[JackXX]

Great result and another really good display from the team. Herrera and Blind I thought were fantastic.
I think it has finally clicked and the LVG/Barca/possession style of football is starting to come through. The Spanish duo have certainly had a large impact since they have both been starting. I also think a major factor has been that our CB's seem to be looking a lot more confident and just better in general. At the start of the season we had players who were scared of the ball and you can't have that with the way we currently play. I don't think it's pure luck that we have started to look so much better. Blind at LB brings a lot of composure to the back four also.
What I like about LVG is that he is improving a lot of our players. Not only the obvious ones like Young & Fellaini but players like Herrera have improved since he joined. I always wanted him to be a starter even early in the season but it's also clear to me that LVG and the coaching staff have improved him with his positioning and he's become a much more well rounded player. Mata looked like a player who had no position for the most part of his time here but he's also looking back somewhere near his best playing out wide.
The only negative today was the poor goal we let in and the fact we dominated but didn't put the game to bed earlier. Hopefully we keep these performances up and we can at least give Chelsea something to think about rather than coasting to the end.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Good post. I'm thinking Carrick and Fellaini might be just suffering from the international break and especially in Carricks case, he has played a lot since coming back from injury and he may just be having a slight lull now due to this and the international break. He should hopefully get back to normal now with one game a week and being managed carefully, although his age and injuries are going to be more noticeable now.

Fantastic game today though with some great goals and other results all in our favour. Looking forward to Match of the Day tonight!

Yes, Carrick and Fellaini looked off color for sure.

 

[Shark]

It's not really 8 points. Spurs have a game in hand and could be 6 behind us. If we lose to City and Chelsea (which wouldn't be a complete surprise), we could be level on points with Spurs.

What a grim post.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

It's not really 8 points. Spurs have a game in hand and could be 6 behind us. If we lose to City and Chelsea (which wouldn't be a complete surprise), we could be level on points with Spurs.

I expect us to beat City, and draw with Chelsea. We're playing better than either of them at the moment.

Also, Spurs are Spurs. They aren't getting anywhere near that top 4 spot.

 

[bosnian_red]

It's not really 8 points. Spurs have a game in hand and could be 6 behind us. If we lose to City and Chelsea (which wouldn't be a complete surprise), we could be level on points with Spurs.

Nah, that's all assuming Spurs win all of their games from now on, which they won't, as they are the same Spurs as always. They're not in the race anymore, us beating them killed off any hope they had.
And we won't get beat by both City and Chelsea, we're a better team then City is and are at home.

 

[HabeasC]

Rooney had missed with a shot from the edge of the area, Van Gaal sent Angel di Maria on. Then Radamel Falcao. Sherwood was not about to take that lying down so he sent on Joe Cole.

Guardian on point there.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

3 big wins in a row (I know this was only Villa)
We always win on days I get married on.

Are you a bigamist or something?

 

[Raw]

 

[siw2007]

Very good performance today from the team. It was a shame that it took so long to break them down because we were outright dominating them for long stretches of the game and we were so close to getting the final ball right. It's never easy to break down a team that sits deep and hits you on the break with that much pace and ultimately we did well.

A number of players did well but Herrera deserves a lot of credit for putting those two goals away which felt important for the nerve of the team. Stunning goal from Rooney as well which should have killed off Villa. Defensively we did well, especially with Jones and Rojo as the partnership but would rather have Smalling at the back next week. De Gea was poor for the goal and we should have had a higher level of concentration at this stage but he is allowed to make the odd mistake after winning us so many points this year.

Our journey to claim back Champions League football continues as we march on with confidence but we must remain focused as City will be rubbing their hands with the opportunity to derail us next week. We need to get our own back for a successive run of defeats against them too.

 

[Adzzz]

"Agbon....la whore"

 

[pseudo_canadian]

"Agbon....la whore"

Gotta love van Gaal's english.

 

[Momochiru]

Nah, that's all assuming Spurs win all of their games from now on, which they won't, as they are the same Spurs as always. They're not in the race anymore, us beating them killed off any hope they had.
And we won't get beat by both City and Chelsea, we're a better team then City is and are at home.

I hope that's the case too; I was just pointing out, that too 4 is still far from being in the bag. We have a huge advantage now and the next 2 games will be crucial - win them and we will be in the fight for second place; lose them or draw them and we will be dragged back in the top 4 fight.

Back to the game against Villa - first half we were great, but in the second we slowed down and Villa were just a mistake on our part away from leveling. Overall a convincing and super important win, but we should've killed the game earlier.

I was a little skeptical with LVG's subs, but it worked out very well at the end.

