When the final whistle arrived, the boos from the home fans descended more vigorously than the evening rain. Given the relative resources available to both teams, Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Norwich should be regarded as a humiliation. Though the visitors applied themselves with both diligence and tactical intelligence, Louis van Gaal's team were notably devoid of attacking rhythm for almost the entire match. Indeed this was arguably a poorer performance than United's 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle United during David Moyes' sole season in charge.
Van Gaal has questions to answer not just for this defeat, but for the manner of it. He chose a midfield who put no pressure on the ball, which contributed to one if not both of Norwich's goals. Meanwhile, too many players turned in performances that were simply not good enough. United's sixth game without a win may transpire to be uncomfortably definitive of Van Gaal's time at Old Trafford.
Player ratings (1-10; 10=best; players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)
GK David De Gea, 7 -- Blameless for both Norwich goals, finding himself particularly exposed for the first, and made a good low save in the second half. Distributed the ball confidently from the back.
DF Phil Jones, 5 -- Too often caught out of position; the gap between him and Chris Smalling was often alarmingly wide. Strong in the challenge but weak with his spatial awareness.
DF Chris Smalling, 5 -- One of his poorer performances in a fine season so far. Was beaten too easily on the dribble for one of Norwich's goals and did not organise his back line sufficiently to deal with the visitors' counter-attacking threat. Almost scored very late on, a redemption that his team's collective showing would not have deserved.
DF Daley Blind, 5 -- His passing from deep lacked its usual accuracy on occasions, and a particular moment when he was a little slow to track back when he lost possession was striking. Overall the Dutchman looked a fraction off the pace and shorter of ideas than usual.
DF Ashley Young, 6 -- Worked extremely hard and tried desperately to get across to stop Norwich's opening goal, though might have done slightly better in closing down for their second. His crossing was not quite accurate enough in the first, but that improved sharply in the second half, culminating in a dangerous ball that led to Anthony Martial pulling a goal back.
MF Michael Carrick, 7 -- Intercepted the ball well and tried to initiate attacks from deep but looked overwhelmed in midfield alongside Marouane Fellaini, a partner far too immobile to be paired with him.
MF Marouane Fellaini, 5 -- Was ill-suited to the role that he was given in a two-man midfield with minimal pressing ability against a fast-breaking side, and so it showed. Not particularly poor on the ball but was frequently bypassed.
MF Memphis Depay, 5 -- Again he wasn't conspicuously bad but just somewhat subpar. Depay was a little slow in some of his decision-making and marooned too far wide to make a true impact.
MF Juan Mata, 5 -- His weight of passing was disappointing at times and in a possession-based attack, the onus fell upon him to be more creative than he was. Some good touches and attempts to spread the play, but more should be expected from a player of his talents.
FW Anthony Martial, 7 -- Provided an excellent finish to bring United briefly back into the game and looked endlessly for solutions throughout, even arriving in the right-back position to make a (late) challenge as Norwich were on the break. Constantly probed for one-twos and looked to be United's sharpest attacking player.
FW Wayne Rooney, 5 -- Did not look at his best on his return from some time out of the team, threatening briefly with an overhead kick but not getting involved enough in the build-up throughout.
Substitutions:
MF Ander Herrera, 6 (for Fellaini, 60 mins) -- Was not able to influence the game as he usually does. His omission from the starting lineup was baffling given United's need for both pressing and penetrative passing.
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