[Lash]

Was there today, and was happy at 3-0, but fletcher was poor when he came on, Rooney got sloppy and Jones was really disappointing from 65mins onwards. Very lax in concentration and against a half decent team would of given a lot away.

I have to say though, Falcao and RVP's movement up front was fantastic and dragged the defence everywhere, making the space for Rooney and Mata to really hurt them. Although their midfield was non existant and they only had jack cool back that even tried to keep the ball.

Overall, when we concentrated, our back 3 looked alright and we really looked threatening, but complacency creeps in a few of our players, which I worry for against Tottenham.

Edit: also it's probs important to add the reg was shocking and tried his hardest to make it difficult for us, all game.

 

[WR10]

Glad to be able to say this again, but typical performance at old trafford really. Rooney is a beast of a player and Mata reminds us over and over again that he can only play at home. Apart from the usual 'automatism' from a Van gaal team, it was nice to see our back 3 really starting to understand this formation. Jones and Evans looked full of confidence on the ball and without and that was the best thing to see for me today.

 

[Wumminator]

Lovely easy win for us against a top half Premier League team.

Well done everyone

 

[ZDwyr]

Was a very good comfortable win. Although it looks like we got Newcastle at the right time as they are back into their bad form. Makes the Villa game more frustrating because once they went down to 10 we should have scored, or at least threatened more. But we're still in good form. Rooney my MOTM. Thought everyone played well though.

 

[ChaddyP]

Cant believe some posters are upset that at 3 love up and having an away match vs Spurs on sunday we slowed down tempo and tried to save energy. How dare the team do that

 

[sunama]

I can't believe when some posters say things like, "the only reason we won so easily is because the opposition were bad".

This is the PL and we are reminded time and time again that this is one of (if not) the most difficult league in the World.
There are no easy games.
When we get a 3-1 win against a top half side, maybe, just maybe, its because we played well.
The most logical explanation, is normally the correct explanation.

 

[ZDwyr]

I can't believe when some posters say things like, "the only reason we won so easily is because the opposition were bad".

This is the PL and we are reminded time and time again that this is one of (if not) the most difficult league in the World.
There are no easy games.
When we get a 3-1 win against a top half side, maybe, just maybe, its because we played well.
The most logical explanation, is normally the correct explanation.

Has anyone said that? We were good and deserved the win. It helped that Newcastle aren't playing their best though. However that doesn't take away from us because we did play well.

 

[Melvyn]

Cant believe some posters are upset that at 3 love up and having an away match vs Spurs on sunday we slowed down tempo and tried to save energy. How dare the team do that

Moaners gonna moan.

 

[Red Dreams]

thought Newcastle played well and should have scored a couple before we took control. Defence still looks dodgy. That aside I liked the smooth passing and power of the football. And of course we look lethal up front.

What a strike force.

 

[Loublaze]

Don't remember a more comfortable game for us this season. Very good performance from everyone involved.

Hull City, QPR

 

[Chorley1974]

falcao

 

[thelemon]

Cisse looked good in that Wonga shirt.

Great performance all round, that includes the defence that dealt with pretty much every thing (although that was little). Thing that annoyed me was that penalty! I hate not keeping a clean sheet after being so comfortable and it really marred a decent showing from Jones.

 

[VanGaalEra]

As people have alluded to, it was good that we were able to ease off after an hour. As opposed to our next opponents, Spurs, who had a really tough high tempo for 90 min game at Leicester.

I expect our players to be fresher come Sunday.

 

[rover]

have watched back the full match and this is definitely the game of the season

 

[Gannicus]

A masterful performance, though not the 6-0 thrashing we were all secretly hoping to witness.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

have watched back the full match and this is definitely the game of the season

For me, the Hull game was the most impressive. Our passing+movement that day was superb. I'm going to rewatch this match again though.

 

[NoPace]

We punished Newcastle mistakes well (Though Falcao and Mata caused the 2nd one) but didn't create much without their assistance. That's sort of how this Van Gaal 3-4-1-2 (really more of a 3-3-2-2 today I guess?) system seems to work for both the Dutch and us, so maybe a bit less of a concern than otherwise.

I think we''d look a lot more fluid with Herrera, Di Maria, Shaw and Rafael out there, as they're all clever short passers who run a lot and want the ball.