Positives:

• a very important win, that puts us in pole position for top 4
• Herrera is coming into form just in the right time + 2beautiful goals
  
• Rooney is back to his great tenacious self + an amazing goal
• ADM was much better than recent games, when he came on + another assist
• Jones and Rojo were very solid
• Mata and Herrera develop very good understanding
• Young continues with his good form
• Blind again being one of the most intelligent players on the field

Negatives:

• didn't kill the game and dropped the tempo in the second half
• Falcao was just terrible
• DDG with unusual poor game
• Carrick was sloppier than usual

 

[Catt]

3 big wins in a row (I know this was only Villa)
We always win on days I get married on.

You have until next sunday. Do it fast!

 

[Trizy]

3 big wins in a row (I know this was only Villa)
We always win on days I get married on.

How many times have you been married, hundreds?

 

[Ixion]

Random but on the way back after the game Wilfried Bony was stuck in the traffic coming away from the ground. WI8 ONY license plate, had his hand covering his face as his car crawled along, probably was at the game to see some decent football.

 

[Riz]

Good performance, no more no less. At this stage of the season and following losses for both Liverpool and Southampton I think that's more than satisfactory. It was important to carry over our winning momentum from before the international break so a routine win sets confidence at a nice level heading into the Derby next week. Bring it on City.

 

[Charlie Foley]

3 big wins in a row (I know this was only Villa)
We always win on days I get married on.

has this happened often?
Congratulations mate, but get off red cafe

 

[2 man midfield]

JuAnderlust

love it

 

[matt23]

Bit annoyed by their goal but a good win really, looked like we had another gear or two if needed. Nice cameo from Di Maria.

Hope that's the last we see off Falcao now, bringing van Persie on for the last 15 and dropping Rooney into midfield makes a lot more sense for the time being.

 

[pacifictheme]

De Gea - 5 - Didn't do anything all game, even when Benteke shot it right at him.

Blind - 7 - Had his head up and found Herrera for the first. Probably the best passer in the team today, after the Spanish Dynamic Duo. Intelligent.
Rojo - 6 - Fell asleep for Villas goal, but otherwise reasonably solid. Good going forward too. He should start with Smalling when they're both fit.
Jones - 6 - Did his usual lunatic challenges a couple of times. Always expect him to make one huge mistake per game, but didn't today.
Valencia - 5 - Gave away stupid fouls, slowed down play and didn't really create anything from out wide. But he runs a lot and looks angry, so there's that.

Carrick - 6 - Unusually poor today. Gave away possession carelessly a few times and didn't really pull the strings like we've come to expect.
Herrera - 9 - Phenomenal. His finishing is so calm and assured. Also had a hand in everything we did going forward by combining well, with Mata in particular.
Young - 6 - Had a couple of good runs in and around the box, but felt more like the frustrating Ashley of last season.
Fellaini - 6 - Should have had a goal today. Struggled against the parked bus and didn't get to use his only valuable asset, which is his physical dominance.
Mata - 8 - Would have slaughtered Villa today if the rest had gotten out of second gear, but only Herrera seemed properly up for it.

Rooney - 7 - Crap and angry, and then he adds two points to his rating by pulling off that goal and hounding Villa before the third.


Subs:
Di Maria - 7 - The game was perfectly set up for him and he did well. Great assist and threatening throughout his stint.
Falcao - 4 - Fell over a few times and skied a shot. Won't play many more games for us. Sad to see him like this.

Ha ha ha You have to love Rooney. That goal versus Newcastle. Made of pure anger.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

"Second half, we give ONE chance away....ONE...and a goal..and a goal...and a goal...it was a lucky goal".

 

[marlowe78]

There are times in his press conferences where it looks he's turning the corner on his English but then the post-match always makes it come crashing down.

Agbonlawhore LOL

 

[Sweet Square]

Only just seen the third goal(Stream cut out) and

 

[DomesticTadpole]

There are times in his press conferences where it looks he's turning the corner on his English but then the post-match always makes it come crashing down.

Agbonlawhore LOL

Mathematically on Friday was a problem as well. Poor guy.

 

[bishblaize]

Quite pleased with the performance today. I wondered after the last two games whether we might be better suited to teams that come out and press us rather than those that sit deep, but I thought we dispatched Villa pretty tidily.

What's pleasing is the number of really good team goals we're scoring at the moment. First goal vs Spurs, first goal vs Liverpool and first and last goals today were all really nice team efforts. I know goals like Rooney's, or Mata's last week, are great to watch. But a good team goal is a sign that everything's clicking.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

Random but on the way back after the game Wilfried Bony was stuck in the traffic coming away from the ground. WI8 ONY license plate, had his hand covering his face as his car crawled along, probably was at the game to see some decent football.

