1. We got what we wanted today at Goodison Park. When writing the match preview last night, I explained how difficult it can be to walk away from that ground with three points, and that’s what we did. After the humiliation against our biggest rivals, we needed something to be positive about, especially for the young lads’ mentality. Manchester United has always been about bouncing back.
2. Tom Cleverley made his first league appearance since picking up an injury after a reckless challenge from Kevin Davis, when we hammered Bolton 5-0 at the Reebok Stadium. He played in midfield alongside Ji-sung Park and Wayne Rooney – with Fletcher behind supporting the defence. The trio showed fantastic movement in the first half until young Tomas picked up another injury and had to be substituted. However, it’s only said to be a precaution, so the club will know more whenever he has a scan.
3. Even though United gave away lots of chances, our defence did much better than last week, protecting David de Gea between the sticks. Everton created 19 chances and put 8 of them on target. The majority of the shots came from Louis Saha, Seamus Cole and Jack Rodwell who drove them straight at the young Spaniard, if they didn’t put it wide or over. United fans will take this as a relief because the misfortunate 20-year-old had to pick the ball out of the net 6 times last week, with none of the goals conceded being his fault.
4. I was sitting back looking for an online stream before kick-off and the line-up was announced. Lots of people seemed to have been making dramatic reactions to the news that Jonny Evans was to start alongside Nemanja Vidic at center back. For starters, not every red card equals a three match ban – he served his already, missing out of the midweek fixture against Aldershot Town. Those that questioned his ability were more than likely spoiled fans, that don’t have much faith in the current squad. He has all the physical attributes to make it as a top defender and he’s one of our players, which means we should all be supporting him.
5. Lots of people, including myself, have been critical of Patrice Evra lately. You could possibly go as far as saying he hasn’t been himself since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Today he showed signs of bombing up and down the line like he used to; he even created an assist for Javier Hernandez’ goal. So please god he can continue this form because it looked like we needed to sign another left back to give him some competition.
6. One of the main positives we can take from the game is Nemanja Vidic’s performance. The Serbian won almost every high ball that sailed into the box this evening – doing enough to earn our man of the match. I spoke with David on ‘The Raving Reds’ podcast about Vidic not being fully fit against Aldershot, but today I seen a big difference. He lead from the back beside Jonny Evans, who made a few mistakes throughout.
Your comments are all fair, Dale .. It is good to see the lads dig in and pull out a win .. It wasn’t too flash and I don’t think that was unintentional .. Back to basics seemed to be prevalent .. It was good to see Pat working the line like he wanted his place ..
Let’s watch the bitters run with the hype and trip over their own egos .. We’ll put in the steady 3-pointers and chew on the goal difference when the chances are there ..
Your comments are all fair, Dale .. It is good to see the lads dig in and pull out a win .. It wasn’t too flash and I don’t think that was unintentional .. Back to basics seemed to be prevalent .. It was good to see Pat working the line like he wanted his place ..
Let’s watch the bitters run with the hype and trip over their own egos .. We’ll put in the steady 3-pointers and chew on the goal difference when the chances are there ..