I start off briefly with the defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League. The overriding sentiment is one of sympathy, sorrow and shock at the nasty injury picked up by Luke Shaw. He has made those kind of rampaging runs before this season and was stopped but was never injured to this extent. Our well wishes go out to him and his family. Hopefully he bounces back from this stronger and better than ever. Hopefully, this episode doesn't destroy him. On the match itself, we played decently to be fair. We scored a great goal through Memphis, conceded a deflected goal and then got hit on the counter. We threatened an equaliser but we didn't capitalise when we were in the ascendancy and building a head of steam. Our flow was disrupted and we never regained it. This has happened in other matches last season as well when we have been chasing a lead. Our away form remains dodgy. What followed was another away game, away to Southampton in the league.
Southampton are no pushovers. They beat us last season at Old Trafford and we were lucky to beat them at St.Mary's. It was one of our rare victories away from home. This season we have beaten Aston Villa and lost to Swansea City away from home before our visit to St. Mary's. We got off to a stinker. We were slow and Southampton swarmed us and took a deserved lead. It was the poorest we had played all season and very nearly fell two goals down. We were lucky Graziano Pelle's shot hit the post. We then slowly regained composure by keeping possession for longer periods and got a lucky break when Juan Mata was not flagged offside in the build up to Anthony Martial's goal. Slowly, we started dominating the match and grew in composure and confidence. It was almost all too easy as we went into a 3-1 lead but then inexplicably allowed Southampton a glimmer of hope by not picking up Pelle in the area, who planted a free header past David De Gea. We held on for a 3-2 win to record out 2nd away win of the season and move to within two points of our neighbours, Manchester City.
On the performance of the team, we were poor at the start of the match as we were evidently second best in everything. Southampton were buzzing and fizzed the ball about. They were not giving United time on the ball to build from the back or from midfield through Michael Carrick. Daley Blind, has been constantly picked out as the weak link in our defence but so far, he has held firm (more or less). However, coming up against Pelle, he was brushed aside too easily and couldn't even get a foot in to challenge. It exposed a weakness in United's backline which has been forced to reshuffle in view of Shaw's injury. Marcos Rojo lacks match fitness and it was evident as he hoisted too many balls forward aimlessly. He got better as the match went on. On Blind, perhaps it would be wise for Louis Van Gaal to not play him in certain matches especially away from home in England when the hosts will try and come out full pelt at United, throwing everything they got. It's also interesting to see how this United manages to play every 3 days after largely playing only once a week last season. It is no easy feat to play every 3 days but there is enough experience in the squad and management staff to cope with it. Van Gaal has so far favoured starting players on merit so I am a little concerned with that as we cannot afford to do that and wait for a player to get injured, suspended or lose form before replacing him. There is nothing wrong with picking your first eleven based on form and what you see in training but he has to mix and match the squad with the team playing every 3 days now. Thus far, he has only shown a willingness to rotate his central midfield pairing. My believe is that he has to keep the core of the team as stable as possible and then rotate players around it.
David De Gea made only his third start of the season and against Southampton he displayed why we are grateful his transfer to Real Madrid didn't go through. If it wasn't for him, the result would have been different. We have to regain our solidity in defence though. We are getting caught out by rapid attacks down the flanks or around the back of the defence. Our midfielders are also getting caught out but not tracking their runners. We have to start defending better as a team. Mateo Darmian looked a tired figure and it's only expected as he has started all games so far including matches for Italy in the European Championship qualifiers. The pace of the game in England is quicker than it is in Italy and he would need time to adapt. However, I have noticed that he isn't bombing forward as he used to do while playing for Torino or Italy. I am not sure if he is just playing cautiously or following the instructions of the manager. He can be an added weapon if he starts going forward more often. I believe it is a tactical decision as Mata doesn't quite have the pace to recover and track back if Darmian is caught out going forward. Antonio Valencia came on to put in a good shift in place of Darmian.
Carrick, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin have all performed very well in central midfield. I have been impressed with what I have seen so far but they have to go back to providing greater cover for the defence as well as starting attacks from midfield. Memphis looks like he is beginning to form a promising partnership with the man of the moment, Anthony Martial. There have been glimpses of inter-play between the two to suggest that. On Martial, the boy with the bewildered look, he has made a great start to life as a Manchester United player. A lot of fans have complained and whined about signing an unknown youngster for a huge sum but he has responded very well. He has looked exceptionally calm in his finishing but it is too soon to say anything more about him. In today's world, everyone is quick to hype up a player after a few good performances and quickly run him down if he starts putting in some poor performances. Do not forget that we are talking about a 19 year old kid who can get better with age and is by no means, the finished article. Consistency is key for him and he would be judged on that. We would want to see him grow and get better. He needs to achieve the consistency of delivering high level performances week in, week out which is no easy feat. It will take time and we should give him time and space to develop. On the third goal we scored, it was a superb passing move that actually lead us forward patiently instead of going sideways and backwards. It was a team move and a real pity that Memphis didn't get on the score sheet with the first shot as he showed good skill to create space to get his shot away. Credit to Mata for being alive to the rebound. It was a great team move which would be raved to no end if it was achieved by Barcelona but because it was United, not much was said.
Next up, we have got Ipswich Town in the League Cup. If you are old enough, you would remember the 9-0 trashing United handed them in the 1994-95 season. A lot has changed in the football world since then and in the fortunes of both clubs. This would be a great opportunity for Van Gaal to play players that have played lesser this season and allow some players to take a breather. It is a Cup competition and we should take it seriously as it gives us a chance to win silverware if we do well enough to progress further in the Cup. Do not get forget that this is a team in transition. It is not quite a settled team looking at the number of players bought and sold over two summer transfer windows. Therefore, any chance at a silverware, we should take it.
Finally, I would like to have my say on the Diego Costa-Gabriel spat. I don't know how on earth was Costa not sent off for putting his hand into Laurent Koscielny's face and pushing him first with his hand and then chest bumping him to the ground. Gabriel then stood up for his team-mate and got yellow carded for it together with Costa but that is where it should have ended. He shouldn't have engaged in an argument with Costa. He shouldn't even reply to him. Costa was obviously riled and he made the most out of a soft flick of the boots from Gabriel and got him sent off. It is purely gamesmanship which the English can't accept as part of the game but very common in the Latin countries. Gamesmanship goes against the culture of the English game. It is ugly to see but it happens. Gabriel gave the referee Mike Dean a reason to send him off by just flicking his boot back into Costa's direction. It might be soft but something as soft as that can be construed as violent conduct. A different referee might have got both captains to speak to their respective players or he would have warned the players himself to cut it out before he sends them off. Mike Dean did neither but he was not wrong in what he did. He was merely applying the letter of the law instead of using a more rational method. If Gabriel had been an English player, this matter would never escalate this far as Costa can't speak English so whatever he says will sound foreign and easily ignored by the player.
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