FIVE POSITIVES FROM UNITED'S DEFEAT TO PSG
van Gaal was right to take some positives from
Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in
Chicago. Here, we take our lead from the manager by
highlighting five plus points from Soldier Field…
PROMISING PARTNERSHIP :- Wayne Rooney and Memphis
Depay have shown signs of forming an effective alliance up
front this summer and while neither scored on Wednesday
night, their link-up play in the final third hinted at a more
successful future together. The highlight was arguably a
neat exchange in the 15th minute, when Rooney took the
ball on the left and played a short pass back inside for his
Dutch team-mate to run onto, before Memphis then hit a
powerful shot that just flew over the bar. Yes, there is a
long way to go with them, but there are certainly signs for
optimism.
FLYING FULL-BACKS :- During his summer break, Luke Shaw
took one of the club’s fitness coaches on holiday with him
to Dubai and the results have been evident throughout his
four appearances on Tour 2015, presented by Aon. Apart
from his unfortunate own goal, the left-back was excellent
against the French champions and his all-action, offensive
style of play was mirrored on the opposite flank by new
signing Matteo Darmian, who has quickly made an
impression on United fans. The Italian was constantly up
and down the wings, on both sides, and even displayed his
crossing ability on several occasions. He looks a top buy.
PEREIRA'S PROGRESS :- One of the biggest positives from this
tour has been the performance of United’s youngsters and
Andreas Pereira has arguably been the pick of the bunch.
The Brazilian shone against Club America, scored against
San Jose Earthquakes and helped cement a victory over
Barcelona. Pereira's latest cameo arrived in Chicago as a
half-time substitute for Ashley Young and he did not
disappoint, showing plenty of enthusiasm on the left wing
and playing a sumptuous pass for Rooney that led to
Memphis going close on 62 minutes. On a similar theme, it
was great to see another youngster, Sean Goss, finally get
some minutes on the pitch after observing the three
previous matches.
NO PLAYER INJURED : – can you believe that? Last
summer’s US tour was riddled with unfortunate injuries that
led to United starting the season with a number of
youngsters in the team. Although the rookies did an
admirable job, in difficult circumstances too, van Gaal is
delighted to have a larger squad to choose from for next
weekend's Barclays Premier League opener against
Tottenham Hotspur. “There is more competition now,” the
boss explained in his post-match press conference, with
one eye on Spurs. “There is more balance in the selection. I
have a lot of confidence to start the competition.”
SHARPENED MINDS :- Okay, we are stretching it here, but
there is an argument to be made that losing to PSG could
actually benefit United in the long-run. After all, it has been
well documented that van Gaal’s men won every single pre-
season game last summer but lost against Swansea City in
the curtain-raiser at Old Trafford. Now, having suffered a
defeat, the players are presumably eager to bounce back
and van Gaal hinted that could be the case. “Yeah, we lose,
but maybe that is also good because last year we won
everything [on tour] and then we lost the first match in the
Premier League,” he explained. “Now the sequence is a
little bit different.”
(Curled From www.manutd.com)
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