Cardiff City 2-2 Manchester United: Reds throw it away again

Manchester United suffered a disastrous draw in Wales against Cardiff City to leave them further adrift of their rivals after conceding a late equaliser. Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra had put United ahead, scoring either side of a goal from Fraizer Campbell, before Kim Bo-Hyung struck and Rooney missed a sitter in injury time.

An even and battling start to the game by both sides was slightly marred by United getting a slice of luck after Rooney kicked out at Jordon Mutch, only to receive a yellow card rather than the deserved red for the act.

United were being made to work, but got another slice of luck to salt the wounds and find a breakthrough shortly afterwards. David Marshall made an error in playing the ball out, and United were able to pounce, Javier Hernandez flicking on a cross for Wayne Rooney, who spun around and saw his shot deflected over Marshall and into the net to give United the lead.

Cardiff were still well in the game however, and Fraizer Campbell soon pounced to get the equaliser against his former club. Two fine passes, first from Peter Whittingham to find Mutch, and then a perfectly-weighted through ball from the youngster allowed Campbell to outpace Jonny Evans and put a fine finish past David de Gea.

Cardiff were looking much improved, but United clinched a vital goal at a crucial time to put themselves back into the lead. A routine corner saw Patrice Evra make a run to the near post and glance a fine header into the net to make it 2-1.

Cardiff would have felt aggrieved to have been behind, after having mostly matched United and also being hard done-by with Rooney's yellow card, and started the second half the better side as they went in search of another equaliser. Fraizer Campbell was almost the man to find it again, after a breakdown in passing in United's defence saw him get into a good position. His audacious lob had De Gea well beaten, but struck the back post and United survived.

United were struggling for fluency, but came close from set-pieces, with Fellaini's presence vastly increasing their danger. Yet disappointing displays from Antonio Valencia and Adnan Januzaj on the flanks left them struggling to put the hosts under any real pressure.

With shades of the Southampton draw, United were punished for their lethargy in injury-time, as Kim Bo-Hyung got away from Evra to plant an near-post header past David de Gea to level the scores late on and frustrate United.

That wasn't to be the last chance of the game, however - Wayne Rooney had a golden opportunity to score a winner as he was sent clean through, but tried to set up Danny Welbeck, placed behind him, and scuffed a woeful pass towards his strike partner, allowing Marshall to collect.

That left United dropping points while Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea all won - a terrible weekend to follow up from the success of the last. There'll be a considerable fallout from this, but United just haven't improved from the start of the season, and big questions need to be asked for the future of this team as it is at the moment.