CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DREAM VERY MUCH ALIVE
Last week's victory over Arsenal not only rejuvenated the
club's Champions League qualification opportunity but the victory might have
also improved the fans love for coach Louis Van Gaal.
Before the game against the Gunners kicked off, the odds
against Manchester United winning the match was reported to be low simply
because of Arsenals high performance in the Premier League this season. Arsenal
were sitting in first position in the Premier League table and were firm
favourites to leave Old Trafford with a win and when the news about Manchester
United's recent injury report surfaced with Rooney, Martial, Phil Jones and
Schweinsteiger all included in the list it seemed Manchester United were
destined to lose the game before the game even began.
Old Trafford's young new wonder kids, Right Back Guillermo Varela and striker Marcus Rashford picked up from their superb performance
Europa League by putting in another strong performance in all areas of the pitch.
Rashford showed his quality in front of
goal by burying a goal from a delicious cross by Varella past Arsenals quality goalkeeper Petr Cech to
put our team ahead and continue his recent good goal scoring form. With Manchester
United missing a good number of attacking players due to injury it’s a relief
that the club's young players are brave enough to step up and put in a solid performance
to help the team win as much games as possible as the team pushes to secure a
Champions League Spot next season.
Personal I was really impressed with Memphis Depays
performance in the past few games especially against Arsenal. He was determined
to square up against Arsenals wing backs and take the Arsenal wing backs on
with any chance he got during the game. He tracked back, He delivered quality
passes for his team mates and his communication with his teammates was a good
example of the whole team being on the same page. His work ethic against
Arsenal showed his willingness to work hard for the club and the fans, his performance
against Arsenal and his performance in
the europa league is exactly the type of performance that will win the fans
love and support for him.
Mata
was exquisite with his passes in the game against Arsenal as usual. He called
the shots in midfield with fellow Spaniard Ander Herrera. The two players
combined to make sure that Arsenal was never comfortable in midfield all
through the game. The two players delivered quality passes to fellow team mates
and made sure that the team's offence was flowing continuously as well as making
sure that Arsenals midfielders were rarely comfortable throughout the game. Solid
performance from the duo and Manchester United Fans will be hoping that the duo
keeps up this high level of performance till the end of the season if the club
is hoping to qualify for the Champions League next season.
Finally, I think one of the best moment of the game for Manchester
United Fans was seeing coach Louis Van Gaal animated and in deep conversation
with the linesman as Van Gaal tried to challenge the referee's decision to award
Arsenal a free kick outside the box by throwing himself to the ground insisting
that the foul was a dive by the Arsenal player rather than an actual foul by
the Manchester United man. Coach Van Gaal who has been known to remain seated
and view each match without any reaction was highly animated at one point in
the game on the sideline by getting in short conversation with the lineman with
each opportunity that came his way. I think his decision to question some of
the referee's decision is exactly what the fans want from the Manchester
United Manager, it shows that the manager is genuinely concerned about how the
team is doing and that is just what the fans
want to see from the Manager. The actions, the emotions Louis Van Gaal
showed during the game against Arsenal as well the victory over Arsenal might
have just won the hearts of the fans for Louis Van Gaal and with the season
coming to an end with just ten more games to go it looks like Coach Louis Van
Gaal might be on his way to securing his future as Manchester United manager
for another season.
Lets hope the team can continue our winning three game
winning streak in tomorrow's game against Watford and with the Recent news of
Anthony Martial's possibly returning from injury in tomorrow's games against Watford,
the team stands a chance of gaining another three points and improving the
clubs chances of fighting for the top four position in the table.
