19 mins: Now it's United's turn to have the heart in the mouth. Phil Jones loses his position totally, he's been sucked into central midfield and Routledge is free. Wayne R turns Rio inside and out, Ferdinand slips, and Routledge crosses to Dyer. A scramble, and it's in the net thanks to Michu! But the linesman has correctly ruled that Dyer was offside. Oh.
17 mins: Welbeck with the shot, but he should have slipped it to Giggs on the left, becuase he was in splendid isloation in the Swansea City penalty area. Welbeck instead shoots, and the rebound falls to Giggs, but he's not in such a good position now and he cannot get an effective shot on target. Poor effort, on reflection, from the venerable forward. He's hit that miles wide.
15 mins: Giggsy! Great link-up work with Welbeck, it's two on two as they run at the Swans defence, Giggs tries to slip it to Danny W on the left but he makes a mess of the pass. Perhaps he could have surged forward on his own?
14 mins: Cross from the left but RVP has put the header straight at the keeper.
Murdo Maclennan: "After the Govan boy the Partick boy will be fine for Man U . Made in Scotland from girders." A lot of people seem to be sure that Moyses' Scottishness and rather grim aspect is the clincher in the "is he the right man for the job" stakes? By that regard, I personally would have gone for Judy Murray.
11 mins: Chico Flores tackles Wellback, getting his ankle as well as the ball. Feels more Stoke v West Ham than Swansea v United at the moment.
10 mins: General scuffling about in the rain.
8 mins: Valencia is the next man to be spoken to by the ref, for shoulder-barging.
7 mins: Deep freekick from the United left is missed by forwards and centre halves alike, and it drops to Phil Jones at the edge of the box on the right. He nearly chips the keeper with a techincally excellent volley. Well tipped over from Vorm.
5 mins: Swansea pressure United with a high line and a high tempo, and Michu very nearly catches De Gea in possession. Perhaps it's the grim weather, but this has been a surprisingly blood and thunder opening.
4 mins: Phil Jones bravely stoops to head clear in his own area and gets a whack from Flores in so doing.
3 mins: Dunno if it was a retaliation thing but Wellbeck has clattered Canas. He, however, escapes a booking. He got a tiny bit of the ball.
2 mins: Now it's United's turn for some unchallenged early ball. Canas has had enough of that and goes through Cleverley with a hard late tackle. Jonjo Shelvey protests the yellow card. Not sure why. That was a nailed-on booking.
1 mins: Right then. Swansea, in all white, kick off. Stroking it around nicely.
17.28 The teams shake hands. The rain pours down. Rooney broods on the bench.

17.25 So here's David Moyes taking his seat in the Man United dugout, a warm handshake from Michael Laudrup. Class act, the Laudrup, I reckon.
Jean-Michel Mbala: "Moyes is cut from the same cloth as fergie. No-one better." By "the same cloth", do you mean "Scottish"?
17.20 Eurch, I really haven't missed Jamie Redknapp. I'm sure he's a nice guy and that, and I liked watching him as a player, but good God he is hard work as a pundit. Same old stuff every time, "top top player" blah de blah blah. And the voice. Sorry, Jamie. Sorry, Jamie fans.
17.15 Disgusting weather there, incidentally. Michael Laudrup says that Bony is jetlagged after playing an international in the USA earlier in the week.
17.10 No start for Swansea's new boy, the splendidly named Wilfred Bony. G Nev says he is not surprised to see Wayne Rooney on the bench. "Moyes has to win," he adds.
17.05 Who do you fancy for tonight's game?
17.00 Let's try and angry up the team news then. That'll take the edge of the Jamie Redknapp Saturday Night Football Chatshow currently unfolding on Sky Sports 1. A live (presumably heavily sedated) studio audience watches on as Jamie and a nice young man from Sky whose name escapes me discuss the football.
Ooh, news. Rooney is on the bench
Man United: De Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley, Giggs; Van Persie Welbeck.
Swansea: Vorm; Rangel, Flores, Williams, Davies; Britton, Canas, Shelvey; Dyer, Routledge, Michu
16.55 The fans are revolting at Arsenal already, they lost 1-3 to Villa. Good start for Liverpool though, a 1-0 win at Stoke. This league really does feel more open than it has for several years. From reading all the pre-season predictions and coverage, you might be forgiven for forgetting that Man United are the defending champions...
16.50 Good evening and welcome to our live blog of the late kick-off game in the Premier League, a potentially intriguing match between Swansea City and Manchester United.
An enormous day for David Moyes, who must surely know that anything other than an excellent start to the season wqill see the negative nellies on his back for the crime of not being Sir Fergie.
Here, he tells Henry Winter about sitting in Fergie's chair. Literally, I mean. The one in the manager's office.
The chair signifies so much for Moyes. “Sitting in the chair for the first time felt odd,” admitted Moyes. “I did it myself with nobody looking. I thought I’d have to see how it feels in case anybody thought I looked stupid.”
No comments:
Post a Comment