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Manchester United - The Dutchman's Devils

Started on 19 October 2014 by Josh_MU
Latest Reply on 31 December 2014 by Feliks
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Josh_MU's avatar Group Josh_MU
10 yearsEdited

August Report


Hello and welcome back to the second issue of our monthly Manchester United match-reports! Last time we covered United's short visit to America and finally we are here to present to you the first month of the Barclays Premier League season! With our new manager Louis van Gaal in charge, and a whole host of new signings, it made for a very dramatic and exciting first month, let's take a look at our results for this month!

Games: Chelsea(A), Aston Villa(H), Coventry(H), Everton(A).



Game 1: Chelsea vs Manchester United



This game has already had a full match report, what a game it was! If you haven't already read it, you should check this link!

http://www.fmscout.com/q-13488-Manchester-United--The-Dutchmans-Devils.html?d=6#197633



Game 2: Manchester United vs Aston Villa



After the defeat to Chelsea, Louis van Gaal's men played their first game at Old Trafford this season, with Paul Lambert's Aston Villa coming to town to try and take advantage of United's loss to Chelsea in the previous weekend. van Gaal kept to his word by removing Dede from the team and bringing in Phil Jones to partner Inigo Martinez at the centre of defence. Villa remained unchanged from their previous game.

Villa got the game under way, attacking the Stretford end, with Delph being the main playmaker for Villa in the first ten minutes, carving out a half chance for N'Zogbia who fired just over the bar. Villa were playing rather deep, looking to break on the counter whenever possible, however tidy work from Angel Di Maria stopped any danger from happening, winning the ball cleanly from Westwood.

United looked very strong going forward, with Di Maria at the heart of things down the left, playing a clever ball towards Fellaini who went on a brief surging run into the Villa box, only to be tackled heavily, however the referee deemed it as a fair challenge, making the United players and bench protest but to no avail. The first half ended with no goals at either end, but with some big talking points, mainly being the tackle on Fellaini.

At the start of the second half, United got the first goal of the game after some great work by Mata, who found Valencia on the opposite wing, and the 29 year old swung in a beautiful cross to where Falcao was waiting, and the Colombian had no trouble finding the back of the net with a bullet header past Guzan. A well deserved goal and lead for Louis van Gaal and his new Manchester United side.

Falcao's headed goal to make it 1-0.

And soon after, Valencia was able to his name on the scoresheet, running half of the pitch before finding Di Maria on the left and the Argentine drilled in a low cross into the six yard box where Valencia was waiting and the experienced winger had the easy task of slotting the ball under the arms of Guzan to make it 2-0 United with the players finally regaining their confidence.

Villa started to send more men forward to get themselves back in the game, and they had a glorious chance when the ball broke kindly to N'Zogbia, who evaded the incoming challenge of Rafael and shifted the ball to his stronger left foot. He then curled a pearl of a shot which was heading into the top corner, but David de Gea pulled off a remarkable save, going full stretch to deny N'Zogbia from scoring the goal of the game. A great save from our number one!

And with a couple of minutes of injury time to go, United exploited the gaps Villa left in their quest to get back in the game, with Rooney picking up the ball and switching it over towards Mata, who ran at Hutton and cut it back to Falcao, who confidently chipped the ball over Guzan and into the back of the net. That was Falcao's brace and Manchester United's third, securing a vital victory for Louis van Gaal and his red devils.



Game 3: Manchester United vs Coventry



After a great win against Villa, Manchester United headed into their first Capital One Cup tie of the season, facing League 1 opposition Coventry at Old Trafford. van Gaal named some changes from the team who beat Villa, handing both Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj starts. He mostly rotated the team, however it was still a strong looking side with Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria being the stand out names. Young James Wilson was named on the bench for this first time this season.

United kicked off, with them immediately going on the attack, trying to get that early goal to set the tempo of the game, and within the first 10 minutes, they already had registered their first goal. Herrera found Lingard, who floated in a deep cross towards Adnan Januzaj, and to a big surprise, the youngster headed the ball past Allsop and into the back of the net. World class technique from the young Belgian!

And then the flood gates opened, four minutes later, Lingard has possession once again, finding the run of Di Maria who neatly switched the ball over the van Persie, and with the amount of experience the Dutchman has, he created enough space to measure up his angles and curl the ball past Allsop to make it 2-0 and to stretch United's lead even further. It looks to be a long day at the office for Coventry.

