Anderson Impressed
The 2013 pre-season Tour got underway yesterday against a team made up of the best players in Thailand and, whilst they weren’t up to much, they still proved too much for a pretty toothless United side.
There was something of the inevitable about our failure to score here as RVP hasn’t joined the squad yet, Hernandez hasn’t travelled and Rooney has now returned with a “hamstring injury” meaning that Danny Welbeck was playing as lone striker and given that he only managed two goals in 39 appearances last season, the omens weren’t good.
Moyes put out an interesting starting line-up with Adnan Januzaj given what appeared to be a licence to play wherever he liked. He was ostensibly playing as second striker just behind Welbeck but he was playing right across the width of the pitch. He looks like a very confident young player who was not shy to ask for the ball and kept trying to beat his man at every opportunity.
I don’t think the heat in Bangkok helped us much. Apparently it was 29 degrees and 75 percent humidity when the match kicked off and after just a few minutes of play, every player looked as though they had taken a bath with their kit on – the sweat was pouring off everyone.
Anderson was also given a start and, along with Januzaj, I think he was our best player in the first half. He still goes for those Hollywood passes but he actually managed to pull a few off in this game and his vision helped to create a few decent situations. He still looks a bit tubby but he managed to haul himself around the pitch for over an hour before eventually being replaced by Wilfried Zaha.
By this point we were 1-0 down after Terratep Winothai scored on fifty minutes with a shot that beat Ben Amos at his near post.
Zaha got stuck straight in though and really lit up what had been a fairly dull game. I think we’ll be seeing plenty of him this season.
Overall, this game was about getting back to match fitness and sharpness and the players looked as though they needed it as moves broke down, passes and crosses were overhit and no one really brought their shooting boots.
Plenty of plus points though – Fabio, Buttner, Anderson, Januzaj and Zaha all did well and will all be better for this runout.
The jury is still out on one or two others though and I think Welbeck in particular will have to make another stellar leap in his development if he’s to make any kind of impact this season.