No Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind, Marouane Fellaini or even Chris Smalling? No problem. The absences of those players did not matter for Manchester United as they took the comfortable win over Newcastle United by 3-1 at Old Trafford.
Today, we saw a different Manchester United team. Over the past 7 games, they have been built into the team that Louis van Gaal and the rest of the fans have wanted to see, as it was a team performance from United that has not been seen in a while. The passing was phenomenal from every player, and there seemed to be chemistry between everyone. Communication was good, crosses were precise, and the defense, which has come under heavy criticism this season, looked great with Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and rookie Paddy McNair. They did not look as vulnerable as they have throughout the season and it could not have been a better game with everyone playing well together.
Radamel Falcao got his first home start since October 5th and was a contributor in the opening goal for Wayne Rooney. Robin van Persie got his 5th goal in the last 7 games and Rooney ended up with two first-half goals and the assist on van Persie’s goal as well.
Spaniard Juan Mata was a big influence today on the field and assisted Wayne Rooney on the second goal, and his fellow countryman David De Gea continued his fine form between the sticks, allowing only one goal allowed from a penalty. Ashley Young was outstanding on the left side of the field. Simply put, everything connected today with Manchester United players and they left home with 3 more points on the table, making it seven wins and one tie in the last 8 games
As the first half kicked off, Newcastle seemed to have good control of the ball and had some early chances coming from Moussa Sissoko and forward Ayoze Perez. However, little by little, United started to exert more control over the game. It was not until the 24th minute that we see Rooney put his team on the scoreboard. He started a counterattack and found Mata who crossed it to Falcao, who was onside and found Rooney in the middle of the box with a sliding volleyed pass to put in the ball into the net for 1-0.
13 minutes later, it was Rooney who put the ball into the net again. Falcao won the ball just inside Newcastle’s half and passed it to Evans, who then found Mata. The through ball from Mata was inch-perfect, and Rooney waited for the right moment to get a touch on the ball before putting it in the bottom right corner of the net to put up his team 2-0.
United went into the locker room with their heads up and full of confidence. As the second half kicked off, United continued to play strong, and it seemed like only a matter of time before they would score again. Sure enough, up stepped captain Rooney with a delightful chip that founnd van Persie in the box for the finish.
The rest of the second half dragged on as United got comfortable with the 3-0 lead. In the 86th minute, Newcastle pulled one back following a penalty that was given to them after Phil Jones made a late challenge on Jack Colback in the box. Papiss Cisse converted the penalty to get his team in the scoreboard but it was not enough for his team, as United rolled on to take the 3 points.
With today’s win, Manchester United continues on their superb run and currently sit third on the table, 10 points behind Premiership leaders Chelsea and 7 behind local rivals Manchester City. United hopes to take the win against Tottenham on Sunday in their final game of 2014 and to continue their run.
Photo by: Getty Images
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