And yeah, you guessed it, there was another goal 5 minutes later. This time Fletcher was the creator as he slid Lingard through on the left, and the English winger cut inside on his preferred right foot and fired past Allsop to make it 3-0 and get his first goal this season, which was well deserved due to all of the work he had done so far in this game.

van Gaal then brought on young James Wilson as the game was already over and it was the forwards time to shine, playing up front with van Persie. He made an immediate impact after being put through by Herrera and confidently knocked it past the final defender before placing the ball calmly past Allsop and into the bottom corner to make it 4-0. An absolute rout by this Manchester United side.

Wilson's goal after being put through by Herrera.

van Persie then got his brace after scoring a beautiful free-kick 25 yards from goal. He measured it up to perfection as he curled it past the 4 man wall and struck the inside of the post giving Allsop absolutely no chance in saving the shot making it 5-0 to United, Coventry should have not even turned up tonight as they still had not registered a single shot on target.

Wilson then got his brace, heading in from 4 yards after Di Maria took a powerful corner which was diverted to Wilson by a Coventry defender and the young English forward easily touched the ball with his head and into the back of the net. 6-0 the score stood with still a good 15 minutes to play.

And yep, there was one final goal which was pure genius. Di Maria ran from the halfway line and found Wilson, who cushioned the ball and found Di Maria again, and he knocked the ball away from a defender and curled the ball past Allsop to round off a perfect performance. The final score was Manchester United seven, Coventry City nil, with both van Persie and Wilson getting a brace.



Game 4: Everton vs Manchester United



And finally Manchester United made the trip to Merseyside to play Roberto Martinez's Everton. van Gaal named the same line-up that played so well against Aston Villa, with Wilson making the bench for the second time in a row after his performance against Coventry. Everton brought in Lukaku for Naismith after the Scotsman took a knock in training. It made for a feisty and exciting affair between two teams challenging for the top four.

Everton kicked off, keeping most of the possession in the first ten minutes. They failed to make any of that possession pay off as old boy Fellaini won multiple challenges to prevent Everton's attackers from getting anywhere close to United's back four. The Belgian looked up for this game, making several key passes and one which almost got his team a goal. Fellaini allowed Di Maria to play further up the pitch as he sat in front of the back four.

There were literally no chances in the first half, with many fans looking bored and frustrated after both teams were unable to create any chances, even with the attacking talent on show. Much improvement was needed from both teams in the second half from an attacking perspective, but defensively, both teams looked strong and ready to get themselves a clean sheet.

It took until the 84th minute for the first goal, and it went in the way of Manchester United as Di Maria attacked the ball and found Falcao, who played it in towards Valencia, and the winger had his shot parried by Howard, allowing the rebound to come to Di Maria who snatched up the chance and made it 1-0 United with 5 minutes left to play.

Di Maria's rebound goal after Valencia's shot was saved.

However, Fellaini, who had already been booked, made a strong challenge on Barry which earned himself a red card, and from that resulting free-kick, Everton levelled up the game as Mirallas rose higher than Alex Sandro and headed in from the back post. Fellaini looked so frustrated with himself after conceding the free-kick and getting sent off, making his return to Goodison one to forget.

The game finally finished 1-1, with both Di Maria and Mirallas scoring. An uneventful game which finally came to life in the final 5 minutes. A draw will do for both sides but you would think that if Fellaini wasn't sent off, United would have possibly won that game as the Belgian would have been marking Mirallas in the box.


League Table



A fairly decent start to the league looking at our games. There are only 3 points from us to Arsenal, and with two away games against Chelsea and Everton, it wasn't too bad of a month for us. Of course, if we turned that draw against Everton into a win, we could have been up there in the top 4, nevertheless, we played some good football this month and we are very excited for the next!


