Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Marcus Rashford, remember the name. Well to be honest I doubt we’ll be able to forget it. His second brace of goals in the space of three days fired Manchester United to victory over Arsenal to put a massive spanner in the works in terms of The Gunners title aspirations but also bring a sense of optimism to Old Trafford one that has rarely been seen this season.
It was a near reserve United side that took on Arsenal on Wednesday and if City’s fledglings flopped when given a run out against Chelsea in the F.A. Cup last Month then United’s youngsters seemingly passed the test with flying colours.
It wasn’t only the youngsters who had a lot to prove, a Centre Back partnership of Michael Carrick and Daley Blind doesn’t sound like the most fearsome duo on paper but credit must go to them for keeping Arsenal at bay for long periods of the game.
Even though it was Marcus Rashford who was grabbing all the attention on the pitch, it was definitely Louis Van Gaal who grabbed it all on the sidelines with his dive on the floor in protest to how they Arsenal players were trying to con the Referee by throwing themselves to the ground during the game
It’s been quite a reasonably normal week for Van Gaal and United, with them winning 3 games in the space of 7 days and advancing further in both the F.A. Cup and also the prospect of facing rivals Liverpool in the Europa League next Thursday. The talk of employment never really goes away but at least it has been curtailed to a bare minimum what with United’s turn of results.
Credit has to go to Van Gaal though, his arm may have been forced what with so many injuries but he hasn’t been afraid at throwing the kids into the deep end as it is certainly paying dividends over the past few games, Van Gaal may not be around next season but the future certainly looks a lot brighter all of a sudden
Tonight the future is now as these youngsters will be called into Premier League action again as they play host to Watford a side who are currently sitting in a comfortable mid table position and for all intents and purposes will be playing Premier League next season.
They are just one win away from the magic 40 point marker but they have enough goals in them in the way of Troy Deeney and Odion Igahlo so there’s no danger of them not getting that, the only danger that Manager Quique Sanchez Flores has is making sure the momentum of his side doesn’t drop off between now and the end of the season.
Last time out they were held to a stalemate against Bournemouth on Saturday at Vicarage Road, in fairness it wasn’t a great spectacle and a rare off day in terms of Watford’s Strikers. It was certainly a point that suited Watford more than it did Bournemouth.
Watford would certainly be happy with a point this Evening but unfortunately for them I think this positive momentum at Old Trafford is going to continue as they look to try and catch their noisy neighbours Manchester City in the race for 4th place. If results go their way they could be level on points by the end of night. Home win for me.