 

[POF]

This was a really excellent performance. Certainly the best in the 3-5-2 system. The front 4 linked up beautifully, the wing backs were very effective and the wide centre backs were impressive stepping into midfield. The most impressive part is how well balanced the team was which was basically made up of 3 centre backs, 1 midfield player, 2 wingers and 4 forwards.

Carrick remains a key man which was highlighted by his substitution. Rooney for me is the most improved player under Van Gaal. He is now playing with a level of intelligence and selflessness I haven't seen from him before. Evans deserves a mention too. He was solid. Easily his best game of the season.

Watching Fletcher reminds me of Gary Neville at the end of his career. He's giving it everything but he just doesn't have it any more. It's sad to see.

Barring injuries it should be the same team at Spurs apart from Smalling for McNair. Mainly because there are absolutely no other options that are fit.

 

[rover]

creativity is down to individual quality. with our current squad i would say only diMaria & falcao are creative players. but falcao is a striker so he still requires other creative players to support.

the best of this game is how do we handle the game in a balance, even we don't need to rely on fellaini's physical strength to overcome our weakness. we just simply kept opp in bay by playing football.

i assure everyone here rooney wouldn't pass to rvp in early season time. glad to see him finally over it. i credit it to the signing of falcao, which diminishes the rooneyPersie rivalry into bin.

 

[thepolice123]

We won only once against any top 10 team last season. This is also a team who took all 3 points against Chelsea. People need to get some fecking perspective.

 

[markorm]

...
If it hadn't been for the very poor start to the season, we would be on par with Chelsea, points wise.

Eight unbeaten is not luck.

It's getting to be a habit, teams playing against is not playing well.

Chelsea, Hull, Southampton, Liverpool, Newcastle...

 

[amolbhatia50k]

For me, the Hull game was the most impressive. Our passing+movement that day was superb. I'm going to rewatch this match again though.

Hull was definitely better. Unlike our 352 performances, we didnt struggle to move the ball from front to back and in between the lines. That performance was I'd like to see us get consistently.

We didn't have that fluency to our football yesterday but it was still very good. Especially considering it was while using a formation we've struggled with at times this season.

 

[Snow]

We punished Newcastle mistakes well (Though Falcao and Mata caused the 2nd one) but didn't create much without their assistance. That's sort of how this Van Gaal 3-4-1-2 (really more of a 3-3-2-2 today I guess?) system seems to work for both the Dutch and us, so maybe a bit less of a concern than otherwise.

I think we''d look a lot more fluid with Herrera, Di Maria, Shaw and Rafael out there, as they're all clever short passers who run a lot and want the ball.

Basically. Statistically it works well as United has better players to minimize the same kind of mistakes and better players to punish for them. Pretty boring for the most part but effective.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We punished Newcastle mistakes well (Though Falcao and Mata caused the 2nd one) but didn't create much without their assistance. That's sort of how this Van Gaal 3-4-1-2 (really more of a 3-3-2-2 today I guess?) system seems to work for both the Dutch and us, so maybe a bit less of a concern than otherwise.

I think we''d look a lot more fluid with Herrera, Di Maria, Shaw and Rafael out there, as they're all clever short passers who run a lot and want the ball.

That sums it up for me. That's why I prefer the diamond. We seem more proactive and self reliant with it.

 

[Borys]

Very good game. I have two thought which I would like to share:

1. You can clearly see the benefit that Possession Football brings to us. It worked excellent for us yesterday- quick goal, than we kept the ball moving and it forced Newcastle to take more risk and move higher. The game opened up and we scored another two goals, and I think it’s fair to say we could go one or two gears up if we wanted to. We should be playing at higher tempo and I still don’t like that CBs see so much of the ball but there is clear improvement, and there is more to come. It was a very good game considering the squad LvG had at his disposal.

2. I don’t like Evans in 3-5-2. He wasn’t bad yesterday, but he looks extremely awkward both going forward with the ball and coming back. I’m not sure what it’s about but he seems very uncomfortable against quick players, not really convincing in one on one situations. There was a situation towards the end of the game when he was hoofing it time after time. What’s the point of that? Yes we didn’t have Carrick then but with Mata, Rooney and even Fletcher we are capable of keeping possession, no point in kicking it out of play.

 

[Tibs]

Anywhere I go river the whole game?

 

[Acole9]

Probably our second best performance of the season after the Hull match.