[sport2793]

Wonderful passing, good chance creation, solid defensively. Can't ask for much more than that.

 

[Aporkalypse]

What a confidence boost that will be to the team, great stuff!

Hopefully Di Maria and Rooney are fine.

 

[mazhar13]

We looked like we implemented van Gaal's style of play and philosophy very well. This was an almost-perfect application of the philosophy, and Hull were run ragged by our great performance.

We had central midfielders going out wide to stretch the team and support the wide players. We had quick transitions to exploit the gaps in the middle. We kept possession excellently to tire Hull out. The passing triangles, combination play, and quick transitions were just .

Smalling looked like when he first came on: excellent on the ball, calm and composed in the defence, and so assured in his performance. Mata looked much more comfortable as well. Rooney playing as a forward is so much better than Rooney playing in midfield. Fellaini put in a great central midfield performance, reading the game much better, closing down opponents well, and combining very well with his teammates.

If I had to be at my harshest of our performance, it's Rojo trying to press too hard and losing Aluko a couple of times. Also, at the beginning of the second half, we were lumping the ball forward too often and looked quite static, but we eventually got back into our groove again.

I must say, this was a perfect performance all over the pitch. Against QPR, we looked defensively loose, but here, we were solid, composed, and near perfect.

All in all, I love van Gaal's philosophy. This is his philosophy epitomised here, and I wouldn't regret losing our gung-ho approach for this.

 

[DevilRed]

77% possession. Thought we showed a lot more cutting edge even though we only managed 12 shots on goal. The early goal really helped set us up for the rest of the match. Barely let hull out of their own half.

Great strike by RVP and hopefully this will allow him to go on a run of goals.

Really gutted by the injury to Di Maria/Rooney. Just when we get Falcao back we lose another one of our new signings and possibly our most in-form player in Rooney. Its just crazy. What is going on in training or preparations? Why does it happen to each and every one of our players?

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I don't think there was a weak link in the side today. Everyone did their job well. The first half was brilliantly efficient. Hogged possession, but we did so with pace on the passes and lots of movement. Really nice to watch.

Killed them game off effortlessly for the last 20 minutes, which was sensible given some of the tight finishes and collapses we've had this season. But damn, I just wanted to see us pepper their penalty area will passes for Falcao!

77% possession according to BBC. 80% according to the Ukranian stream I was watching. Flawless performance really. Dominated the midfield. Didn't give them a chance of winning the physical battle. Ran them ragged with good pace on our passes. Hull are a bit naff, but two get two wins on the bounce is excellent. I think Stoke will be a tougher fixture, but it would be inexcusable not to keep the run going. Hopefully another clean sheet and a convincing win in the week!

 

[KeninDC]

Is 75% official?

Optima has it at 77%.

 

[Cooksen]

• Carrick was a metronome in this game, just kept us ticking along
• Smalling decided that he was Beckenbauer this game and was very good
• Rooney continued his form
• The movement and passing was just exquisite
• Would of loved more goals
• We controlled the game for all but the starting moments of the second half.

 

[Clas Sified]

Enjoyed that. Disappointing to see us fairly happy seeing out a 3-0 (minus the Falcao chance).

They were there for the taking and you do need to be ruthless when you get them opportunities.

More injuries as usual, and a whole new selection to look forward to in the mid-week game.

Shout out to Michael Carrick. His passing was on point.

When is it ever not?

 

[dirkey]

Even though he scored a cracker I think RVP played poorly again.

Might be time to give him a short rest no that Falcao is back.

True, just as he starts to build some confidence after a fabulous goal, bench him. That's the way to build a player short of confidence back up.

 

[Ødegaard]

Fellaini today was man of the match for me.
Brilliant yet again.

Arguments can be made for Fellaini, Mata, Herrera, Smalling, Carrick & Rooney and all would deserve it.

 

[legball]

Even though he scored a cracker I think RVP played poorly again.

Might be time to give him a short rest no that Falcao is back.

Remind me what strikers are supposed to be doing?

 

[Infra-red]

Mata, Herrera, Carrick, Smalling, and Rooney were all very good. It was an enjoyable watch, and seemed to be the Van Gaal philosophy writ large.

I liked the look of the Carrick, Fellaini, Herrera midfield; seems well balanced defensively, and offers enough composure, incisive passing, and physicality for our needs.

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

Good game but we should have scored more with the posession we had

 

[sunama]

We won comfortably.
The whole team seemed to know exactly what their role was.
But, I cant help feel that Hull were extremely poor.
Hull were 1-0 down, then 2-0 down, then 3-0 down, yet there was no urgency to score at any stage. Almost like they were merely trying to protect their goal difference and nothing more.
In any case, this is not our fault.

Injuries remain a huge problem.
Onto our next game on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to this.

Normally we have to wait 1-2 weeks between games, so another game after 3 days' rest is going to be a change.
We shall also see how we handle a mid-week game (which next year, in the CL, will be a regular occurrence).

