De Gea was definitely finding his feet last night, with the most testing of matches at Stoke. He made at least three crucial saves despite the physical intimidation of the Stoke line-up. It was Delap against De Gea, and the conclusion was, De Gea is here!
The opening exchange was cagey and physical. Nani broke the deadlock with another mazy run cutting inside from the right wing berth, exchanging a quick one-two with Fletcher, and shooting a low drive in the middle of the first half.
Stoke played a lot better in the second half, and after Peter Crouch leaped above the otherwise excellent Phil Jones, the game was wide opened. Unfortunately, United failed to capitalized, partly because of the lack of movement in the strikers - Berbatov and Owen - reducing the options for through balls despite Stoke playing a high line. It was obvious that United would be struggling with crosses with the size of the Stoke defensive line-up.
Michael Owen clearly showed that he had lost the pace and composure he was known for, and his play was best described as static. Some newspapers in England even went on to report that United were playing with ten men ever since Owen was introduced on the 11th minute, for the injured and unlucky Chicarito.
Yes, we dropped points, but in the scheme of things, it was a fair results in the end …..
