United 4 - 2 City
DDG
Valencia Smalling Jones(Rojo) Blind
Mata(Di Maria) Herrera Carrick Young
Fellaini(Falcao) Rooney
Well, that was absolutely brilliant. City started brightly and we got nowhere close to them during the first 10 minutes. They were rewarded with an Aguero goal but it was all about United from then on. I had a good feeling before the game, we were on a high and City have been dropping points for fun recently. I just had a gut feeling that today we were going to prolong our good run and capitalise on City's torrid form. It was about time United won against City at home anyway. The last time we beat City was when Rooney scored that overhead kick.....and I was there. That's four years ago!
In my opinion, this was Young's best performance in the red of United. It was probably his best performance in his career. He tormented Zabaleta and had a say in three of United's goals. He did get a lucky break when he scored his goal but he deserved that today and I'm absolutely chuffed for him. A goal and two assists ain't bad against the reigning champions, is it?
I was really pleased with the way our players battled for every ball. I can remember Blind, right at the death, going in with a hard no nonsense tackle. That's the kind of commitment I was to see from our players. Every player had a good game with the exception of Rooney who didn't do much when in possession up front. What he did though was chase every ball and put their defenders under pressure. His race against a fresh Nasri, quite late in the game, springs to my mind. Again, that's the commitment every supporter likes to see from his players. Despite his average performance, the stadium was shouting "Rooney Rooney" after that run. This kind of grit was missing last year.
I was really pleased with the way our players battled for every ball. I can remember Blind, right at the death, going in with a hard no nonsense tackle. That's the kind of commitment I was to see from our players. Every player had a good game with the exception of Rooney who didn't do much when in possession up front. What he did though was chase every ball and put their defenders under pressure. His race against a fresh Nasri, quite late in the game, springs to my mind. Again, that's the commitment every supporter likes to see from his players. Despite his average performance, the stadium was shouting "Rooney Rooney" after that run. This kind of grit was missing last year.
Jones and Smalling didn't start the game brightly but they settled in as the game wore on. In fact, Jones was quite impressive during the second half. Despite their recent good performance, I still get the feeling that the combination of Smalling and Jones is a calamity waiting to happen. Our fullbacks had a very good game as well. Blind has made that left-back position his own. It's a shame he's quite slow but his footballing intelligence makes up for his lack of speed. Valencia was a beast today. Some of his overlapping was excellent but I was particularly impressed with his defending. Well played!
If you ask me who's been the catalyst of our recent good run of form, I'd tell you it's Carrick. The vision, composure and ease at which he passes the ball is incredible. Any football fan should be watching this footballer in awe. Forget about the flicks and backheels, this guy plays football the simple way and it's still so beautiful on the eye. Herrera and Mata aren't too bad either. Their passing is top-notch and it's not a coincidence that Manchester United have returned to their best when the two finally seem to have found their place in the team. With them three in our line-up, we can out-pass anyone. It's also good to have goalscoring midfielders. Mata got his 9th goal of the season today. He was offside but then again, Kompany should have been sent off during the first half so things evened themselves out.
I also have to mention goalscorer Fellani. In our past games vs City, our midfield used to get bullied by Yaya Toure. We needed a midfielder who could diffuse Toure's effect and that's exactly what Maroune did today. I'm not even going to praise his performance, we've become used to very good performances from our Belgian.
Happy? Ecstatic. This was a win that not only puts us in third place but also gives us some hope that next season we can challenge for the title. We've already amassed more points than we did last year and there are still 18 points up for grabs. This team is bound to get better. It's Chelsea next week. We've put ourselves in a comfortable position and can afford to drop points at a ground where we didn't have much joy since Chelsea found financial backing from that Russian bloke. Having said that, I hope we can take the next step forward and manage to get something at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea haven't been playing that well lately so I feel a tad optimistic. Come on United!
I also have to mention goalscorer Fellani. In our past games vs City, our midfield used to get bullied by Yaya Toure. We needed a midfielder who could diffuse Toure's effect and that's exactly what Maroune did today. I'm not even going to praise his performance, we've become used to very good performances from our Belgian.
Happy? Ecstatic. This was a win that not only puts us in third place but also gives us some hope that next season we can challenge for the title. We've already amassed more points than we did last year and there are still 18 points up for grabs. This team is bound to get better. It's Chelsea next week. We've put ourselves in a comfortable position and can afford to drop points at a ground where we didn't have much joy since Chelsea found financial backing from that Russian bloke. Having said that, I hope we can take the next step forward and manage to get something at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea haven't been playing that well lately so I feel a tad optimistic. Come on United!
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