Coming off their first win away win of the season Manchester United are now sitting pretty in fourth spot. Prior to this game as usual with Manchester United there is much to look at.
The form of striker Robin Van Persie who many herald as the man who won Manchester United their last league title two seasons ago, is now very obviously in poor form. The strikers at Manchester United as a cohort have not been firing all guns blazing and Van Persie is one who has stood out as very average for a while now. With the departure of Welbeck to Arsenal and Falcao it is plausible that Van Persie would not be under any pressure, but that is not the case. The emerging potential star in James Wilson who has made a number of late substitute appearances so far this season, he is looking impressive as he does so. Wilson who scored twice on his professional debut against Hull, this weekend’s opponents, is making a case to start in the coming weeks. However it is also a very fair point to mention that the young striker may not be ready, but Van Gaal is well known for giving youth a chance so it is not impossible.
Young Irish centre back Paddy McNair who has emerged out of nowhere in the last few weeks, as a potential starting centre back, will have his hands full with Hull striker Sagbo and his strike partner Abel Hernandez. The centre back has looked ‘solid’ in his time as a starter so far this season and it will be interesting to see if he can keep this going against more physical strikers compared to Giroud and Welbeck, neither of who are the largest and most physical of strikers. However it is key to point out even with McNair’s strong performances Manchester United have kept very few clean sheets so McNair and co. will be hoping to take that one further and keep a clean sheet this weekend.
Steve Bruce’s Hull side, has set themselves up in many different ways already this season. From counter-attacking, long ball football. To short passing football with the intention of moving the ball around quickly. So Louis Van Gaal will have to decide whether to try his 3-5-2 tactic or stick to an adaptation of 4-4-2 which United have used for the majority of the season so far. Manchester United played the Van Gaal 3-5-2 away at Arsenal last weekend in the 2-1 victory and looked particularly sloppy and unable to keep the ball. If it wasn’t for Arsenal’s lack of finishing ability then it would have been likely that Arsenal would have won the game. But United took their chances unlike Arsenal, so one can’t complain with the result. If Bruce sets his side up in a more ‘English’ approach with direct, aggressive football, it is likely that three at the back will struggle but if Bruce attempts to pass the ball about, as he so often does then three at the back will be more effective.
Angel Di Maria was Manchester United’s record transfer signing and the midfielder has been okay ever since he joined the club, but he is yet to really set the league on fire. He scored a wonder goal against Leicester in the 5-3 defeat which saw him lob the keeper with the outside of his boot, and he does get assists which is what you want from your attacking midfielder. But he is not living up to firstly his large reputation and secondly his large price tag. Against Hull Di Maria will be looking to change this, the winger turned attacking midfielder will be looking to attack a defence which conceded twice to a struggling Spurs side last weekend.
It is yet another fixture in which David De Gea will be looking to be Manchester United’s best player. Last season the Spanish shot stopper was voted players player and fans player of the season, despite of United’s extremely poor season De Gea stood out as a top draw goal keeper. Against Arsenal the keeper arguably won United the game, with the amount of chances that Arsenal had, he was able to stop any attempt on goal bar a wonder strike from returning striker Giroud. But it wasn’t just the Arsenal fixture in which De Gea stood out. The 1-0 defeat to City at the Etihad despite resulting in a defeat, De Gea prevented the game from turning into a rout. He stopped chance after chance including injuring himself momentarily when he dived at the feet of Aguero to block a cross aimed at the Argentine. De Gea is arguably United’s most consistent performer once again at this point in the season and he will be key to United’s chances to secure top four this season and to beat teams such as Hull whose strikers could cause the defence issues.
