Still Following the Trawler

GOAL  | David de Gea Romero did well during the Capital One cup defeat at home to 'Boro, making a couple of exceptional saves, but there was no doubt it was a one-off selection from van Gaal. A shame really that the cup run ended so unexpectedly as you feel these games will be the only opportunity the Argentinian, who many expected would be United's no.1 when he was brought in during the " de Gea to Real Madrid" rumours, will get in the first team. DEFENCE  | Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo Valencia, who has started United's last three games at right-back, is injured so Darmian will replace him. Jones and Smalling appear to be an immovable force at the moment, while Rojo has done really well since returning from injury and replacing Blind/Shaw at left back. Our defence has become a nice, simple selection for van Gaal; the man who, this time last season, had already experimented with no less than 14 players at the back (although these were ...

It was a different sort of United performance at Goodison Park on Saturday, one we haven't seen for a while. By lacking the usual over-reliance on possession football that the manager seems to be obsessed with, we appeared to produce a far more adventurous, confident performance rather - one devoid of lack-lustre, slow passing in favour of more attractive attacking football. Instead of the usual 60-70% possession that United seem to enjoy against teams outside the top four, the game ended 50/50. Naturally at times the opposition were granted greater freedom and time on the ball - especially on the left where Rojo looked poor (although he produced a peach of a cross for United's second) - however the flowing football and decent chances we created when we were in possession was the difference. In our four other away games so far this season United have averaged 60% possession...yet we lost half of those games while conceded seven and only managing to score five. Against Everton h...