Yet another game and yet another draw for Manchester United at Old Trafford. José Mourinho's side failed to impress the fans in a poor display which left them with just a point as Paul Clement's Swansea City showed great character and braveness with their display in the 1-1 draw.

The first half was entirely dominated by the visitors, United failed to gain any sort of control over the game. The Swansea attack was causing all sorts of problems to a United defence that was shaken by an early injury to Luke Shaw.

The home side took the lead in controversial fashion. Late in first half stoppage-time, Marcus Rashford was deemed to be fouled by Łukasz Fabiański in the penalty area by the referee Neil Swarbrick, having dived. Captain Wayne Rooney stepped up to slot away his 252nd goal for the Red Devils.

Swansea hit back in the last phase of the game when Gylfi Sigurdsson scored a superb free kick to bring the Swans back into the game. The scoreline ended 1-1 as Clement's side held on to a valuable point as Mourinho's hopes of a top four finish may well be over.

Let's take a look at how the United players fared in their display against Swansea.

Defence unable to cope with Swansea's attack

David De Gea (7/10) - De Gea didn't do much wrong other than conceding the free-kick. The Spaniard was let down by less than satisfactory defending from the players in front of him. Sigurdsson's free-kick was a strange one for him. A communication error between him and Ander Herrera allowed the free kick to go in, leaving the Spaniard stranded in his place.

Ashley Young (7/10) - Young put in a shift in defence for Mourinho's side. The former Aston Villa man had to shift to the left side of the defence due to Luke Shaw's early injury. He combined well at times with Anthony Martial down the left, his crossing only missed a target man in the box, which he did not have today.

Eric Bailly (6/10) - The decision to play the Ivorian was a poor one from Mourinho. Bailly looked weary from the first minute and couldn't dominate in his defensive duties as he has done all season. Alongside Blind, Bailly was unable to cope with Fernando Llorente who had the physical advantage over the two United defenders. Bailly also had a few tussles with Jordan Ayew, both players were on each other's backs for as long as the Ivorian was on the pitch. He had to be taken off in the second half, fatigue seemed to have caught up with him, as he was replaced by Matteo Darmian for the last half hour of the game.

Daley Blind (5/10) - The Dutchman's performance in the game left much to be desired. Blind looked uncomfortable against the tall and physical Llorente and against the energetic Jordan Ayew. He failed to properly clear the ball on a few occasions and never really looked like his own self in defence. Given the injury crisis developing at the club, Mourinho will be hoping of better displays from the former Ajax man in the coming games.

Luke Shaw (N/A) - The young full-back started the game in defence but had to be taken off very early in the game due to an injury, Antonio Valencia replaced the Englishman for the rest of the game.

United Midfield fail to exploit Swansea defence

Michael Carrick (6/10) - It was a rather quiet display from the United veteran in a poor game overall for the Red Devils. Started alongside Herrera in the middle of the park and failed to really influence the proceedings of the game. The hard-working trio of Leon Britton, Ki-Sung Yueng and Tom Carroll were by far the better midfield on the day. The performance suggested that Carrick's days at Old Trafford are coming to an end.

Ander Herrera (6/10) - Much like his partner in midfield, Herrera had a quiet game as well. He showed his usual work-rate in midfield, but failed to really cause any real problems and pick out his attackers with key passes. In the absence of Paul Pogba, the Spaniard looked short of ideas as United constantly looked to their wingers to provide service to their attackers.

Jesse Lingard (6/10) - Lingard had a largely average game. The United no.14 failed to find spaces in between the Swansea defence in most parts of the game. His clearest chance came when Martial picked him out perfectly with a lob pass but the England international couldn't take advantage and give his side the lead. Kept roaming about the final third, and used his energy to give the attack some impetus in the second half.

Wayne Rooney (6/10) - Rooney started as a no.10 in the 4-2-3-1 system deployed by Mourinho for this one. The United captain kept moving about on the pitch, picking up passes, using his strength to keep the ball ticking in midfield and also use his long range of passing to help the Red Devils keep control of the possession. Expertly scored the penalty won by Rashford to give United the lead, late on in the first half. He was replaced by the Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the last 10 minutes of the game.

Martial and Rashford provide the spark

Marcus Rashford (7/10) - Rashford was one of United's better performers on the day. The United frontman started up top in the first half and used his pace to cause problems for the Swansea defence. It was his run into the box that gave United the penalty goal they scored. Rashford tried to take on the entire Swansea defence all by himself, his pace and trickery made him a handful to deal with for Federico Fernandez and Alfie Mawson.

Anthony Martial (7/10) - Like Rashford, Martial showed flashes of his brilliance throughout the game. The Frenchman had the beating of Swansea's defenders thanks to his pace and inventiveness to get past them. Martial also tested the goalkeeper on a few occasions with powerful attempts, however, they were comfortably saved.

Substitutes

Antonio Valencia (7/10) - The Ecuadorian did his best to influence the game from the minute he came on, bombing up and down the right side of the defence and putting the crosses in. However, without any real height in the box to aim at, Valencia's crossing was not as effective as it could've been for his side.

Matteo Darmian (6/10) - The Italian replaced the injured Bailly and was drafted in at centre-back alongside Blind. He never made any mistakes in defence and had a clean thirty minutes of football alongside his Dutch partner-in-defence. The Italian international is likely to start the mid-week Europa League tie against Celta Vigo.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (6/10) - The Armenian's presence was hardly felt in the last phase of the game and he never really challenged the Swansea defence to do better, came on for Rooney late in the game to provide some energy and creativity in the team, however, it was too little, too late for the Armenian.

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About the author
Ninad Barbadikar
Editor for the Brighton and Hove Albion Office. Contributor to VAVEL UK since July 2016.