A friendly game that I managed to watch in full — the unofficial 39th game everyone was talking about — ended in a rather one sided affair. I don’t read too much into pre-season fixtures anyway, but it’s a welcome distraction from the other transfer rumours that fill football websites in the summer.
It’s also a good chance to see how some of the young lads fared; especially considering we were playing a decent premiership side unlike in South Africa.
That said, it was one ‘old’ man who primarily ran the show yesterday. It’s hard to explain how Scholesy continues to amaze. When Fergie said he can play till he’s about 35 I thought he was being kind to his protege. The Ginger Prince will possibly get lesser games this season but on yesterday’s evidence, it disproves that theory.
He, along with Carrick who seems to be improving, was sublime. I hardly saw passes that went astray. But again, it was a friendly, so I’ll not spend too much time talking about this and move on to the others.
Neville had a quiet game and he seems off pace. Silvestre was well, average, whilst Vidic was his usual solid self. Tevez was very sharp, and whilst he did tend to spend more time in midfield or the wing, he put on a very good performance. He was unfortunate to be asked to retake a penalty after putting the first one away but made up for it with a cracking goal that gave David James no chance.
About the young players who started, I was very impressed with Jonny Evans. He was assured and made some brave and well-judged tackles. His loan spells have definitely helped him. On Eagles, he tried but is definitely not United first team material anymore. Darron Gibson didn’t have much to do on the right (although he is a central midfielder) and it looks like he’ll be loaned out or sold on. Fraizer Campbell was disappointing. The kid’s got pace by the bundles, but little composure — it seemed. Or at least he looked like he wanted to try too many things with the goal in front of him. I suppose he could be loaned out to Hull. With guaranteed first team football, it couldn’t possibly hurt, could it?
Other players came in as is the case with friendlies, and no one else really caught the eye.
