A very interesting game in LA took pace between Manchester United and The Galaxy. We can’t remember a more emphatic performance for a first preseason game.
Here are some stand out insights.
LVG
We have said it before and we will say it again – this guy is made for Manchester United. He seemed absolutely made up with the performance in his post match interview after the LA Galaxy game and called Manchester United ‘my team’.
We think he’s going to absolutely thrive at Manchester United and we will see a very strong league campaign from The Reds.
CENTRE BACKS
Jones, Smalling and Evens started the game as a three in the defence and all of them looked comfortable. This will give LVG confidence that the situation at the back isn’t all that bad despite the massive departures this summer.
We imagine at least one of Hummels, De Vrij and Vermaelen will come in to offer more depth.
WELBECK
Scored a brilliant goal, looked very sharp and generally seems to have improved his technique since last season. This is a sort of lad who could really blossom under the guidance of Louis van Gaal.
MATA/HERRERA
Herrera is already proving to be a sensational signing and he was easily man of the match against Galaxy. The other thing we noticed as his link up play with Mata which seems telepathic already. These two are dead certs to play in front of a holding midfielder.
FORMATION
It seems so obvious now that Louis van Gaal is using the right formation for Manchester United considering the players that they have at their disposal.
Mata and Kagawa clearly didn’t enjoy playing wide for David Moyes and a 5-3-2 allows them all to enjoy a more central role. It also gives Welbeck the central position he craves.
Manchester United will keep their width but by employing wing backs. Valencia and Reece James were excellent. Shaw was quiet on his debut but will grow into that role.
isaac s
Jul 25, 2014 at 6:10 am
van gaal was definately made for united
defence:i completely agree with you on the three senior defenders.and i think will kean played good too.valencia and shaw didnt impress me though.valencia is still failing to cross the ball.luke shaw was failing to cover evans most the time.on the hand, rafael and reese james did the work perfectly.their positioning was awesome to see.they defended well when required and they were there to offer support to the midfielders when we had the ball.james was also there in attack.he played was better than shaw.since we are using 3 CBs,we need to buy two defenders, hummels and de vrilj.
midfield:fletcher was mostly out of position.hope he will improve with time.anyway, he played better in defence even though i would want him there when the season starts.kagawa should improve his attack and tackling because from the way the things are going he will be playing as a central midfielder.tom cleverly was good in this game.we have always seem that he plays well when we have 3 midfielders.his ball holding was good.mata was good too as a #10 but herrera did it better.i think herrera should be giving the free role.the man can defend and create.just look at his passes dissecting the defence.i was more than impressed.this guy was worth every penny.on signings, well vidal can be a very good signing.but looking at our style, i think gustavo can be more than good too.we just need someone to cover the 3 CBs and let the other two be creating the chances for strikers.
attack:we were playing two strikers so this will be hard for some players.despite scoring, rooney didnt show to be that lethal.welbeck was way better.his runs made it easy for mata to make that killer pass to him.if he was in the second in place of nani he would have scored 2 more goals.while i am on it, nani didnt impress.young was good.he connected naturally with herrera.before this match i wanted him to be sold but now he has given me second thoughts.he should improve more on one-on-one situations though.signings in this department are not not necessary i think.RVP, chicharito, rooney, nani, young, januzaj, lingard, wilson, lawrence and welbeck are all there.”from this game” i would suggest we get rid of rooney, nani and chicharito.remember i said “from this game” so i am not sure yet because a player’s performance is not measured in one game only.but we need to let atleast 2 strikers go if januzaj, wilson, lingard and lawrence are to be first team regulars.and i am for the idea of young players being given the chance.especialy januzaj and lingard.