Derby 1 United 3 - Reflections

Yes, I know: we were playing Championship opposition and we shouldn't get too excited.  And yes, it was a good performance rather than a brilliant one. 

Nevertheless, there was much to be pleased about from a United supporter's point of view.  I don't think it's a failure to be consistently brilliant that Reds fans are unhappy with: it's a failure to play without imagination and adventure and last night there were signs of a team attempting to do that.

All three goals were the result of good build-up play in the opponent's half and clinical execution.  Rooney's curling effort for the first was a further sign that he's getting back to his best form.  The third goal illustrated again what an exciting talent we have on our hands in the form of Anthony Martial, whose run into the box and cut-back for Juan Mata to score was the highlight of the night.

Sandwiched between them was a goal that best illustrated the difference between this win and that appallingly sterile performance against Southampton. Then, it appeared players were afraid to venture out of position, to move, to create space and to take the occasional risk (not unusual this season, I know). 

Last night Daley Blind (left) played a ball out of defence to Mata defence, continued his run for the return pass and, when he didn't get it, ran in to fill a vacant position at the near post, before latching onto Lingard's cross and regaining the lead for the Reds.  Yes, a defender was allowed to venture into the area and didn't come back with a nosebleed: take note, LVG and coaching team.

That goal alone is why Reds can surely allow themselves to feel a little happier this morning.  Let's just hope it doesn't all go back to square one against Stoke on Tuesday.

The Thoughts of Memphis the Pie: Don't Shoot the Stadium Announcer

When things aren't going well it's natural for fans to pick on things to complain about.  I understand that.  I've got to say, though, that reports that United fans are complaining about the stadium announcer failing to complete the team line-ups before kick off leave me thinking only one thing.  Get a life.

It's not as if anyone relies on his voice to tell us what's going on.  The announcements are matched by the names going across the scoreboard anyhow, so the information is easily available to all.  Not only that but, with mobile devices such a feature of matchday crowds these days, how many fans are reliant on an an announcement prior to kick off anyway?

It smacks of people looking for something to complain about.  Frankly, we've got enough already.

Van Gaal v The Press - Another Goalless Draw

Such is my low regard for the mainstream media in this country, I normally find it hard not to sympathise with anyone under attack from them, especially when it's an employee of United.

The number of times Louis Van Gaal has been 'sacked' according to the press in the last few weeks is certainly worthy of ridicule, yet sympathy will be in short supply among a lot of United fans and, for once, I find myself among them.

He's an experienced manager who, last season, dealt with journalists with a refreshing, if sometimes surprising, honesty and frankness.  When United had played badly his post-match comments reflected this and indeed he often seemed as angry as anyone about his team's under-performance, something which generally brought him favour among Reds fans.

Now, however, Van Gaal appears to have retreated into the same kind of defensiveness exhibited by his teams.   His analyses of games have become too often reminiscent of those offered by Moyes in his final months at the helm.  We were asked to accept that United preventing a League One side like Sheffield United from having any shots on target was somehow worthy of praise, while Saturday's abject display against Southampton was, Van Gaal assured us, a contest between two well-organised sides that the Reds might have been 'lucky' enough to win.

It's hard to imagine that the Van Gaal of last year would have made such observations and equally hard not to greet such remarks with contempt.  Sorry Louis, my regard for the British press remains as low as ever, but you really ought to be old and experienced enough both to know better and do better.

Warren Joyce: Keeping the Red Flag Flying in Style

It's great watching a United side playing with such fluency and creativity, a side so clearly enjoying its football with a constant emphasis on going forward with relentless attacking flair.

No, I've not finally lost it.  I speak of course of Manchester United Under-21s, a group of footballers playing with a style that does justice to the shirts they wear.  Their victory over Sunderland on Monday night was their sixth on the run and, although this time it came courtesy of a single James Weir goal, the style was very much in the spirit of a series of five games that had seen them score a total of 19 goals.  

The Reds now find themselves only three points behind runaway leaders Sunderland, who at one stage looked set to have the league title sealed by now.  Crucially, United also have three games in hand and now look well placed to retain the trophy they secured last season.

The big mystery is why a side that plays in precisely the same formation as the senior eleven has managed to avoid the tactical straight jacket that has made the first team so dour, predictable, easy to play against and excruciatingly dull to watch.  Perhaps it's the lack of pressure at this level.   But perhaps it's more than that.  

Throughout the last few seasons, with the first team going through such a painful transition, their younger colleagues have rarely dipped under the management of Warren Joyce, a true unsung hero at United.  If his team go on to lift the trophy this season, that will mean we'll have been champions in three of the four seasons since the competition was re-vamped.  We won two of the last three of the old Premier Reserve League competitions too, meaning victory this season will see his side crowned champions at this level for five of the previous seven campaigns.  It's quite a record, especially when the nature of the role means he constantly has to deal with a fluctuating squad, with players often sent out on loan or enjoying a temporary run with the seniors.  To keep a consistent run going in that situation requires genuine managerial skills.

So am I suggesting Joyce as a serious replacement for Van Gaal?  Probably not, but I bet I'm not the only one at Leigh Sports village this season to have allowed the thought to cross my mind.

United 0 Southampton 1 - Reflections

I always thought the main disappointment of playing Subbuteo as a kid was its lack of realism.   You could, after all, only flick one player at a time while every other player on the field remained immobile.  That wasn't what real football was like.

At Old Trafford yesterday, I decided I might have to re-evaluate that.  In terms of realism, Subbuteo resembles Louis Van Gaal's United all too accurately.  Not for the first time, the player on the ball struggled to find a team mate due to the apparent inability of anyone else on his team to move and find space.  

