Today marked the seventh week of the Premier League and Manchester United seems to be back into their winning ways. Many injuries have been haunting the team such as Ander Herrera, Ashley Young, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini, and Chris Smalling. The team is also dealing with Rooney’s 3-match suspension after kicking West Ham’s Stewart Downing last week.
We wondered how Manchester United would do without these key players and face Everton, West Brom and Chelsea these upcoming weeks. Although Herrera and Fellaini could be back soon from their injuries, the question is would they be great without their captain Wayne Rooney? Louis Van Gaal and his squad told us differently today as they faced Everton today and took the 3 points to continue into their road to winning the Premier League or at least landing in the top 4. Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao were today’s heroes as Di Maria scored his 3 goals for the team and Falcao was able to net his first goal as a Red Devil. De Gea, who has been in bad form lately, stepped up to the plate as well and not only saved a penalty but also produced two stunning stops late in the second half to get those 3 wins that Manchester United thoroughly needed.
As the first half kicked off, the team started off good vs Everton attacking and trying to create some plays to get in to the scoreboard. Falcao had many opportunities and was looking like the striker we know. He had a mis-timed header that flew wide; he wasted a chance in front of a goal soon after Di Maria made a lovely and majestic mid-air flick. Van Persie also had a chance when Di Maria created a yard of space on the left wing and sent over another perfect cross but Van Persie blazed it over the bar.
It wasn’t until the 26th minute that the Red Devils got into the scoreboard with a superb goal from Di Maria. Phil Jagielka, Everton’s defender, attempted to hook Rafael’s cross clear, but instead it landed at the feet of Juan Mata, who found Di Maria and he was able to find the net and get it pass Tim Howard with a curling right-footed shot.
Di Maria had an opportunity to add a second one to his tally if it wasn’t for Tim Howard saving his deflected free kick with a superb diving save.
In the last minutes of the first half, Shaw put United’s great work in jeopardy when he brought down Hibbert in the box and we saw the referee point down to the spot. Baines has had 14 penalty shots made out of 14 attempts but his record was broken today when hero David De Gea flung his right arm out to push the ball wide and keep the score 1-0 entering the half mark.
United didn’t start strong in the second half and we saw Everton tie the game in the 55th minute with Baines making up for his missed penalty by swinging a deep cross towards Naismith, who headed the goal past De Gea. This would tie the game up but minutes later the home team was able to take the lead again.
This time it was Radamel Falcao, the on-loan from Monaco, who netted his first goal on a beautiful play put on by Di Maria. Di Maria mis-cued shot from close range landed in front of Falcao, who timed his run inside the box to perfection and was able to put the goal past Tim Howard to give United the 2-1 lead.
With 4 minutes after stoppage time left in the game, Goalkeeper David De Gea stepped up to the plate and became United’s hero, as he was able to keep them in the lead. Everton’s Osman broke through the defense in the final minutes, but De Gea rescued the hosts with a fine diving save.
With seconds to go, the Spaniard denied Oviedo with another acrobatic save and kept the game at 2-1.
The defense looked great with 19-year-old Paddy McNair stepping it up and Marcos Rojo and Rafael creating some beautiful crosses for United. We also saw Luke Shaw leave with another injury and thus the curse of injured players continuing for Van Gaal and his United team. With no Rooney in the team, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Van Persie were able to step it up and create beautiful chances and getting two into the net. If things turn around with the injuries for United, they can come up with a win against West Brom next week and then facing a strong attacking Chelsea the weekend after.
Photo by: Getty Images (Di Maria)