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De Gea was outstanding yet again but United’s backline was far from convincing
Brilliant De Gea
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After the game, Moyes was quick to praise De Gea for keeping United in the game with some fantastic saves. And although he conceded two goals, there was nothing he could have done about either of them and was one of the main reasons why United were in the game long enough for their forwards to win them the game in the final 15 minutes.
Whilst De Gea was calm and composed, the same couldn’t be said about the defense in front of him. In the absence of Rafael, Smalling started at right back and never looked too comfortable in terms of his positioning. Both Jonny Evans and Phil Jones barely won anything in the air all afternoon against Peter Crouch and the physical approach of Stoke certainly rattled them. Phil Jones, conceded a cheap free kick at the edge of the box towards the end of the first half, which was beautifully converted by Arnautovic. Throughout the game, the defense looked shaky and not in a long time have united looked so vulnerable and that is certainly something that Moyes has to work on.
