Three points, a decent performance, but a strange game at times. The only change to the starting line up was Mata coming in for the suspended Rooney, McNair staying at centre back in an unchanged back four.
Everton started well for the first five to ten minutes keeping the lions share of possession, but never threatened to do anything with that possession. Then United got hold of the ball and dominated the rest of the half. Falcao and Van Persie both had decent chances, but it fell to Di Maria to open our account with a fine finish. Once again, Our Argentine new number seven was at the heart of most of our good moments, linking up well with Shaw, who impressed again, if he did give the penalty away. It was fitting that De Gea saved that penalty because Everton definitely didn't deserve to go into the half time break all square.
The second half saw the blue half of scouse land get more of a foothold in the game, even if United were still the team in the ascendancy. But that foothold saw the visitors level the scores ten minutes into the second half as the left half our back four went missing to allow Naismith to head home. Maybe Shaw should take the lions share of the blame, but I didn't think Rojo covered himself in glory either. Rojo has done alright so far, and maybe it's too early to judge, but he doesn't really look as if he's ever going to approach the level of Ferdinand or Vidic. And at the end of the day, if we are going to challenge for Premier league titles or even champions league trophies that's the level we have to be looking at.
The injury curse struck again of course, it's every fucking game now, this time Shaw had to go off, thankfully this one doesn't seem to be too serious. United had regained the lead by then though. It seems as if Di Maria can do no wrong at times. The 4-0 victory over QPR saw him mishit a shot badly only to see it run straight to the feet of Mata who made no mistake. Ditto yesterday as a badly scuffed shot saw Falcao intervene to open his account for the club and fortuitously give United the lead.
United had chances to increase their lead, but failed to take. That nearly came to haunt us as United once again seemed to falter over the last ten minutes. I don't know whether it's fitness or nerves, but we had De Gea to thank for the three points as he made two world class saves during that period. I didn't really get the criticism he received recently, but the Spaniard rammed it back down his critics throats yesterday.
I think it would be more worrying if a second half relapses are down to fitness, the energy didn't seem to be there over the course of that final ten minutes. With the club not involved in Europe and out of the league cup, we're only playing one game week, so we shouldn't really be running out of juice late on in games.
As for individuals, Di Maria was superb again, De Gea brilliant, the back four did alright, given the changes. I thought Valencia had one of his better games as the right side of the midfield diamond. On the debit side, Van Persie is really out of sorts, and though Falcao opened his account, he's not really ripping up any trees at the moment. You do get the feeling that both of those players would sooner be the lone man up front. Other reds thought Mata had a decent game, I can't really go along with that, the number ten has got to do more than he did yesterday, for me anyway. We didn't miss Rooney, but Mata will have to do far better than that if Van Gaal is think about about leaving the scouser out of his starting line up. Of course I would sooner see Januzaj than either of them, but at the moment, the young Belgian doesn't seem to be in Van Gaal's plans, much to my regret anyway.
So we hit the top four, only to be hit by another international break, don't you just love international breaks.
Everton started well for the first five to ten minutes keeping the lions share of possession, but never threatened to do anything with that possession. Then United got hold of the ball and dominated the rest of the half. Falcao and Van Persie both had decent chances, but it fell to Di Maria to open our account with a fine finish. Once again, Our Argentine new number seven was at the heart of most of our good moments, linking up well with Shaw, who impressed again, if he did give the penalty away. It was fitting that De Gea saved that penalty because Everton definitely didn't deserve to go into the half time break all square.
The second half saw the blue half of scouse land get more of a foothold in the game, even if United were still the team in the ascendancy. But that foothold saw the visitors level the scores ten minutes into the second half as the left half our back four went missing to allow Naismith to head home. Maybe Shaw should take the lions share of the blame, but I didn't think Rojo covered himself in glory either. Rojo has done alright so far, and maybe it's too early to judge, but he doesn't really look as if he's ever going to approach the level of Ferdinand or Vidic. And at the end of the day, if we are going to challenge for Premier league titles or even champions league trophies that's the level we have to be looking at.
The injury curse struck again of course, it's every fucking game now, this time Shaw had to go off, thankfully this one doesn't seem to be too serious. United had regained the lead by then though. It seems as if Di Maria can do no wrong at times. The 4-0 victory over QPR saw him mishit a shot badly only to see it run straight to the feet of Mata who made no mistake. Ditto yesterday as a badly scuffed shot saw Falcao intervene to open his account for the club and fortuitously give United the lead.
United had chances to increase their lead, but failed to take. That nearly came to haunt us as United once again seemed to falter over the last ten minutes. I don't know whether it's fitness or nerves, but we had De Gea to thank for the three points as he made two world class saves during that period. I didn't really get the criticism he received recently, but the Spaniard rammed it back down his critics throats yesterday.
I think it would be more worrying if a second half relapses are down to fitness, the energy didn't seem to be there over the course of that final ten minutes. With the club not involved in Europe and out of the league cup, we're only playing one game week, so we shouldn't really be running out of juice late on in games.
As for individuals, Di Maria was superb again, De Gea brilliant, the back four did alright, given the changes. I thought Valencia had one of his better games as the right side of the midfield diamond. On the debit side, Van Persie is really out of sorts, and though Falcao opened his account, he's not really ripping up any trees at the moment. You do get the feeling that both of those players would sooner be the lone man up front. Other reds thought Mata had a decent game, I can't really go along with that, the number ten has got to do more than he did yesterday, for me anyway. We didn't miss Rooney, but Mata will have to do far better than that if Van Gaal is think about about leaving the scouser out of his starting line up. Of course I would sooner see Januzaj than either of them, but at the moment, the young Belgian doesn't seem to be in Van Gaal's plans, much to my regret anyway.
So we hit the top four, only to be hit by another international break, don't you just love international breaks.
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