David De Gea is the player who can be called the most
improved in the last 2 years at Old Trafford. Of late, he is getting close to
the final package and the only glitch in his armour is his reluctance to come
forward in the box. Today, on 32nd minute, with United leading by a
single goal, he charged straight out of his box to tackle a long ball, to only
completely miss out, presenting Matt Phillips a clear sight of the open goal.
Fortunately Johny Evans was at the right place to divert his shot to safety,
which preserved the lead. Angel Di Maria scored on his home debut, curling a
free kick past Robert Green, the former City keeper who was present at their
goal when Micheal Owen toe poked that 96th minute winner. United
went into half time with a 3-0 lead, with the game as good as won against a
staggeringly poor side.
The second half saw the introduction of United’s new number
9, Radamal Falcao in place of Juan Mata, but only after he scored United’s 4th
and final goal of the match. By any standards, it was a stroll in the park for
United against a staggeringly poor QPR side. At times QPR’s resistance was next
to none, but those who saw the way their players celebrated with the City team
when they won the League on goal difference would not mind that. No united fan
in his right sense of mind would think of QPR as the toughest opponents to come
to Old Trafford this season, but there were noticeable differences in terms of
power, passion and precision compared to whatever United dished out last season.
26 years ago Sir Alex Ferguson took charge of Manchester
United and promptly lost his first match against Oxford City 2-0. His first
victory came with a 1-0 win over, none other than, QPR. Louis Van Gaal will
enjoy that similarity but he was anything but bullish while assessing the
performance of the team. He rightly pointed out that improvements are still
required for this to provide this kind of performances week in and week out. David Moyes was dismissed only 6 months ago,
but his actual death bell rang in the last summer, when Ed Woodward failed to
land quality signings for him, of which the reasons are various. This time, it
is fair to say that, he compensated for that. He first delivered his now famous
“watch this space” dialogue and then proceeded to spend 150 odd millions of
pounds on Daley Blind, Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Radamal Falcao and Ander
Herrera. History shows that, given the right resources, Van Gaal invariably
achieves results. Woodward has kept his promise and brought a fleet of world
class talent to Old Trafford. Over to you Louis Van Gaal, it is time to
deliver.
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