It's hard to not get a little giddy after Sunday's performance, that was the most attractive and promising game of football at Old trafford for a fair while. But we have to take into account just how poor the opposition were, the first half especially, they looked like a team that should expect to go straight back down. But how can you not get excited at being able to watch Di Maria every week, or seeing something that resembled a competent central midfield dominate proceedings.
The moment that the team was announced, or should I say the moment it was announced that United would start with a back four, things were looking up. The players looked far more comfortable lining up with a back four. Van Gaal has said he hasn't finished with a back three, if so it will be interesting to see whether we get anywhere near yesterdays level of performance when we got back to 3-5-2.
We got better performances all around the pitch, not just the obvious ones of Di Maria, Blind and Herrera. Rojo put in a decent 90 minutes at left back and rafael seemed rejuvenated, that was his best game for a long time. It has to be remembered they weren't greatly troubled, until the second half at least. When I saw the team i had expected Rojo to start at centre half with Blackett at centre half. If there was a down side to the day, it was when QPR did wake up in the second half and had a bit of a go, we did look shaky through the middle. And whilst I don't think Evans and Blackett is a centre back partnership for the future, that wasn't the only problem defensively.
Blind was a revelation, his use of the ball was superb, neat and tidy, give and go, keeping thing ticking over nicely. But we had read about his lack of pace and lack of physical presence and that could be a problem. I read some reds suggesting Carrick would struggle to get back into the team, well not for me. What yesterday showed was that whilst Blind and Herrera are both nice footballers, they are both a little on the slow side, so against a City, Chelsea et al, I would still be wanting to Carrick in front of that back four.
That's a problem fore the future though. The revelation has to be just how good Di Maria is, he is world class, we did not overpay for him. He's a far more complete footballer than Bale for instance, that little dinked ball with the outside of his left foot for Van Persie in the second half was worth the admission money on it's own. He was involved in everything.
We have to get to it eventually, but Rooney and Van Persie still aren't the answer for me. I know I bang on about Rooney's lack of mobility, and it's still there, but yesterday he was involved in the build up play and did link up well at times. But Van Persie didn't excel at all, he actually doesn't really even look like he's enjoying his football at the moment. I watched him playing for Holland against the Czech Republic on TV last week and he gave the same kind of scratchy performance he had given in the world cup. Falcao didn't too much when he came on, but that was due the rest of the team not picking out his runs. He made some great runs, and I can't see it being too long before he gets a bit of a run in the side. At the moment Van Persie would be the man most in danger of losing his spot.
How long will it be before Januzaj starts a game, he was only for ten minutes or so, but he made things happen and on another day could have bagged a couple of goals. Watching him and Di Maria in the same side is going to be a joy.
So it's official, we can look forward to going to games at Old trafford again, praise fucking be for that.
The moment that the team was announced, or should I say the moment it was announced that United would start with a back four, things were looking up. The players looked far more comfortable lining up with a back four. Van Gaal has said he hasn't finished with a back three, if so it will be interesting to see whether we get anywhere near yesterdays level of performance when we got back to 3-5-2.
We got better performances all around the pitch, not just the obvious ones of Di Maria, Blind and Herrera. Rojo put in a decent 90 minutes at left back and rafael seemed rejuvenated, that was his best game for a long time. It has to be remembered they weren't greatly troubled, until the second half at least. When I saw the team i had expected Rojo to start at centre half with Blackett at centre half. If there was a down side to the day, it was when QPR did wake up in the second half and had a bit of a go, we did look shaky through the middle. And whilst I don't think Evans and Blackett is a centre back partnership for the future, that wasn't the only problem defensively.
Blind was a revelation, his use of the ball was superb, neat and tidy, give and go, keeping thing ticking over nicely. But we had read about his lack of pace and lack of physical presence and that could be a problem. I read some reds suggesting Carrick would struggle to get back into the team, well not for me. What yesterday showed was that whilst Blind and Herrera are both nice footballers, they are both a little on the slow side, so against a City, Chelsea et al, I would still be wanting to Carrick in front of that back four.
That's a problem fore the future though. The revelation has to be just how good Di Maria is, he is world class, we did not overpay for him. He's a far more complete footballer than Bale for instance, that little dinked ball with the outside of his left foot for Van Persie in the second half was worth the admission money on it's own. He was involved in everything.
We have to get to it eventually, but Rooney and Van Persie still aren't the answer for me. I know I bang on about Rooney's lack of mobility, and it's still there, but yesterday he was involved in the build up play and did link up well at times. But Van Persie didn't excel at all, he actually doesn't really even look like he's enjoying his football at the moment. I watched him playing for Holland against the Czech Republic on TV last week and he gave the same kind of scratchy performance he had given in the world cup. Falcao didn't too much when he came on, but that was due the rest of the team not picking out his runs. He made some great runs, and I can't see it being too long before he gets a bit of a run in the side. At the moment Van Persie would be the man most in danger of losing his spot.
How long will it be before Januzaj starts a game, he was only for ten minutes or so, but he made things happen and on another day could have bagged a couple of goals. Watching him and Di Maria in the same side is going to be a joy.
So it's official, we can look forward to going to games at Old trafford again, praise fucking be for that.
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