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MOTD- Sunderland 2-1 Manchester United

By on January 7, 2014

Just as quickly as a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon for Manchester United that same feeling has evaporated, replaced with the gloomy thoughts of a third, fourth or fifth place finish and the arguments over David Moyes’ position in charge of the club. Although the Red Devils still have the second leg of the Capital One Cup semifinal to come back, they made it hard for themselves to even get to the finals of the league cup past Sunderland. Coming off the back of an FA Cup third round loss to Swansea City, a 2-1 loss to a club at the rock bottom the Premier League means United are beginning to enter a crisis.

However, United’s play wasn’t horrible. Just fifteen minutes into the trip to the Stadium of Light Danny Welbeck had his long range curler land in the arms of Vito Mannone, before Ryan Giggs saw his deflected twenty-five yard effort loop onto the crossbar. Yet right not the brink of halftime it was Giggs who put Sunderland surprisingly in front via an own goal. Sebastian Larsson blasted a free-kick smack in the middle of the United half towards the byline, where Wes Brown headed it down, and Giggs accidentally bundled the ball into the back of his own net.

Nemanja Vidic equalized for United with a far post header early in the second half, but Fabio Borini won it for Sunderland via the penalty spot after Adam Johnson took a tumble right on the edge of the area down the right. United were then gifted five minutes of stoppage (Moyesie) time by the fourth official, but failed to find the equalizer to set up for a tough second leg at Old Trafford.
Man of the Match: Ryan Giggs

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.