Player of the Month



Angel Di Maria

What else is there to say about the Argentine other than he's World class? He had a great first month in a Manchester United shirt for us and he is already adapting well to the Premier League. He already has two goals and two assists in his first three Premier League games, which is already making for a great record. Whenever he is on the ball, you feel like he's going to make something out of his chance, like you did with Cantona and Ronaldo. A great player. We can't wait for next month to see him continue his fine form!
Great detail, the draw against Everton wasn't ideal but good job picking yourself up after the Chelsea game
Holy fucking shit. So much detail :o

Other than that, bar the loss to Chelsea and the draw to Everton there were positives in the month. Falcao's two goals vs. Villa should prove a great confidence booster and hopefully propel him to the top of the goalscorer's list come the end of the season! :D
The detail of these updates is pretty damn good. Shame the start to the season isn't though! It is very early days and I am sure you will turn it around. Good luck.
Wow... what an update! :O
The detail was absolutely fantastic, but hopefully results will pick up soon, even if they weren't too bad.
Awesome update and great win very Villa Di Maria looks a beast!
A mixed month but you will find form soon!
@Feliks: Thanks very much pal! :)

@Walt: Haha, it took a rather long time to write due to my lack of concentration. ;) And yeah, Falcao will hopefully continue his goal-scoring form! Thanks for the comment Walt!

@James: Thanks man! I agree, we will turn this bad form around!

@Joshie: Thanks so much Joshie! A draw against Everton away isn't TOO bad, right...?

@Jason: Thanks! And yeah, he is a beast. ;)

@Justice: Agreed! Thanks for the comment Justice!
Tallery's avatar Group Tallery
10 yearsEdited
That detail :O

But I see you are filling United's ambitions this season, a mid-table finish :P
LMAO ^


Anyway a big win against Coventry mate but hopefully you have a better run next month in the league.

Di Maria: "Manchester United was the only club I wanted to join."


Speaking to MUTV, Player of the Month Angel Di Maria stated that Manchester United were the only club he wanted to join.

The Argentine joined Manchester United from Real Madrid this summer for a British record transfer fee of 59.7 million pounds, and after a great first month, he told MUTV in an exclusive interview that Manchester United were the only club he wanted to join, despite offers on the table from Paris Saint Germain who were interested in signing the World Cup finalist, but Di Maria said that was never an option due to his passion to play in the Premier League for a club like Manchester United.

He has already started picking up good form, registering two goals and two assists already in the Premier League, which ultimately was the decider for the new signing to pick up the first Player of the Month award from Manchester United's fans. The 26 year old possesses amazing pace and as an eye for both making and scoring goals. He can also do his fair share of defending, as showcased in United's most recent game against Everton, where he stopped a few attacks developing.

Di Maria also mentioned that team-mate Marcos Rojo, helped him make his decision after the defender joined Manchester Untied from Sporting Lisbon, and being close friends with Di Maria, he told him that he should join Manchester United as well so they can play together domestically. He convinced Di Maria that Manchester United is the best club to go to after a summer of rebuilding, saying that it will be the most exciting experience out of all the options available.


Di Maria and Rojo became great friends on International duty with Argentina, and are already linking up well for Manchester United.


van Gaal also spoke about Di Maria in his most recent press conference, telling journalists the following about his record summer signing;

"Angel is a great player as you all saw when we last played. He has incredible talent and is a very good individual to work with. He gives one hundred percent every game and fully deserves his award. I am glad he chose to join us, but it was in my opinion a simple decision for him as we are Manchester United, the biggest club in the World and we are going to be up there by the end of the season. I am very proud of Angel for his achievement but he must continue his good form for the rest of the season."

Di Maria was the obvious winner of the Player of the Month award, with David de Gea coming in second place after some outstanding performances against Aston Villa and Everton, and Radamel Falcao coming in third place after scoring two goals against Aston Villa which was the main reason United won that game. The fans are very happy with the players but are not as pleased with where the club stand currently in the league, however they realise it's only been three games and things can chance so quickly.

United have a much tougher month of the horizon, with two tricky away games against Arsenal and Tottenham. United will need to have a flawless month to push for the top 4, and beating both Arsenal and Tottenham will give them an even better chance to push up the league, as they both sit within the top 6 of the league. Two wins against title rivals would be a huge confidence lifter for van Gaal's men. It is going to be a very exciting September for Manchester United.
Great update Joshwa
Brilliant, detailed updates. Keep it up!
It will be interesting to see how long you can keep up this detail of update; I hope it is for a long time to come. A great story thus far.
Fantastic depth to your updates. Keep it up :)

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