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Post by Football News on Jan 1, 2015 17:49:45 GMT
Stoke 1 - 1 Man UtdRyan Shawcross 2 Radamel Falcao 26The momentum is no longer with Manchester United and they can count themselves fortunate to have escaped with a point from a blustery Britannia Stadium. Louis van Gaal made no attempt to sugarcoat United’s poor performance on an afternoon when Stoke City were left to lament some suspect refereeing from Michael Oliver, poor finishing from Mame Diouf and the moment when the woodwork denied Peter Crouch a possible winner. After six successive victories prompted talk of United joining the title race, Louis van Gaal has now endured the frustration of watching his side draw three of their past four matches. The United manager has railed against the manic festive schedule – the sight of Ashley Young pulling a hamstring in the second half strengthened his argument about the dangers of the fixture pile-up – but the Dutchman had no complaints about the result here. “I think Stoke City deserved the victory more,” Van Gaal said. Stoke played with courage and belief and on another day could easily have reprised last season’s 2-1 home victory over United. Crouch was a constant thorn in the visitors’ side. He set up Ryan Shawcross’s opening goal after Phil Jones was caught ball-watching, had a strong penalty appeal turned down when Chris Smalling clearly handled, and headed a free-kick against the upright. Marko Arnautovic also produced one of his best performances in a Stoke shirt. United looked flat. They had almost twice as much possession as Stoke but did little with it. Radamel Falcao’s first-half equaliser was one of only two United shots on target all game. There was a lack of penetration on the flanks, their build up play was pedestrian and United looked like a team crying out for an injection of pace. At the other end of the pitch, Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Jones never instilled confidence. The draw stretches United’s unbeaten run to 10 matches but Van Gaal is much more concerned by another statistic: only two wins from their last 12 league games on the road. “I’m not interested in a period of unbeaten … we have to win away games and we didn’t do that,” the United manager said. “I think Stoke were closer to the victory, with the ball on the post and the first chance from Diouf they had two major chances and we didn’t create so much in spite of the time and space. We could pass the ball quicker, I don’t think that one cross was good. And also I think the last pass from our midfielders was not good.” Mark Hughes was full of praise for his players and bitterly disappointed with the referee. The Stoke manager claimed Oliver could have pointed to the spot on two occasions – the second when Robin van Persie tangled with Geoff Cameron after Crouch’s header hit a post. He had a stronger case with Smalling’s handball. “Certainly the first one, I think Smalling has lost Peter on the initial header and is just trying to get something in the way of the ball. He’s made an intentional movement with his arm to bat the ball down. The referee is clearly standing there, so why he hasn’t given it I don’t know.” United could not have made a worse start. The game was only 106 seconds old when Arnautovic delivered a corner that Crouch met with a free header. Jones was too preoccupied with Arnautovic’s centre to notice that Shawcross had got away from him and by the time he got his bearings the Stoke captain was volleying home. Then came the Diouf chance, when the former United player used his pace and strength to get past Evans only to profligately shoot wide. “Two-nil to the good we would have been in a situation where I don’t think United would have been able to come back given the way they performed,” Hughes said. Instead Falcao plundered an equaliser for United seven minutes later, when the Colombian turned in a Wayne Rooney corner that Michael Carrick flicked on at the near post – the 11th time this season that Stoke have conceded from a set-piece. United might have been expected to push on from there but they ended up riding their luck. Guardian
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