 

[togg]

That is the most enjoyable matched I've watched United play for some time....now to crack open a bottle...

 

[Woodenlung]

Remind me what strikers are supposed to be doing?

We need more from him than just goals. I know that sounds strange but football is a team game and he isn't contributing enough.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Just to put it out there. Our full backs were Valencia and Young and we still bossed it

 

[sunama]

Might be time to give him a short rest no that Falcao is back.

Falcao cannot play 80+ minutes in a game.
Fans keep believing that Falcao is fully fit when week after week, we are observing that he isn't.

RvP will continue to start as our main striker unless he has a catastrophic series of poor games or gets injured.

It is amusing that every one of our players is highly susceptible to injury. But RvP is bulletproof.

 

[krazyrobus]

Difficult to gauge where we are after a match like this. Hull kept passing the ball back to us making our job easier.

If Fellaini is going to play on the right side he needs to pick up the overlaps more, several times Valencia/AH made runs into good space only for MF to hold the ball too long.

 

[Raoul]

Falcao cannot play 80+ minutes in a game.
Fans keep believing that Falcao is fully fit when week after week, we are observing that he isn't.

RvP will continue to start as our main striker unless he has a catastrophic series of poor games or gets injured.

It is amusing that every one of our players is highly susceptible to injury. But RvP is bulletproof.

I'd imagine Falcao will see more minutes against Stoke midweek since RvP played most of today.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

So all of a sudden people love LVG's philosophy.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I've been calling for 3 CMs for a while now. Pity it took Angel's injury for this to happen but I'm glad none the less. Stick with it please Louis. As long as one of them is Herrera.

 

[Trizy]

Only problem that could improve that performance is Shaw, Rafael and Falcao in RVP, Young and Valencia out. Exciting times ahead if we beat this injury curse.

 

[r0x0rwolfo]

Great game. Two really good finishes. Glad that RVP is on the score sheet, should do wonders for his confidence. Hope Falcao can pick up some minutes as he looks a massive threat, just not quite match fit yet.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

A good performance though it's tough to truly gauge how well we played considering Hull never really amounted to much going forward. Regardless, can't fault a single player with much today. Tactics were spot on and the boss made the right calls on who to play and where.

Particular high notes were that Robin van Persie was much better and scored a cracker, Herrera looked as though he never missed a beat, Young was composed and both he and Valencia showed decent distribution, energy and discipline too (though they weren't really pressed backwards), Fellaini put in another solid display and Carrick was top drawer.

Only negatives are Di Maria and Rooney's injuries. Di Maria looked to tweak the hamstring and I think we're all hoping for it to be precautionary while Rooney looked to soldier on through a knock and at the end seemed very much the worse for it. Liverpool is 2 weeks tomorrow, we need to manage these properly.

If only Falcao's shot wasn't blocked by Dawson. Oh and what a save from van Persie's header by McGregor.

 

[justboy68]

With this kind of play style a lot of our dominant wins are going to make it look like the opposition were utter gash, because that's the whole point of the philosophy, to dictate games completely and suffocate the opposition absolutely. Obviously better teams will throw more of a spanner in the works but you can credit every bit of our performance today without having to frame it as the opposition being hopeless.

 

[Devil may care]

Very good performance and very entertaining. Mata, Herrera, Rooney and Carrick were all fantastic on the ball and Smalling played like he's got a point to make about being a leader and improving his drive out from the back.

If we had two actual fullbacks playing I think we'd have scored even more, but we offered nothing from out wide which allowed Hull to bottle things up a little more in the second half.

 

[OneUnited24]

So all of a sudden people love LVG's philosophy.

Well i've seen this type of football in small bursts, 20,30 or 40 minutes but never like this for an entire game.

Never-the-less i think most (and by most i mean the Moyes defenders) are seeing progression in the teams style. Something we never saw under our previous manager

 

[Beachryan]

Only downside other than injuries was Fletch. So sad. Only player who couldn't seem to manage one touch passing, not forward passes. I understand he was coming on to slow things down, but he basically put the handbrake on, pulled off the tires and burned out the engine.

 

[marlowe78]

Even knowing that we played a relegation-level side, we played exactly as we should have. Tons of possession, very little pressure on the defenders, and general domination. Mata, Carrick, and Fellaini were immense. The Di Maria injury is tough but Herrera's game today should underscore the fact that we're a much more deliberate team with him playing.

I expect a much tougher game against Stoke, who will probably be throwing their weight around. But very encouraging signs. We're actually in striking range of second!

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Well i've seen this type of football in small bursts, 20,30 or 40 minutes but never like this for an entire game.

Never-the-less i think most (and by most i mean the Moyes defenders) are seeing progression in the teams style. Something we never saw under our previous manager

Exactly, some posters, including me () were pointing out that we're improving, and today's games was a nice proof.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Carrick simply outstanding. Great win, shame if Rooney and AdM are out for a few weeks.

What?

