By Chris Wright
After Man Utd managed to sling in a whopping 81 crosses into the Fulham box at Old Trafford on Sunday evening (thus breaking a Premier League and Opta record which has stood since 2006) without so much as steering one of them goal-wards with any menace, Cottagers coach Rene Meulensteen was left to remark that David Moyes’ approach was “straightforward” and that United just “got it wide and got it in the box”, adding that it was “easy to defend against.”
Fulham’s lanky centre-back Dan Burn joined in the heckling this morning, likening United’s tactics as being akin to “Conference football”, with the 21-year-old defender having first-hand experience of the division in question – having plugged away for Darlington in the Conference back in 2011.
“I’ve never headed that many balls since the Conference,” said Burn mused apres the game. “We knew that was going to happen and I was happy for them to play like that.”
Burn by name, burn by nature!
Incidentally, another telling statistic of United’s woes has emerged today with the damning stat being that Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have only found one another with completed passes on eight (8) separate occasions in the last two games – four (that’s approximately 50%, maths fans!) of those times being from kick-off.
Ouch.