It’s been a mixed start to the season at Old Trafford. We have seen already, great highs, and a few lows. In this article I am going to sum up the season so far, evaluating games, the gaffer, transfers, the team and our new young prodigies.
Pre-Season:
Our pre season was, without beating around the bush, absolutely awful. We toured the Far-East and Australia, without much luck. The majority of the games ended in defeat, although from these defeats came several good points to take away. Firstly, it was always going to be difficult playing so far from home, when the back room staff have been turned over following the departure of our long term manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. It was now the turn of David Moyes, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs etc to try and even achieve half of what Fergie did. With a new management team come new ideas and with that comes a need for patience as the players need to get used to them. The second positive was the performance of our youngsters, three in particular.
Wilfried Zaha: Wilf is hardly an unknown player, but he is one fresh to the highest level having plied his trade with Crystal Palace in the Championship before this year. He caused defences all sorts of trouble on both wings in pre season, earning him the praise of his team-mates and superiors.
Jesse Lingard: Despite being just twenty years-of-age and still nowhere near the first team, Lingard was chosen by Moyes to travel with the seniors on pre season. He didn’t disappoint, finishing as our top scorer with four goals, ahead of a certain Dutchman.
Adnan Januzaj: The one that everyone is talking about, Januzaj has earnt comparisons to Old Trafford legend Cristiano Ronaldo through his dazzling wing displays in pre season. High praise indeed.
Following our disappointing pre season campaign, we faced a potential banana skin tie in the Community Shield against relegated FA Cup winners Wigan Athletic. Fortunately, Moyes’ first competitive game in charge of United ended well as we won 2-0 in fairly comfortable fashion.
EPL Season
Despite having not signed a single big name star, we kicked the season off at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. It had the makings of a tough opening fixture and many fans felt that a draw would be a good result against a much fancied Swansea side. Nobody told the players that though, especially Danny Welbeck and Robin Van Persie, as the pair scored a brace each to send us on our way to a 4-1 victory. A perfect start, especially given the opponents for the next few weeks.
Next up was Chelsea, on a Monday night, in a fixture that was already being billed as a potential top two decider. It failed to impress though as we played out a boring 0-0 draw. A positive form the game however, was the brilliant display from Wayne Rooney, having previously made it clear to Moyes that he wanted a big money move to Chelsea apparently only days earlier. That game however, proved his commitment to United once and for all.
Our third game was against a Liverpool side that held a 100% record coming into the game, with the league’s two in form players in keeper Simon Mignolet and striker Danny Sturridge. The two again, were in sparkling form as Sturridge headed home the only goal in a 1-0 win for the Scousers.
The pressure had continued to build following the Liverpool defeat on Moyes’ shoulders to invest as the transfer window neared closing time. Last day bids for Ander Herrera of Atletico Bilbao and Fabio Coentrao of Real Madrid proved unsuccessful, as were so many other ‘done’ deals earlier in the summer. In the end, a last minute, big-money acquisition was made in the imposing shape of Marouane Fellaini of Everton for £27.5million. This was a deal that received mixed responses from fans, however I feel it is a good move for us as we have lacked a midfield battler since Roy Keane left because of the long term health problems to Darren Fletcher.
Crystal Palace were next up for us in the league and David Moyes was desperate to get his first victory at Old Trafford ever as a manager. He achieved this through a 2-0 victory thanks to an RVP penalty and a superb Wayne Rooney free-kick.
Champions League
It was then to Europe for Moyes’ first Champions League tie as manager of United. Bayer Leverkusen were the opponents, although they provided little opposition as we ran out 4-2 victors when it could easily have been more. Rooney scored his 199th and 200th goals in a Manchester United shirt to become only the fourth man to do so, an extraordinary feat.
So far, sort of so good. Our great rivals Man City are up next at the weekend, a result there could be the making of our season and become the foundation for another season littered with silverware. Our team looks strong with top class cover in every position barring left back, whilst centre back is almost too well covered, with five top class players bidding to occupy two roles. The season looks promising, lets hope we can kick on and prevent the ‘Special One’ from having a happy return to England.
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