[Smores]

For me, people who say the game is boring just don't give a shit about whether we win or lose. How can you be bored? Aren't you nervous about the game? And conceding late?

Anyway I'm very happy and happy enough with the performance too. Our back 5 and midfield base were fantastic again and our attack can only improve. Fantastic start, something we didn't have last season. Get in!

What nonsense attacking football has been the foundation of this club for some time even if we haven't always achieved it it's been our inspiration.

All the greats who put entertainment at the core of our identity didn't care about results?

Many fans on here didn't want Mourinho because of his style but it seems it's okay with LvG because he's now our manager so we have to rationalise everything

 

[Spoony]

This side needs Messi, Ronaldo and Bale.

 

[UnitedBoy]

Winning, no matter the score or the occasion is a good habit to get into.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

They've gotten that horribly wrong! We were top briefly after beating Spurs last week !

Honestly 2 played, 6 points, 2 clean sheets, 3 shots on target with 2 goals. Efficient LVG. And we've surely got to get better as time goes on? I'm not happy in terms of enjoyment but you know what for now I'll take it!

I'm hoping as the season goes on that Schweinsteiger and Herrera get more time though as they looked good especially Schweinsteiger.

We saw as well a brief second of what link up Memphis and Mata can produce. The threw ball was perfect and Memphis was so close to scoring.

Something does need to be done about our Wayne though. He looked terrible tonight and was a huge reason why at times we struggled to get out of our half.

I may be wrong but we were a bit better than vs Spurs, this team needs to click and when it clicks it will be a joy to watch. Efficient well oiled machine.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Two out of two but....When you go 1-0 up after 35 minutes away at a poor side like Villa, you'd like to think that United could pick them apart on the counter. Instead, we barely forced a shot. There is a solid spine developing but we will not win trophies creating so few chances. Early days but Depay looks mediocre and Rooney looks like 40 not 30. It looks like another 80-100m will be needed on attackers before we really fix this team.

 

[Kevin]

Delighted with this performance. Away to a team that will cause a few upsets against the big guns at home, and we weren't troubled in defence even once. Love to watch our fullbacks owning their area. The attacking will get better.

We will win the title IMO.

 

[Rozay]

We definitely have teamed makings of a proper team. Even if we don't have a proper striker, I think just adding Pedro hopefully will make a huge difference. Another striker, not even a world class one, but a Berahino to go with Pedro and we will have a really top side.

Right now we are potentially building a beautiful house on a 10 goal striker, which is the problem.

 

[Geordopolous]

What a daft and stupid thing to say. People are well in their right to call a spade a spade. At the end of the day, football is entertainment, and we're used to seeing this team entertain us.

Say you don't like the style but it's not boring. It's such a pretentious thing to say, like you have better things to do than watch the team you supposedly love. We weren't very impressive in attack but it just pisses me off that people feel they are wasting their time watching United

 

[Raw]

Just realised Chelsea and City are facing each other on Sunday too. Could end up being 2/3 points ahead of City or 4/5 points ahead of Chelsea.

 

[Crackers]

3 points. Defensively solid. Smalling a boss and Darmian brilliant. Midfielders and wingers pretty decent. Rooney is detrimental to our overall play and strayed a bit today.
He might improve but he might not. I don't think we should risk it. Either give Chicarito a chance or buy a new striker. Buy a new striker? I have no clue..
3 points and confidence from 2 clean sheets is all that matters this weekend.

 

[Tincanalley]

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Delighted with this performance. Away to a team that will cause a few upsets against the big guns at home, and we weren't troubled in defence even once. Love to watch our fullbacks owning their area. The attacking will get better.

We will win the title IMO.

You really think that?

Well if your tagline is anything to go by...

 

[Kevin]

You really think that?

Well if your tagline is anything to go by...

I really think so. I have said so several times. I am rarely wrong.

 

[Rich_H_1989]

I may be wrong but we were a bit better than vs Spurs, this team needs to click and when it clicks it will be a joy to watch. Efficient well oiled machine.

You would be correct though I'm not a great one too comment as I only saw a few mins vs Spurs.

Two out of two but....When you go 1-0 up after 35 minutes away at a poor side like Villa, you'd like to think that United could pick them apart on the counter. Instead, we barely forced a shot. There is a solid spine developing but we will not win trophies creating so few chances. Early days but Depay looks mediocre and Rooney looks like 40 not 30. It looks like another 80-100m will be needed on attackers before we really fix this team.

The problem my friend was Rooney! There were opportunities on the counter and a few times Memphis made some good runs in behind but Rooney gave the ball away every time. There was a moment late in the second half before Memphis came off where he set off at pace. All Rooney had to do was hit the vast green space but instead it hit the first Villa defender. He killed all of our attacks and it hurts me to say it because I'm a fan of his.

