MANCHESTER UNITED ON A ROLL : WILL THE TEAM BE VICTORIOUS AT ETIHAD?

        The International break is over and the football matches played by the participating countries was a thrill to watch. The matches were filled with very surprising and very eye results as well. From Frances surprising defeat in the hands of an impressive Colombian national team - to England's narrow victory over the mighty Netherlands- who saw that coming?. Then there was Argentina’s convincing 2-0 victory over italy. And let’s not forget spain's battle with the German machines which eventually concluded in a 1-1 draw. I am sure the audience could barely keep their eyes off the match between Spain and Germany for the entire ninety minutes, I know I certainly could not! But what a thrill ride the International break was and the matches that were played over the weekend has me looking forward and eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Fifa World Cup over the cause of this coming summer season. 

           

                                                                                 

      Now as you are reading this article you might find yourself asking the question: why is this Blogger writing about International football in general, I thought this site was supposed to be focused on Manchester United football club? Well, if you were asking yourself these questions then you would be right on all fronts. This is a website created for the sole purpose of discussing about Manchester United football club and the reason for today's post is to touch on how Manchester United performed with their various national teams,how the players mental and emotional status will be returning back to Old Trafford to reconnect with their fellow club mates as The Red Devils take on the club from Wales Swansea this saturday. But before I dive right into the possible scenarios that might play out during this weekends upcoming game against Walsh side Swansea City or “The Swans” as the club is popularly known as around Wales, I want to first touch on some of the results from the internationals friendly games that were played this past weekend and how some of Manchester United Players might be feeling heading into the weekend.

   As already pointed out on the start of the post, France or “Les Bleus” ,as the French National side are also commonly referred to, emerged from the weekend with a shocking loss to a strong Columbian side that took the game to the French side from the start of the whistle and kept the pressure on france till the end of the game to pick up the victory. On a positive note for Manchester United the news of injuries to two of our French stars Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial seems to have been laid to rest as one of the two french men, Pogba, played some level of good football in large parts of the game to give Manchester United a possible forecast of how the duo could perform during this weekends upcoming game and future games to come. Martial seemed to have been absent but the french star has been so prolific for Manchester United that expecting a good performance from the two french men wearing the red shirt of Manchester United would not be to much for the fans to expect this weekend. Other manchester United players who were on a more positive end of results were manchester United's english players. 

  England had a very positive results on their friendly matches this past week. The three lions emerged out of their international weekend games recording a single goal victory over club mates Daley Blinds Dutch side. That would have been great news for Manchester United club and fans which, of course, originated from England but the better news was that England's single goal was scored by the clubs very own, home grown talent, Jesse Lingard. Lingard seemed to have dropped off a little bit after the player went on a tearing run of good form in the beginning and middle part of the season for Manchester United. However, during this past two to three weeks before the international, Lingard looked to have been struggling a little bit with his performance on the pitch for Manchester United.  Also, the englishman looks to have shrugged off his performance dip as he and Marcus Rashford looked lively and energetic  taking the game to the dutch backline and never doubting to create chances for their team mates or take a shot themselves and test the dutch goal keeper on a couple of occasions.  Lingard topped off a great night for himself and his England mates by initiating the only goal scored in the game when he turned his marker around and slipped the ball to his england team mate Danny Rose, Rose crossed a ball into the dutch penalty box which was cleared out by the dutch defender but cleared right into the feet of Jesse Lingard who was more than happy to slot the ball right past the dutch goal with a powerful shot from outside the penalty box. Not a bad way to record your first ever England goal. Safe to say Lingard has recovered his shooting boots and Manchester United fans will hope the lad does not loose his goal scoring range from now till next season. 

Blind could not feature in the match due to possible injury and Ashley Young made a substitute appearance for Danny Rose in the 71^st minute of the game and finished with quite a solid performance to help the three lions pick up the victory. Young has been one of the consistent, high performers, for Manchester United. so expectations  of a solid, defensive, performance for the rest of the season from Young and his wing back partner, Antonio Valencia, would not be such an unattainable goal for one of Manchester United's  favorite duo. 


        This week, Romelu Lukaku lined up with his Belgium team mates to take on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and the big Manchester United was absolutely fantastic. He held up the ball on Saudi Arabia's own half of the field, laid of quality passes to his teammates  on time. Basically Lukaku did what Lukaku have been doing for Manchester United all through the season. Manchester United's big center forward completed his fantastic performance for his country by scoring two fantastic goal and one assist on the night. Not a bad performance for his country on the night but of cause Lukaku have been performing on very high level for Manchester United with his goal per game ratio in a very impressive level. The only matter Manchester United organization has to worry about a little is if the Big Belgium can continue his amazing run of form next season, the Red Devils will certainly hope so because Lukaku will definately be vital if Manchester United are to be Premier League and UEFA Champions league winners in the next season.

       To conclude todays post, I’ll just say this, I can keep going on and on about how Manchester United's players returned to their parent countries football team and put up really good performances because, honestly, the players were incredible. Evan Scott Mctominay who made his first ever International debut showed mourinho, who was present to watch his young star soak up the moment with his young scottish protege, was a little impressed by what he saw from Scott Mctominay some moments during the game as i’m sure that some Manchester United fans who watched Mctominay play in this weeks international friendlies would agree that almost every Manchester United player who had a chance to play for their country put in a decent to magnificent enough performance to make Manchester United proud to have the player wearing a manchester United jersey week after week. But the problem which Jose Mourinho faces at the moment and in the near future is how can Mourinho transfer the high level quality football our players are  exhibiting away from the Manchester United jersey into Manchester United style of play? Answer: Consistent high speed, high tempo, high quality football all season long. Consistency is the strategy  that should be able to assist  Manchester United on their quest to dethrone their so called noisy neighbours in the near future.