Manchester United of late have not been the team many have come to know, with their results being very sketchy. They have failed to score in the first half in their last ten games, and Saturday's third round draw for the FA cup against Sheffield United was no exception. Sheffield who are 9th in league one should have be no problems for the 5th in the premier league Manchester United, at least on paper this games script should have been wrote, But with a poor performance all round It would fall to a penalty deep in extra time to separate the two teams.
Manchester United may have had more chances and more possession but they failed to inspire in a game that saw the fans jeer united when they finally did get a shot. Louis Van Gaal's side played a boring game with not much for a red fan to shout about. Out of the 11 shots Manchester had only 2 were on target.
Wayne Rooney would be the first to try his luck for United on 19 minutes after an assist from Ander Herrera but would go very wide. Their would be no further shots till 44 minutes when Rooney again would have his right footed shot blocked. In the injury time of the first have Jaun Mata would set up Daley Blind from a set piece, but his shot would be far two high, a poor chance wasted for Manchester.
The second half would be more of the same. Substitute Memphis Depay, who replaced Jaun Mata, would come the closet all match as his shot narrowly missed to the left with his right footed shot. The crowd would jeer this attempt as they had been waiting too long to see United make a viable shot, that would come even close to Sheffield's net.
Sheffield would then try their hand at scoring with Chris Basham, set up by Martyn Woolford, it would cause a save from United keeper De Gea right in the centre of his goal.
67 minutes would see Wayne Rooney's header go wide after a Daley Blind cross. The fans were starting to get anxious. Manchester play looked sloppy at times and many of the fans of United looked bored of the game.
Bastian Schweinsteiger would try and liven the stadium up with a very good left footed shot from outside the box, but would see the attempt agonizingly miss to the left hand side of the goal.
It would take till deep in stoppage time for United to come away with a goal. 93 minutes would see Sheffield's Dean Hammond go in with the studs up on the shin of Memphis Depay in the box for a penalty call. Wayne Rooney to the rescue and he converted bottom left hand corner. United 1-0.
With this poor performance Manchester united may have got through to the next round, but it was not a game many will remember, and Louis Van Gaal will hope to forget, but with this poor performance maybe Van Gaals leadership at Manchester may be in doubt and question.
Manchester have not produced the world class performances this season that they need, and that fans have come to expect. They will now look forward to Newcastle united in the premier league on Tuesday, with fans hoping United make changes to their play style and show some determination, which they lacked in the game.