My one slight concern was LVG in his post match interview. He again commented on giving the ball away too much. That I'm OK with but he singled out Januzaj and Memphis (ok singled out isn't quite the right word). I do think he needs to understand that they are 2 young talented lads that will try the special things. That's what this team needs so I do hope he doesn't train that out of them.

 

[Tincanalley]

I really think so. I have said so several times. I am rarely wrong.

Is there a dress code for your followers, @Kevin?

 

[Mali_Zeus]

I really think so. I have said so several times. I am rarely wrong.

I will track your posts more from now on!

 

[Dazzmondo]

Another really poor performance. We are offering very little going forward. Delighted for Adnan even though he wasn't really that involved throughout the whole game. Mata gave a generally good performance with some truly excellent passes, but he also made quite a few mistakes which could have been costly, and left us exposed at times in defence. Memphis struggled again but at least he's making good runs. He still needs to start giving more though. Rooney was terrible today, as bad as I've ever seen him. Very worrying.

Kudos to the defence who were brilliant! All 4 were superb! Blind particularly deserves credit for fantastic positional awareness! He could seriously prove me and a lot of others wrong. What he lacks in height, strength and speed he may well have in mental awareness, and his performance was probably the most exciting aspect of today's game. Smalling continued to dominate in the air and do very solid defensively. Again, the one area he's lacking is distribution, and there were a couple of instances where he gave the ball away needlessly today. Both full backs were great, and I think I'll be saying that in most games this season. Darmian built on a fantastic home debut to give another very good performance. Also, the 'I'm watching you' signal to Micah was priceless . Shaw looked much better than in the first game and offered a great deal going forward.

Schweinsteiger and Herrera improved the performance when they came on, and I'd be seriously considering starting them in the next game if I was van Gaal. Atm, I think Bastian is far more likely to go into the first XI than Ander, most likely for Carrick. Considering both Carrick and Schneiderlin do basically the same job, I see no reason to start both (with possible exceptions against possession-based teams like Barcelona), and they were ineffective today again (though Morgan was better than Carrick).

Overall, decent result, but the performance is still nowhere near good enough.

 

[Raoul]

Add Pedro to the equation and attack will be sorted imo.

 

[VeevaVee]

Some promising signs from the performance.

We looked slightly more dynamic up top.
Whether we should only be looking slightly more dynamic is another story.
We didn't look particularly threatening still though.

 

[Tosicsleftpeg]

I'll take the points I thought everyone did well apart from Rooney who was awful. Smalling was great in the air but has to cut out the long balls.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I am worried about Memphis, just talked to family who watched the game. Said he looked really upset at the end. I was surprised that LvG has started with him. Personally I would have been bringing him off the bench until he finds his feet. Instead the kid has been hauled off twice. Not sure that is going to be a confidence builder.

 

[MDFC Manager]

In a season which is being student regarded as the most competitive ever, a title challenger needs to get wins like these.

 

[Crackers]

Add Pedro to the equation and attack will be sorted imo.

Can Rooney be trusted to lead the line?

 

[mu77]

I am worried about Memphis, just talked to family who watched the game. Said he looked really upset at the end. I was surprised that LvG has started with him. Personally I would have been bringing him off the bench until he finds his feet. Instead the kid has been hauled off twice. Not sure that is going to be a confidence builder.

no worries if he buries the chance from a perfect pass.

 

[Raoul]

Can Rooney be trusted to lead the line?

Most definitely. He will start scoring soon.

 

[Riz]

When he said our start to the season was of course better than last year, last year was "very bad".

 

[DomesticTadpole]

no worries if he buries the chance from a perfect pass.

I think he is trying that hard. Just needs to relax.

 

[Kill 'em all]

I think we looked good with some brilliant moves in the final third involving Memphis, Mata, Januzaj and our fullbacks. Same that some of these promising attacks were slowed down by a very poor Rooney.

 

[jderbyshire]

Another solid 1-0 win but with the severe lack in creativity in the final third that we've come to expect from this team. I'm quite optimisitc that if the players can keep getting the results in, and as the season develops and the players gel together and the attacking players grow in confidence, we can kick on after xmas and we could see an explosive end to the campaign.

However, even once all the new players have gelled, are in rhythm and settled into a quasi-established XI, I think our football under LvG is always going to be somewhat choppy.

In regards to the match tonight - Rooney was dreadful, with the standard bad first touches and severly misplaced passes. Is it his annual beginning-of-season lack of fitness, or are we seeing a rapid decline in ability?

My man of the match was Darmian and I was suprised that Gary Neville picked Daley Blind as I didn't even notice Blind doing anything noticeable, but I suppose that is a valuable trait for a centre back to have.

