It doesn't MATA, Man Utd still lost!!!

Charlie Adam's double strike gave Stoke their first league win over Manchester United since 1984 on a miserable afternoon for the champions.



United started with Juan Mata, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney for the first time but fell behind when Adam's free-kick flew in off Michael Carrick.
Van Persie levelled with a neat finish just after half-time.
But Adam quickly restored Stoke's lead in spectacular style with a fierce 25-yard strike into the top corner.

The closest United came to an equaliser was Rooney's injury-time free-kick, which was brilliantly tipped on to the post by Asmir Begovic before Stoke cleared their lines.

With his three best attacking players lining up together for the first time, this was supposed to be the start of a bright new era for United and their manager David Moyes, but instead it became an all-too familiar nightmare that will further dent their hopes of a top-four finish.

Moyes suffered his eighth Premier League defeat in 24 games in a match that he will remember for horrific weather conditions and injuries to both his starting centre-backs, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones.

DID YOU KNOW?
United defeats in the top flight: The last time that Manchester United lost as many as eight of their opening 24 games in a league season was in 1989-90, when they lost 11 times and finished in 13th place.

United have now lost more games than in any Premier League season since 2003-04, when they lost nine in total.