 

[JUPITER]

Brilliant result!

Can't decide who the MoTM was.

Great win, I was nervy about this game when saw the line up but we were fantastic on the ball.

MOTM gotta be between Carrick or Herrera.

 

[Freak]

The great thing about today is that I'm struggling to find a weak link in the team today. Not even young. In fact there are just so many contenders for the motm.

 

[MDFC Manager]

With this kind of play style a lot of our dominant wins are going to make it look like the opposition were utter gash, because that's the whole point of the philosophy, to dictate games completely and suffocate the opposition absolutely. Obviously better teams will throw more of a spanner in the works but you can credit every bit of our performance today without having to frame it as the opposition being hopeless.

Very good point. Obviously the opposition will look woeful when we don't give them a sniff off the ball.

 

[Shark]

Important win and excellent, professional performance. We never looked like we going to lose control of the game.

I don't really care for all of that 'it was only Hull' stuff that a lot of fans and opposition fans will inevitably spout out. We have clearly improved as a team.

 

[11101]

De Gea - didn't have much to do.
Valencia - it didn't cost us against poor opposition but he really needs to stop passing it backwards all the time.
Smalling - looked like Beckenbauer today, although that was more down to Hull than anything.
Rojo - our best CB imo. Calm on the ball, and made some great passes. Settling in well.
Young - bang average performance, which isn't a bad thing.

Carrick - solid performance with some cracking passes.
Fellaini - another good display. His ability on the ball is growing along with his confidence.
Mata - he was everywhere today. Had a great game i think, although i hope with more confidence he'll play more through balls to pick out RVP/Falcao.
Di Maria - hard to say with such a short appearance.

Rooney - my MOTM. He was involved in everything and scored a terrific goal
RVP - not back to his best, but on the way. Almost scored a stormer before his goal.

Herrera - we're simply a different team with him. He links everything and is always there to pick the ball up and do something useful with it.
Falcao - looked sharp and in his short cameo had a couple of great moments. Should have scored.
Fletcher - he's just not up to it anymore, got caught on the ball and could only lay it back to defenders. His shank at the end summed it all up.


My main conclusion is that Carrick and Blind need to play alongside each other, not instead of each other... Blind is much better at taking the ball from deep and keeping things ticking over, but Carrick's passing is much more incisive. They complement each other nicely.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Good performance, most of the players did their job well. Maybe it was the first time this season we didn't have any under performers on the pitch, even the players who did an "ok" job helped the team's plan and we really looked calm and composed throughout the 90 minutes. It's a sign that the players are adopting to the manager's philosophy which is rather simple: Be careful when getting the ball out of the defense, take your time and don't rush things in the midfield and then pick the right forward pass to speed things up in the final third.

De Gea didn't have much job to do and his distribution was ok. Young and Valencia held their positions, they were solid defensively and although they didn't offer much going forward they provided good cover in advanced positions for the others and helped recycle possession.

Smalling was excellent, second great performance in a row after the City game. And it's not just the defending part, he was good as a ball playing CB when the team needed him to be and i'm sure LvG is glad about that. He also deserved that goal for all his good work. Rojo didn't have any problems after his injury, solid defending in his come back.

Carrick was simply... Carrick, he provided both quantity and quality in our possession game. It's good that he gets the recognition he deserves. He must feel like a true king with the way we're playing now. Herrera and Mata worked their arses off in terms of ensuring possession in the final third and picking the right forward pass in the midfield to get things going up front. Their off the ball movement was also good. Fellaini has found a role in this team and he did ok once more.

Rooney was superb, the way he's moving in between the lines is sublime. Today he was invilved in almost every good chance we created. Very good performance by the captain. When he finds form he's pure world class.

RvP scored a wonderful goal and it was good to see him smile again. We all know that he has had better days as a footballer but moments like this show why all managers, not only LvG, are a bit more patient with players such as RvP. It's because he has class and a big personality, so even when he's not having the best of matches his skills and character can prove crucial for the whole team.

I hope Rooney and Di Maria are ok, difficult game ahead of us against a team whose footballing style has caused us a lot of problems in recent times.

 

[#07]

Today we saw the first signs that Van Gaal's philosophy is really getting into the players. Up until now there have been times when you thought 'ah that's how he wants us to play' but it wouldn't last, or under pressure the lads would lose self-belief and start hoofing. Today we had long, consistent and good spells of ball possession where we made Hull chase. Today was the first time where we have had total dominance of a game all season. I'm very pleased.

There were so many top performances that its difficult to single anyone out. Perhaps Smalling, Carrick, Fellaini and Herrera? However, you have to compliment the rest of the side in the way they managed pressure, in the way they adapted to the 3-5-2 (thinking especially of the wing backs who aren't naturals in those roles, and Rojo who looked as though he'd never been out). Really good all around. Lets hope this is the start of our traditional Christmas climb up the table.

 

[JinnerJamie]

77.2% Possession with 736 successful passes out 802.