Total domination might be the best word to describe Manchester United’s near flawless 3-0 over Hull City on Saturday afternoon at Old Trafford. The Red Devils were superior in every department of the pitch and it was no doubt their best performance in the Louis Van Gaal era.
Chris Smalling scrambled the home side to an early lead before Wayne Rooney doubled the advantage before half time. Robin Van Persie then capped off a fitting performance with wonder striker to secure a stroll in the park and his team’s third consecutive victory on the road.
Here are the three things we learnt from Old Trafford:
The United strike-force can only get better Credict must go to Louis Van Gaal for keeping his faith on Robin Van Persie despite describing the striker’s performance against Arsenal as ‘very bad’ one. There is no doubt that much is expected of the 31 year old Dutchman who has struggles this season.
However, the former Arsenal man first teed of Wayne Rooney for the captain’s delightful strike and then came up later with a lip-smacking goal of his own. It was also the first appearance for Radamel Falcao in nearly six weeks and with games coming thick and fast in December heading up to the new year, Van Gaal would be happy with his strikeforce.
Louis Van Gaal’s effective mid games: Over the years the Dutch legend has earned his fame as a master tactician. He is good at mind games too. United lined up in a 3-5-2 formation to counter Hull’s similar formation but in reality the Red Devils played with a more conventional 4-4-2.
Steve Bruce’s side were thus dominated right from the start and his spare man philosophy was thus thrown out of window as despite trying to adjust the away side never quite recovered. What was great to see how Marouane Fellaini looks a completely different player now, putting in a great central midfield performance. It was also the fluidity of players like Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney on how they switched positions seamlessly and looked so comfortable with their intricate passing.
Micheal Carrick deserves a mention: Well it’s easy to judge that United are playing when Micheal Carrick is pinging 40 yard cross field passes.
The Englishman accumulated 117 passes with a success rate of 92.3% having 125 touches of the ball throughout the 90 minutes. The 33 year old never quite deserves the applauds but his panache in orchestrating the midfield today was simply sensational. Man of the match for me.
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