My brother was asking me if van Gaal felt really happy and excited about us getting the win against Man. City, and I told him that he just took it as another win. Unsurprisingly, my brother was shocked, expecting van Gaal to be full of joy at beating Man. City as if we aren't expected to beat them.
On the match, though, I started watching after our initial struggle, so it's safe to say that I missed out on that bad period and watched when we were getting into our stride and game. However, after watching the first goal, it really was poor defending. Valencia, again, was getting dragged out. He was nowhere near recovering his position by the time Milner checked inside and Smalling went towards Clichy. Next, Mata failed to track Silva well enough when Silva went through. However, this all started from Valencia being way out of position and not even trying to get close to Milner since then/track Clichy.
However, other than that, we were quite solid, defensively. Smalling and Jones did a good job tracking Man. City's attacking players, particularly Jones, who was great at slowing down Man. City's attacks with the way he handled the 1-on-1 situations. Smalling generally took up very good positions as well at the back and was composed throughout. Blind was also composed throughout the match and handled Navas quite well for someone who's quite slow. He still needs to control his aggression as that does sometimes ope us up on the left side, but today, he handled himself very well, particularly on the ball and going forward. Valencia did have problems with his defensive positioning, but he eventually utilised his pace and strength very well to recover from those situations.
Our midfield was amazing today against Man. City and caused them quite a few problems. Yaya Toure, as usual, couldn't keep up with our tempo and pace. Fernandinho couldn't do it all by himself and looked like he needed a more defensively reliable partner next to him. Putting Silva in a midfield 3 didn't help as Silva didn't do enough to close down Carrick once Milner started to focus more on our right side. Mata and Herrera were great at keeping possession and playing in between Man. City's midfield lines, whilst Fellaini was excellent in dragging Man. City's defenders away and giving Yaya Toure a horrible time. His physicality combined with his apt technical skills really gave Man. City problems, particularly as it allowed us an extra outlet if our other midfielders were being shut down. Young was causing Zabaleta quite a few problems as well, which no one would have thought of before. He still had a few bad deliveries in which he didn't really aim for anyone, but it wasn't as bad as before, and his deliveries into the box on free kicks and in open play caused Man. City lots of problems.
Rooney, again, wasn't at his best. His touches were loose, and he struggled to keep hold of the ball at times when under pressure. However, I wouldn't say that he was poor. I gave him a 6/10 for this performance as he still did a good job dragging away Mangala/Kompany/Demichelis and creating spaces for the likes of Mata, Valencia, and Fellaini to enter. He got a good assist for Mata's goal, and he also played one amazing pass to Valencia during the second half. His performance may not have been great for himself, but it was certainly good for the team if not great.
I'm really liking how we've made Man. City feel beaten once we took the lead. It's been a while since they've felt like that against us, and it really shows how far we've come under van Gaal.