United's performance was encapsulated in a five minute period before half-time.  Twice a player picked up the ball in a promising midfield position.  On both occasions the ball was played around among almost static colleagues until it finished up back in defence.  Southampton were already wasting time by this point, but they didn't need to: we we wasting it for them.

Instinctively, I'm not the kind of football supporter who likes to criticise his manager.  I really hoped that, given time, Van Gaal's United would add some fluency to the tactical model he's bestowed on us.  After all, the Under-21s adopt the same formation and are playing some fabulous stuff.   Could the senior team not manage something like the same level of performance?  Instead, it's got worse.   

When it wasn't your turn at Subbuteo and you had to watch your mates play, it was a pretty dull experience.  I usually ended up outside playing with the dog.  Subbuteo didn't really work as a spectator sport.  Enough said.

FA Youth Cup Round 4: United 1 Chelsea 5

Sadly, it always looked a big ask for the young Reds to get over this second hurdle of their Youth Cup campaign.  Although players in Chelsea's youth team have about as much chance as becoming regulars in the senior team as Pope Francis does of having a pile-up with a couple of nuns, their academy teams of late have been the best in the country.  They're the current Youth Cup holders and, judging by this display, look a good bet to retain the trophy. United's Under-18 form this season has been, frankly, abysmal.  

So defeat always looked likely, although the comprehensive manner of it certainly won't do anything to help a United academy squad already low on confidence.

Chelsea were already dominant when Ugbo gave them the lead after 20 minutes, before Abraham doubled the margin in first half stoppage time.  Even at half-time it looked the best United could achieve was the prevention of a rout but hopes of a comeback were briefly raised when Charlie Scott (right) drove home from the edge of the area to half Chelsea's lead mid-way through the second half.

Sadly, the goal only seemed to spur the visitors on to re-establish their dominance and, within a minute, they were two goals ahead again, Mount finishing off a fine passing move with a clinical finish.  Further goals from Dasilva and Ali gave the scoreline a comfortable look that was no more than Chelsea deserved.

Ashley Young: Right Back (in the Treatment Room)

It says much about Ashley Young's record since Louis Van Gaal came to the club that news of his need for surgery has been greeted as such a serious blow to United's hopes for the remainder of the season.

Prior to LVG's arrival, he was pretty high on many United supporters' lists of players they'd like to see moved on as quickly as possible - indeed, many had him ahead of Moyes.  Not only has he survived a cull that saw the back of so many of his colleagues, he's surprised us all by establishing himself as one of the club's most important players over the last eighteen months, not least for a versatility few of us knew was there.

Not only that, but his willingness to fill in as a makeshift full-back has made him a valuable asset in a United side for which injuries in defensive positions now seem as much an unwanted part of our club's identity as the Glazer loan or crap penalty shoot outs.  Now Ashley himself has fallen victim to the curse.

With Shaw, Rojo and Valencia also long-term absentees, inevitably the finger of blame is being pointed at the manager in some quarters for the alleged ferocity of his training methods.  This is frankly ridiculous.  Hard to imagine how over-training could have played any part in the assault that put Shaw out for the season.  Not only that, but injuries in these positions bedevilled us long before Van Gaal came to Old Trafford, right back to the later days of Fergie's reign.

I used to think full backs were perhaps adversely affected by the demands placed on them by United's energetic, high octane style, but that can scarcely be advanced as an explanation these days.

Whatever the reasons, they make the decision to send both Janko and Blackett to Celtic at the start of the season seem even more baffling.  Both were ahead of Borthwick-Jackson in development and you can only hope the double-barrelled youngster is as up for the challenge ahead of him as he looked at Anfield.

United at Liverpool: A Lot to Shout About

 

Let's face it, it was predictable, following United's victory at Anfield on Sunday, that Liverpool fans and players alike would scratch around for something to moan about to deflect attention from their own side's shortcomings.  It's what they do.

 

What I didn't expect, however, was that they'd do United and Louis Van Gaal such a favour in the process.  The revelations that Liverpool players could hear United players shouting at each other in the dressing room at half-time were presumably intended to portray a sense of disharmony among the Reds.  In fact they did nothing of the sort. 

 

Among the many gripes sections of the United support have had against Van Gaal this season was the sense that too little of this kind of thing was going on.  Behind the concerns levelled at some of the methodical yawn-fests we've sat through this season has been a suspicion of a lack of passion both on the bench and on the pitch. 

 

Personally I've no problem with the manager sitting down during the match: there are different ways to manage a team and I'd prefer that to some of the clearly contrived histrionics on display from Jurgen Klopp on Sunday.

 

I know many of my colleagues disagree, though, and I certainly share their concerns about a sense of edginess on the pitch this season, not just in terms of the performances, but the impression that the players looked too inhibited to express themselves fully.  That they didn't, in their hearts of hearts, really want to be there.  Even, perhaps, that they didn't really care enough.

 

No one is going to assume that the one fairly unconvincing swallow on display at Anfield is going to make a glorious summer.  But at least we now know that the players care.  They're willing to row among themselves to put right the things we've been urging them to put right.  And they clearly believe that victory at Anfield is important, important enough to shout about.  Important not just to the fans, but to  them too.

 

So thank you Liverpool FC.  Thank you for being so woefully inept as to allow our own mediocre performance to result in three points.  But thank you even more for letting us know our players care.  Over to you Louis to put this gift from an unexpected source to good use.