That was ugly”. That’s what you could have said about United’s draw with Sunderland. Then MK Dons and 4-0 happened. Now THAT was ugly. This was just, mildly unattractive?
I’m just doing this for my own pleasure, but for anyone who had to write about that match for their job, you know, the people that can turn match reports into poetry, I feel for them. This match was all bullet points, no beauty. With that said, here we go:
The Van Gaal way
Before I start on the match, everything that follows stems from this belief that I have: Van Gaal’s way will take time. It’s not some novel thought, but looking at Twitter (or maybe just my timeline) you’d think that it was just that. Short of Van Gaal failing so miserably (think bottom half of the table, near relegation), he will get at least a couple of seasons to build on this philosophy he talks so much of, and on the evidence of that match vs Sunderland, it’s going to take a lot of patience. It’s hard to tell whether the fans or players are having a harder time adjusting, but more on that, next. Van Gaal seems big on training, different with his methods, and maybe that is already showing on the squad. How many injuries is that now, 10?
Bear with him though. He’s done it before, and hopefully he’ll do it again. Until then, better stay away from any Liverpool and City friends you have.
Oh, one last thing. For those who are often baffled about the lack of use of certain players, I present you this from @DTGuardian: Van Gaal was also asked if Kagawa could play central midfield. “I have tried him there … he couldn’t perform my wishes”. Be ready to be very frustrated. It’s his way, there is no alternative. But don’t forget that worked for a certain Alex.
The basics
By far the saddest and most frustrating aspect of the match was our movement on and off the ball. Yes, it is a new system, those poor, young centre-backs have to do a bit more with the ball, and without out. Same goes for the midfield actually. It’s tiring, it’s work, but what they managed was honestly one of the worst standards I’ve seen in a while. On a number of occasions, one of the back three was given so much time and space he could bring the ball up a good 20 metres, across the halfway line. But it was always stop-start, tentative, more “should I be doing this?” than “I FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED”. It was sad, really. As sad as the passing, maybe. I wish I could recall the exact moments, but maybe I’m glad I can’t actually. The passing was horrid at times. One particularly funny instance (around the 55th minute) was Valencia crossing with plenty of space, and landing the ball closer to the corner flag than to any United teammate. Did I say funny? I meant embarrassing.
No spark
The saddest (I’m using that word a lot) part of last season for me was the lack or fire and urgency the United players had. Probably a result of the way they took to Moyes’ leadership, it was just horrible to watch. Sadly, despite changes to the manager and system, that doesn’t seem to have improved much. On almost any occasion I can recall in this match, they were outmuscled and outhustled. Any 50-50 ball felt like an 80-20, or at least a 70-30.
The good (well, “the ok”)
I really didn’t think Young or Valencia were as terrible as people thought. Valencia did well to create the goal, and both were decent on the ball, on the few occasions that we kept it long enough to get it wide. Blackett was quite good aside from a few clumsy challenges, and long balls that display either bad judgement or terrible eyesight.
The bad (yeah, bad)
Disappointments aplenty though. For me, the biggest was Van Persie. He didn’t look interested one bit, all I remember from him was getting nudged off the ball on an occasion when we had a 3-on-1 advantage in that area of the field (that too, after we had held onto the ball for a while), and not seeming to care when he was sloppily caught offside later. I could be reading way too much into it, and in fairness he is still catching up on his fitness.
Mata and Rooney were better, but both missed crucial opportunities. First Rooney failed to play a simple return ball to Fletcher that may have had him through on goal (37th minute), and the Spaniard’s heavy touch lost him the opportunity to shoot from a few yards out, after a nice ball through to him (62nd minute).
The other guys
Plenty of appreciation to go around, although it admittedly fizzled as the game went on.
Larsson – Super delivery on all his set pieces, rare consistency too, as @Tacheydelbosque pointed out (by the way, he’s a great person to follow if you’re a football fan). His free kick in the 74th had me scared until it hit the advertising boards.
Buckley – Seemed like he’d be their main route early on, causing enough minor problems on the wing, looks decent.
Wickham – Good touches that freed up two shots (both scuffed though), and a very good through ball for Larsson (Which may have been snuffed out because he was offside). He looked genuinely good, and I’m not even English.
I started writing this in the 75th minute, and I’d thought of Mannone, then dismissed him, right before he flew in for a vital interception to beat Young to the through ball from Welbeck.
To the next one we go. Just remember, when you watch a match like this, and you think it can’t get any worse, there is always MK Dons.
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