Manchester United give Ryan Giggs fine start with Norwich demolition
The worry for United supporters is how long the story will continue, with Sir Alex Ferguson giving his backing to Giggs even as rumours spread through Manchester that Louis van Gaal is now the chosen one and that a deal with the Holland coach may already have been agreed. At least this was a positive chapter, with Giggs receiving a tremendous ovation from the crowd as he made the touchline walk in club suit and tie. There was even a chant of "Attack, attack, attack" from the Stretford End as the game kicked off as if in anticipation of the shackles of unadventurous football being thrown off, plus any number of favourite hymns to Giggs and Paul Scholes.
Then Jonny Howson stuck the ball into David de Gea's net right under the Stretford End's noses and the home side could consider themselves warned.
The goal did not stand because Lee Probert had detected the slightest of pushes by Ricky van Wolfswinkel on Phil Jones, an offence not immediately obvious to anyone else in the stadium, and Norwich were denied what looked a perfectly good opener after producing a move more incisive than anything United had managed. Robert Snodgrass escaped Patrice Evra down the right and sent over a cross that Van Wolfswinkel nodded back across goal, and though Howson stuck the ball away to be on the safe side he had probably already heard the referee's whistle.
Danny Welbeck, newly restored to United's attacking lineup, forced a good stop from John Ruddy a couple of minutes later, though even by that stage the home side's initial attacking fervour had subsided. "It took a bit of time for us to get going," Giggs admitted. "The tempo in the first half wasn't as quick as I would have liked, but the goal came at the right time and at half-time I just told the lads to step it up."
While the scores were level Norwich were coping quite well, and by midway through the first half the atmosphere was so muted it was possible to hear the drone of the plane trailing a banner reading "Thank U Moyes" long before it was actually spotted. Not only does the story continue, it gets more surreal by the day.
Surreal was also the word to describe the manner in which United took the lead five minutes before the interval. After Antonio Valencia had brought another save from Ruddy, an inoffensive low cross from Jones was missed by just about everyone in the Norwich penalty area until it ran through to Welbeck. Steven Whittaker, as the last defender, tried to make up for the deficiencies of his team-mates by lunging for the ball but was unable to reach it, the striker was brought down instead and Wayne Rooney gratefully scored from the spot. Luck like that is the last thing a team in Norwich's position needs, though in truth the visitors had not helped themselves.
Allowed a surprising amount of time on the ball and possession in midfield, Norwich made little use of it. Even when they had men forward in numbers they failed to produce any real urgency and eventually paid a price for their timidity. The rest of the season could go the same way for Neil Adams and his players. Even the travelling supporters seemed resigned to their fate, reacting to going a goal behind with chants of "Liverpool" purely to annoy their hosts.
The Norwich players got the message, judging by the dreadful start they made to the second half. Shinji Kagawa was merely spreading play when he found Rooney wide on the left wing. It was hardly the sort of killer pass that immediately invites an attempt on goal, yet Norwich allowed Rooney to carry the ball all the way to the D by which time the crowd was screaming at him to shoot. He did, and Ruddy was beaten low to his left. "That was the killer blow," Adams said. "We need to be braver in our next two games. We were OK for the first 40 minutes but we need to make things happen."
The excellent Snodgrass refused to give up hope, reaching the byline and cutting back a near-perfect pass, except that Van Wolfswinkel overran it and no one else was following up to accept a clear opportunity. Snodgrass also produced a sharp save from De Gea with a free-kick he took himself after being fouled at the angle of the area by Nemanja Vidic, after Tom Cleverley had lost possession in the Norwich half. Given a chance by Giggs after almost disappearing under David Moyes, Cleverley did not seize it as well as Welbeck, who brought a flying save from Ruddy before making way for Mata after an hour.
It took Mata a matter of seconds to get on the scoresheet. The Spaniard turned up in the box at just the right time to turn in a cross from Jones after Ruddy had made another good save, this time from Rooney, without succeeding in pushing the ball dead. Mata scored a second when Evra's impressive cross from the left was turned back in by Valencia on the right, and United had four goals in a league game for the first time since, er, Moyes' last league game but one. And then the one before that. Which just goes to show that attacking football, like statistics, can mean whatever you want it to.
United were peppering Ruddy's goal as of old by the end and the Giggs interregnum is off to a highly encouraging start. The Stretford End was in full voice, the home side much more like their usual selves, though Norwich gave up the ghost shamefully on going behind. Giggs knows he will not meet opponents so lacklustre most weeks
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