Memphis made a few good runs, most of them unnoticed by the playmakers (Mata, Herrera) or provided with over-hit passes (Schneiderlin, whose qualities lie elsewhere e.g. tackling) - one run that was met with an outstanding pass (from Mata) was painfully missed - what a cracking goal this would have been.

You get the feeling that once Memphis gets that first breakthrough goal, his cockiness will lead him to some remarkable performances for us.

 

[Spoony]

What nonsense attacking football has been the foundation of this club for some time even if we haven't always achieved it it's been our inspiration.

All the greats who put entertainment at the core of our identity didn't care about results?

Many fans on here didn't want Mourinho because of his style but it seems it's okay with LvG because he's now our manager so we have to rationalise everything

Sir Matt Busby once said 'Hard working people toiled all week in anticipation of watching football and they deserved to be entertained'.

 

[Member 39557]

It's a pity people like you don't appreciate all areas of the game. If it's not fast attacking footy it's boring in your eyes!?!

To not give opponents a sniff in our weakest areas of the past seasons is not just great, it's fundamental to our success. I can excite myself to bits over defensive skills almost as much as over a goal.

I'm sure once we gain momentum and rebuild confidence, we'll be ready to take more risks and open up our forward play more. It'll get more entertaining week by week.

Your name is pretty apt too.

Get over yourself! I can appreciate good defending as much as the next person, but what's the point when you don't carry more than a passing threat in the opposite direction. Did you tremble with excitement over villa's performance limiting united to 2 shots on target?

United have a long history of attacking football that dates back long before I was born. I initially decided to support United because they played attacking football.

Villa were dead on their feet for the last 10-15 minutes of the first half and the last 20 minutes of the 2nd half. United managed 2 shots on target in the whole game. Villa almost went down last season and have lost their two best players, yet we couldn't do more than stifle them and manage one goal. It's fair to say that villa dominated us in both halves until they tired too.

If you find that exciting then good luck to you, but I will reserve the right to find it dull regardless of whether I appreciate the hard work and diligence of the teams defending.
I agree that we'll get better over time as players gel and Rooney remembers how to control a football, but if we'd played a team with a competent attack today, we'd have lost.

 

[Yorkeontop]

It's always about the results this early in the season.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It's always about the results this early in the season.

After last season, definitely.

 

[Revan]

The defense is being really impressive. I am really liking this Smalling-Blind partnership and hope that we continue with it even after Jones and Rojo will be match fit. Darmian was very good again.

On the other side, the attack was quite shit. Memphis attempts failed and Rooney at the moment looks like an overweight random guy who for some bizarre reasons plays 90 minutes for United. Mata on the other side made some good passes and Adnan won us the match with that goal. While he was lucky on his finish, the move before that was top notch.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Must have just been me that didn't find this game as boring as normal, maybe I'm just over enthusiastic

 

[drdoityourself]

I liked this performance. It's a difficult ground for most teams. The defence was superb and Depay offered something we have been missing in those runs behind Villa's defence. With Schweinsteiger we can control these games more. This bodes well for our away form this season. We really lack some quality up top though, for me the decline of Rooney and our refusal to give him some kind of a kick up the arse, through dropping or being subbed off when playing badly, is the one thing that really worries me.
So happy that Januzaj got the goal, hopefully he's regained his confidence.

 

[Ixion]

We didn't even have 6 points after 5 games last season. Desperately needed to have a good start this year so delighted with both results.

 

[LazyRed-Ninja]

2 wins in the first 2 games you say ?

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Positives:

Another clean sheet
Looked solid as a unit
Won the game
Better in the second half
Restricted Villa to very few chances
Subs
No injuries

Negatives:

Give the ball away too much. This wasn't just Rooney, but also Januzaj, Memphis, etc.
Tempo was too slow
Created very few chances
Didn't kill of the game when we were on top in the second half


Overall, I'm happy. Two games, two wins. Yes, we haven't looked great, but hopefully that's more down to it being early in the season.

I do think we still need to make some slight alterations to our line-up, though. Van Gaal still obviously doesn't know his best line-up, as he put Januzaj behind Rooney today, instead of carrying on with Memphis, who was used there all through pre-season.

Think we looked better when we went to a more natural 10 in Herrera. He dropped for the ball more, and because of that, we were able to keep the ball better. Surely Van Gaal will see this, because until then, although Januzaj scored a very good goal, Villa more or less matched us for possession.

 

[clarkydaz]

The defense is being really impressive. I am really liking this Smalling-Blind partnership and hope that we continue with it even after Jones and Rojo will be match fit. Darmian was very good again.

On the other side, the attack was quite shit. Memphis attempts failed and Rooney at the moment looks like an overweight random guy who for some bizarre reasons plays 90 minutes for United. Mata on the other side made some good passes and Adnan won us the match with that goal. While he was lucky on his finish, the move before that was top notch.