Five Things We Learned – Man Utd v Spurs

Man Of The Match

Manchester United’s match vs Tottenham saw our first fixture against a ‘big team’ this season. It was one which Manchester United won quite easily.

Danny Welbeck opened up Manchester United’s account after heading home a cute cross from Tom Cleverley. Manchester United’s second saw a magnificent piece of play which resulted in an Anderson goal. The third came after the evergreen Ryan Giggs dinked the ball into the centre for Wayne Rooney to head home in a game that ended with us being 3-0 victors. So with that, here are five things that can be taken from the game.

1) Criticism does not bother De Gea

David De Gea went into the match today with every section of the media blasting David De Gea as ‘a waste of money’ comparing his goalkeeping abilities to that of Manchester United flop Massimo Taibi. Anything to sell a story eh? Today he went some way to showing why Manchester United shelled out £18million on the 20 year old Spanish keeper. His distribution was superb, he began the phase of play for Manchester United’s second goal by catching a cross and setting Ashley Young on his way for a counter attack. He was also very assured with the ball and thoroughly deserved his clean sheet.

2) At £16million Phil Jones is a steal

There were so many top performers for Manchester United today however, in defence it was Phil Jones who stood out. He was just brilliant. I almost forgot that he is only 19. He played in the heart of the defence as well as you’d expect someone like Nemanja Vidic to play. He handled everything that came his way with ease and has shown very encouraging signs of what the future may hold for Manchester United.

3) Sneijder who?

After some impressive performances by Tom Cleverley and Anderson in the past few games, it may leave the thought ‘Sneijder who’ in a lot of fans minds. Anderson has began to show his consistency and it looks like he’s added goals into his locker. Tom Cleverley also had a great game in the centre of the park for Manchester United. His cross into Welbeck for the opener was Beckham-esque and with a pass completion rate of 88% he looks like a very valuable player in possession too.

4) There is a striking conundrum

A goal and an assist for Danny Welbeck and a goal for Wayne Rooney. Seems like a successful day in the office for both strikers. Both players were fantastic tonight however with Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez breathing down their necks, it’s extremely hard to call which of them will be given the nod. Nonetheless, it is a problem that Sir Alex Ferguson will welcome.

5) The future is bright

Some teams around us have been buying finished products. Manchester United have been buying young players. With an average age of 23, this Manchester United XI is the 2nd youngest we have ever fielded in the Premiership. This team was good enough to create more chances than any other team in the whole weekend, against a top 6 team. This team also comfortably beat a top 6 team. With time on their side, this team can only get better.

This post is as written by me on the RedFlagFlyingHigh blog

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