For all of their dominance, Stoke City couldn’t make it three in a row as they had to settle for a point after Radamel Falcao cancelled Ryan Shawcross’ opener. The hosts started strongly just like they did against Arsenal and opened the scoring inside two minutes as a simple set-piece routine helped them take the lead through Shawcross. After going behind though, the Red Devils showcased the resilience that has helped stay unbeaten for nine games and their persistence paid off as another corner kick led to a goal. This time Michael Carrick’s glancing header from Wayne Rooney’s corner was slotted home by Falcao.
Although the home side had the better chances in the second half, their failure to take any of them meant that United extended their unbeaten run to 10 games. Here are the major talking points from the game.
Wind makes things difficult
Since their promotion to the top flight, the wet and windy conditions at Stoke has entered into football folklore as being one of the trickiest places to get a result. And the weather did its best to play spoil sport at the Britannia as the blustering wind seemed to put both sides in trouble. Even the hosts, who wanted to get the ball down and play passing football, found it difficult as they had to revert back to their roots and lump it up to Peter Crouch, who had the better of the United defenders all day long. While this worked, it did only up to a point, as the wind started to get the better of the home side as well.
The home side weren’t the side to have problem with the windy conditions on Thursday. What the conditions did, was negate one of the visitors’ biggest strengths. Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata all pride themselves on being able to pick out a teammate with a delicate chipped through ball. But the wind made it impossible for them to do and the Red Devils had to resort to long balls and crosses in a bid to break down the Stoke defense, which provided stubborn resistance in difficult conditions.
Falcao starting to impose himself on the game
After a disappointing performance against Tottenham, where he was bullied, there were doubts about how Falcao would handle the physicality of the Stoke defence. But after a slow start, the Colombian show plenty of tenacity and was United’s best player on the pitch. Although he gave the ball away a few times in the early minutes, he started to get into the game and showcased his mobility against the Potters.
Aside from his goal, which showed his predatory instincts, the 28-year-old was still a constant thorn in the Stoke backline. So when he was substituted in the second half, it was certainly surprising to see why Van Gaal had decided to take off his best striker for a midfielder. Whether he was protecting him or thought Van Persie would do better at the end, one thing is for sure, Falcao is finally getting to grips with the physicality of the English game and starting to impose himself and be the striker that United wanted him to be, when they signed him.
United defense struggle without help from De Gea
Ask any United fan who the best player of the season so far has been and the answer would be unanimous. David De Gea has certainly come a long way from being a scrawny goalkeeper who is easily bullied. Even with an ever-changing defense, De Gea has shown just why he is so highly regarded by the club. The Spaniard has put together some mind-boggling saves and is the main reason why the Red Devils are third on the table.
But if anyone needed a reminder as to why he is not the best goalkeeper in the world, they would have seen the answer in the game against Stoke. Although he didn’t make any mistake throughout the game, his unwillingness to come out for crosses and for set-pieces meant that a defense who are struggling for confidence didn’t get a back-up. If there is one thing that the very best goalkeepers do, it is realising when their defense needs them to come out and clean everything in their path. But the Spaniard’s reluctance to come off his line meant that the defense was time and again exploited by crosses coming on. And although it isn’t much, these are precisely the sort of things that separate the very good goalkeepers from the best in the business.