United head to Rome after weakened XI sees off Hull
Gibson's goal sealed it
By Chris, May 24 2009 All the fuss about a weakened team - and yet Manchester United won anyway! There'll be no more talk of law suits as a wonderstrike from Darron Gibson sealed a 1-0 win at Hull. There were still signs of elation around the KC Stadium, however, as Newcastle lost at Villa; and the bottom three remained as it was prior to kick-off.
Gibson hit a superb 20-yard dipping effort to secure maximum points for Manchester United with the Red Devils finishing the campaign with a superb ninety point tally.
United secured the win despite Sir Alex Ferguson fielding a massively weakened team. Tomasz Kuszcak, Rafael Da Silva, Gary Neville, Wesley Brown, Nani and Darren Fletcher all started - but the Scotsman will surely make eleven changes to his starting line-up for the European Cup final.
Debutant Ritchie De Laet, Gibson, Danny Welbeck, Lee Martin and Kiko Macheda completed the Reds XI. It was a fine effort from United's youngsters who will have given Fergie plenty to think about over the summer.
Despite the defeat, Hull were celebrating on full-time with manager Phil Brown and the players mobbed by a pitch invasion. Newcastle and Middlesbrough were both beaten - meaning the Barcodes and Smoggies will join West Brom in the Championship next season. The Tigers survive.
Attention now turns to Italy and the Champions League final. Can the Red Devils retain 'Ol Big Ears by securing a victory against Catalan giants Barcelona?
I was so pleased with some of the lads yesterday, but some looked out of sorts and against better opposition would have cost us dearly had the game meant anything, that kind of fact worries me as these lads are the future of man utd and need to be reliable as back up. heres how I rated out of 10...
Kuszczak 5 - not much to do as hull were restricted to long shots that mostly were wayward. he made a few half decent saves but his lack of communication and organisation of the defence shows that he has got a lot to do if he wants to start hallenging VDS to the #1 spot. oh and I noticed Gaz had to shout at him a few times for not coming for the ball, indecision creeps to mind
Rafael 6 - Certainly not one of his best performances, bombed forward alot and gave excellent attacking threat with his crossing but was suspect at back tracking and almost cost us goals
G. Neville 7 - For a guy who is incredibly un-match fit, he organised the defence well and looked like the man who kept everything in order, didn't put a foot wrong and made important challenges. Also called up for england too
Brown 7 - Same as with Gaz, didn't look like he'd been out for as long as he had. Made a few excellent challenges and dealt well with Hull's airial threat
De Laet 8 - joint man of the match for me, again despite the game meant nothing, he was cool under pressure, dealt well when one on one and made some excellent recovery challenges. his attacking play impressed me as he clearly isn't afraid to go forward which is something we rely heavily on from our full-back's, but his inexperience showed through his indecision, plenty of time to learn tho, has a bright future ahead of him
Nani 4 - was very poor for me, dribbling into blind alleys, inadequate crossing and indecision tells me that next season he has to put up the goods or he will be out, for me, our biggest dissapointment of the season
Gibson 8 - Joint man of the match, very well taken goal but his vision, passing and controlling of the midfield was excellent. Definetly one for the future, I can see him playing a massive roll for us next season, particularly with the aging legs of scholes and giggs coming into play
Fletcher 7 - solid performance again, has been a revelation in midfield and by far his best season this year. very dissapointed he is out on wednesday
Wellbeck 7 - I was actually quite impressed with him, he showed he has good ball control and confidence as he was surrounded quite a few times but didn't panic, linked well with macheda but crossing is a little suspect, think he should be playin up front
Macheda 6 - restricted most of the match and found himself having to go out wide alot. I think with better players around him he can produce the goods, but for now I think a loan move will do him good
Martin 6 - too much hype on this lad for too long, he hasn't in any way looked like breaking into the first team and yesterday was not a good advert for himself either. looks a classy player but for me, not a man u player
You may be thinking "whats the point, the match didn't count for anything" but it actually did as it was an opportunity for us to get a look at the squad beyond the stars, to see if our back up is adequate and although individually it is, collectively it isn't
Great summary and ratings; cheers mate.
Nani, for me, will never be good enough for United.
Amazing to see De Laet involved: I remember we were one of the few sites to actually cover his bizarre signing; but he seems to be doing well thus far.
Good review Ram Rod and much appreciated. I'm not sure anyone's thinking 'who cares' when these guys are the potential future stars of our team. Nani is the biggest disappointment for me but there's no surprise there!
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net