Click, that's Manchester United
So that is what it looks like when our team clicks. A brilliant performance with three very good goals and the defeat to Arsenal last Monday firmly put behind us.
Admittedly the first five minutes wasn’t the best start and the majority of people would have probably thought ‘here we go again, another crap performance on the way.’ Then all of a sudden something beautiful happened, we clicked. It is something every single United fan and probably others watching United have been waiting for and for a long time it hasn’t looked like happening. Obviously it wasn’t the perfect performance but it was the best we’ve seen this season and there was no Rojo, Di Maria, RvP or Falcao starting. The only player I’d say that would have improved that starting XI would have been Rojo because he has been so good this season. But as much as I talk about the weakness of Smalling and Jones, they both played quite well which was good to see.
If there is one player we miss and it shows when he is not there it’s Michael Carrick. When he first came from Spurs a lot of people questioned his £18m price tag but the longer he has been at the club the more he has justified it. He may not be the most noticeable player all the time but he does so many jobs for the team. He sits ahead of the defence and breaks opposition play up, he is willing to receive passes from the back, turn and play it forward, he can assist goals as he showed with Fellaini’s goal and every now and the he comes up with a goal. There have been a couple of periods this season where he has been absent through injury and it has shown in the team. In my opinion he is our key man, obviously Rooney is quality and a game changer but for me, without Carrick, his job becomes a much harder task.
Finally Juan Mata was brought back into the side and he looked so hungry to show why he should be on. I don’t actually understand why he hasn’t been getting played and I think that view is shared by a lot of our fans. When he went over to take the corner that led to Carrick’s goal he received a huge cheer from the crowd which shows how much they like have him in the team. He is one of our most creative players and he is capable of both assisting and scoring goals. For some reason or another he’s been left out a lot but hopefully the manager will have seen what he can bring to our side and include him more.
Moving away from Manchester quickly and over to Madrid just to speak a little about what is happening in their team. There is a lot of talk about too much individual play leading to their poor form and the two key culprits? Ronaldo and Bale. Funnily enough Bale has come under far more criticism with claims that he has become lazy, not working for the team and not putting in performances that are expected at Real Madrid. He answered that by scoring two goals at the weekend and winning them the game and showed his passion or frustration by kicking the corner flag in his celebration. The interesting point on one of his goals is that it came from a rebound from Ronaldo’s shot and instead of Ronaldo celebrating he threw his arm up in the air as if he was annoyed Bale had scored and not him. What is happening with the new Galacticos? Onto Ronaldo himself. After failing one of his skills and giving away possession the crowd whistled in discontent, Ronaldo’s reaction? Stand there and listen, looking at the crowd with his hands on his hips and nodding looking as if to say, ‘oh right, ok, I see how it is. I’ve done all I can for the club and this is what I get.’ He didn’t look happy. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both players leave in the summer, especially if the don’t win anything this season and they keep getting stick from the crowd. I wouldn’t mind seeing one of them ending up at United and as its me, I’d love Ronaldo back.
Anyway back to England and we are still in the top four and we’ve started our tricky period of well. The next game however is huge. We go to Anfield and the goal is obviously to win, but if we don’t, we can’t afford to lose as Liverpool are hot on our tail. Fellaini said Rooney made a speech before the Spurs game highlighting the importance of the Champions League next season. Hopefully they remember that every week from now until the end of the season. Three points earned, onto the next game. Forever United.