinting off to celebrate what he most likely thought was to be the start of one of United’s trademark comebacks.

Although United quickly spurred into action, with Antonio Valencia curling an outside-of-the boot effort inches over the crossbar from twenty yards, the energy was rapidly being sapped away from the game.   Sadly, the biggest chance left in the half was when Buttner’s low free-kick on the edge of the area whizzed straight into the arms of Gerhard Tremmel in the thirty-third minute.  In fact, it took until the seventh-ninth minute for the match to become mildly interesting again, when substitute Fabio managed to spice things up, but not in the way he would have been hoping.  The Brazilian full-back went in on a needless high, late, studs up challenge on Chico Flores near the halfway line, leaving referee Mike Dean with no choice but to issue Fabio straight red.

This was the cue for Swansea to push forward in search of a late winner, and ultimately the turning point in United’s FA Cup campaign this season as the expected goal for the visitors came with less than a minute left in regulation time.  Routledge knicked by Darren Fletcher down the left before flicking a cute cross to the completely unmarked head of Bony at the near post, which slammed a header into the top left corner, leaving Lidegaard with no chance.  After that it was all a matter of Swansea running down the clock, much to the disapproval of the home fans, who had rapidly filtered out by the time Dean blew the final whistle after four minutes of stoppage time.
Man of the Match: Alexander Buttner

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.