About a minute before Mata's stunning opening goal I would have given you pretty long odds on us leaving St. James park with a 4-0 win. The team selected hadn't exactly inspired much belief, Valencia at right back and Fltcher and Fellaini in central midfield, shouldn't be the scariest proposition for a side facing United.
That said, Newcastle are on a really poor run of form with a lot of injuries, so maybe it was just about getting that first goal. In fact the first two goals came at great times, Mata's stunning opener, out of nowhere, five minutes before half time and the second, just a few minutes into the second half. The second goal in particular seemed to knock the stuffing right out of the home side and the rest of the game, was basicaly a stroll for the reds, with Mata orchestrating things playing in his best position at number ten. With no Van Persie or Rooney he was free to run the show, and expecially in the second half, that's exacty what he did. Maybe we'll look back on yesterday as the day the real Juan Mata arrived at Manchester United.
But you can't completely overlook the first forty minutes which had been the same old non descript Moyes Manchester United, no style, not much beleif, not much of anything really. The period of play that saw Kagawa, Mata and Januzaj all on the pitch was really the Manchester United we want to see a whole lot more of. All the goals was impressive, but that fourth really was a little gem, Januzaj applying a glorious finishing touch to Mata's delightful back heel. Of course the opposition has to be taken into account, Newcastle were truly abysmal, still it was encouraging to see that we do have the players to play football the equal of the Liverpool's and the City's of this world. There is something there to work with, if we can get the back four sorted out, and find some quality central midfield talent during the summer. It goes without saying, that a new manager would be a must for me as well, here's hoping.
I see Bayern rested half their team yesterday during their first defeat in ages, I suppose it shows they're taking us a bit more seriously than might have been expected. I fully expect Rooney to be fit for that, and wouldn't be surprised to see Jones in midield this time. Well he would be in midfield ahead of Fellaini for me, who knows with Moyes, apparently Fellaini got better as the game went along during the first leg, my eyes are still rolling having heard that.
That said, Newcastle are on a really poor run of form with a lot of injuries, so maybe it was just about getting that first goal. In fact the first two goals came at great times, Mata's stunning opener, out of nowhere, five minutes before half time and the second, just a few minutes into the second half. The second goal in particular seemed to knock the stuffing right out of the home side and the rest of the game, was basicaly a stroll for the reds, with Mata orchestrating things playing in his best position at number ten. With no Van Persie or Rooney he was free to run the show, and expecially in the second half, that's exacty what he did. Maybe we'll look back on yesterday as the day the real Juan Mata arrived at Manchester United.
But you can't completely overlook the first forty minutes which had been the same old non descript Moyes Manchester United, no style, not much beleif, not much of anything really. The period of play that saw Kagawa, Mata and Januzaj all on the pitch was really the Manchester United we want to see a whole lot more of. All the goals was impressive, but that fourth really was a little gem, Januzaj applying a glorious finishing touch to Mata's delightful back heel. Of course the opposition has to be taken into account, Newcastle were truly abysmal, still it was encouraging to see that we do have the players to play football the equal of the Liverpool's and the City's of this world. There is something there to work with, if we can get the back four sorted out, and find some quality central midfield talent during the summer. It goes without saying, that a new manager would be a must for me as well, here's hoping.
I see Bayern rested half their team yesterday during their first defeat in ages, I suppose it shows they're taking us a bit more seriously than might have been expected. I fully expect Rooney to be fit for that, and wouldn't be surprised to see Jones in midield this time. Well he would be in midfield ahead of Fellaini for me, who knows with Moyes, apparently Fellaini got better as the game went along during the first leg, my eyes are still rolling having heard that.
No comments:
Post a Comment