United 3 - 0 Stoke

DDG

Darmian Smalling Blind Borthwick-Jackson

Fellaini(Herrera) Carrick

Lingard Mata(Perreira) Martial(Memphis)

Rooney

Our skipper keeps scoring

United's best Premier League performance in a while. We had width, we had pace, we had players in the box, we had grit and we deservedly won the game. Some of the football was a joy to watch. Our youngsters played with confidence and our senior players kept a cool head and guided the team to a comfortable victory. 

It was perhaps one of the few games during which DDG had absolutely nothing to do. Our defense is prone to that weekly mistake that usually draws a superb intervention from our goalie. Not today though. Did Stoke get a shot on target? If they did, then I don't remember it. 

I couldn't believe some of our play today. It was reminiscent of the good times when scoring 3, 4 or 5 goals was something of a habit. Martial was majestic. Rooney barely put a foot wrong. Borthwick Jackson cool, calm and pin-point. Lingard was eager throughout and scored a good goal. Mata pivotal. Carrick composed. These were our best players today. If I had to choose a man of the match then it's got to be Martial for his superb finish and assisting Rooney. 

I'm not taking nothing away from the contribution of the other players. But the likes of Smalling, Blind and Darmian will surely have harder days at the office. Fellaini was his usual self. He makes his presence felt and, as I said time and again, he's a valuable member of our squad. He's not United quality, of course not, but that's not his fault. He always does his best when he puts on the red shirt of United. And let's be honest, there aren't many players in our squad who are United quality. By United quality I mean players who would play in Fergie's sides of 1999 or 2008. 

Happy? Of course! Hopefully performances like today's will someday become the norm again rather than the exception. It's been too long since I've enjoyed the football played by Manchester United in a PL game. Today's game will give us a boost ahead of the game against Chelsea. If I'm honest, I don't expect much out of that game. Chelsea have been playing much better since they've shown the exit door to Jose Mourinho. I'll take the game as it comes but we do have to keep in mind that a loss is likely to put us 8 points away from 4th place. Now we don't want that, do we? Pressure's on. Come on United!