Yeah I saw that.

WTF was he doing? Can't believe he would be stupid enough to get caught in traffic!

 

[MaNNe-]

Great result and in my opinion at least a great game. Most people here are saying it wasn't that great of a game, but there were plenty of chances and there could've been a penalty and a red card 5 minutes in. There were lots of chances as well especially in the first half the game and the score could've easily been 2/3/4-0 instead of 1-0 only at half-time.

Some pluses:

+ Di Maria seemed much much better than in the last few weeks and hopefully this means he will be picking up his game from now on; also one assist again!
+ Great game from Blind again. I don't see him as a left back, but he has been great there.
+ Rooneys goal - magnificent.
+ Herrera - He has been absolutely amazing and I think he is our best buy in the summer transfer window by a large margin.


Minuses:

- Carrick - Had a bad game for him and his passing wasn't really good
- De Gea - goal was his fault luckily we scored more than one.
- Rafael not getting a chance. I trust LvG and his decisions, but I can't understand why on earth Rafael isn't given any chances to play. Surely he has much more to offer as full back than Antonio Valencia.



For some reason after this game I got to thinking about Moyes and last year and realized how far United has come since then. Last year under Moyes when united was 1-0 up at 60+ minutes Moyes would've tried to protect the lead with his subs whereas LvG by contrast changed Fellaini for Falcao and Young for Di Maria - two more attacking options and going for the kill instead. I'm really glad United have LvG now and I have no doubt in my mind united will now reach at least top 4, but if the players can keep this level up for the rest of the season top 2 isn't out of question. I'm really happy with united lately there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[surf]

Nice controlled win apart from the odd comedy moment by Dave. Smalling is essential against the better sides. Di Maria is a good sub, Falcao not so much.

 

[Feedingseagulls]

With the pace Villa have it was no surprise that they set up to counterattack as usual but there seemed to be an increasing stress on pressing us further up the pitch to initiate things from there as the game wore on.

Now that might just have been because they felt they had the possibility to get a result, but I also wonder if it was pre-decided. Having seen how we gave pressing teams the run around early in games, maybe they decided to restrict this tactic to when we were a little more tired and less sharp (particularly given the international call-ups).

 

[surf]

3 great wins with Fellaini, Young and Valencia all integral to the success. Who'd have thought it a year ago?

 

[Acole9]

Another good win for us, just watched the game back for a second time. I was probably slightly harsh on my scoring of Valencia and Blind I probably should've given both 7's rather than 6.

 

[Danillaco]

His mind is already in Madrid.

You hurt my feelings

 

[mazhar13]

Aston Villa clearly parked the bus against us, but it didn't deter us at all going forward in the first half. We kept playing our usual game, and we were still able to open up Villa's defence and create quite a few good chances. Compared to our performance at Villa Park, this was much better, and given the amount of pressure we applied on Villa's defence, you just knew that we'd score a goal in the first half, which we actually did.

In the second half, we became slower and sloppier, overall, but we got sharper as the half went through, and we were just comfortable, overall, against Villa, from the back to the front. We probably got too comfortable, though, after the second goal, given how easily we conceded the goal against them. However, what was clearly noticeable was how that goal didn't fluster us and how we still remained confident in our game. It's quite clear that van Gaal's philosophy has sunk into the players, and we're finally reaping the benefits of that now.

What I really liked was how Villa were concerned by everyone in our team. When going forward, just about everyone in the final third pulled away players and created spaces for others. Young and Fellaini would pull away players and create spaces for Blind. Mata and Valencia would pull away spaces for Herrera. Rooney would pull around Villa's central defence pair with Fellaini. Villa were concerned by everyone in the final third, and this is what helped us get all of our goals. I'm just glad to see just about all of our players create concerns for the opposition rather than only a few of them.

 

[Riz]

What I really liked was how Villa were concerned by everyone in our team. When going forward, just about everyone in the final third pulled away players and created spaces for others. Young and Fellaini would pull away players and create spaces for Blind. Mata and Valencia would pull away spaces for Herrera. Rooney would pull around Villa's central defence pair with Fellaini. Villa were concerned by everyone in the final third, and this is what helped us get all of our goals. I'm just glad to see just about all of our players create concerns for the opposition rather than only a few of them.

Yep. Also what's refreshing to see is how many men we commit in attacks now as opposed to earlier in the season when we were playing much more cautiously. They highlighted it on MOTD, Rooney, Fellaini, Young, Mata were always in or on the edge of the box whenever we attempted a cross or through ball. Herrera was also lurking on the edge looking for any rebounds or cutbacks. Great to see us have such positivity and also confidence in our defence that we don't need to leave 2 men back in midfield in front of the centre backs.