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Manchester United routed Queens Park Rangers by four goals to nil at the Old Trafford Stadium. New recruits Angel Di Maria and Andres Herrera both scored while goals from Rooney and Mata proved to be the icing on the cake. Rooney’s goal marked his 175th goal in the Premier League making him the third highest scorer tied with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
In order to accommodate all the new stars, Van Gaal decided to alter his formation from a previously preferred 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 diamond. Juan Mata was the furthest forward in the midfield diamond while Blind was sitting back and protecting the back four. Di maria and Herrera were playing on either side of the field. Radamel Falcao was on the bench due to lack of fitness and jet lag picked up on international duty.
QPR gave Sandro his debut and he fitted in front of the defense. Rio Ferdinand returned to Old Trafford after having played for them for 12 years. Ferdinand had previously in the week complained about the sending off he had got from the club and was duly honored with a memento for his time spent at the club.
Di Maria opened the scoring from a free kick which crept into the far post. He had curled the ball with his left foot looking for someone to head it in, instead the pace and flight on the ball made sure it defeated everybody and bounced right in front of the goal and went into it.
On the 31 minute, poor goal keeping and lack of communication between Marcos Rojo and De Gea almost cost the home team a goal. Matt Phillips tried to take advantage of the mix up but saw his shot was blocked off by some excellent defending by Johnny Evans. This was the only chance Rangers had in the first half.
It was all one way traffic in favor of the home team. They kept the ball well and created chances; on the 36th minute Andres Herrera was rewarded with his debut goal in the Premier League. Just like the first goal, Di Maria was the catalyst. He made a run through the left wing and released Rooney with an exquisite through ball; Rooney’s first attempt was a shot which was blocked on the second attempt he had the presence of mind to lay off Herrera who blasted home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box.
The first half couldn’t have ended better for the Old Trafford faithful, after a slick exchange of one-twos Rooney beat Robert Green on his near post and it was game set and match for the home team. Green would be disappointed with the goal conceded by him. The half time whistle brought respite to the visiting team on one hand while on the other 75,000 fans stood up to appreciate a performance akin to United’s glorious past.
The Londoners brought on Armand Traore for Clint Hill and he seemed to have an instant impact. He went on a mazy run at the end of which he set up Nico Kranjcar who might have done better with his shot which was saved by the Spanish keeper.
Harry Rednknapp must have been hoping that these were positive signs for the second half but soon normality resumed. The home team dominated and the Argentinean midfielder, Di Maria, was at mischief again. He hit a shot that went wide of the goal but straight into the path of Juan Mata who didn’t make any mistake in getting the job done.
Just when the home fans thought things couldn’t get any better, Radamel Falcao started gearing up for his debut and came-on on the 67th minute, replacing Mata. Falcao and Van Persie played up front with Rooney taking up the substituted Spaniards position, at the tip of the midfield diamond. On 84 minutes Falcao had a chance to score within 20 minutes of his debut but it was saved by the keeper.
It was a commanding performance by Manchester United. A few worries at the back when Blackett let Vargas through and the first half miscommunication between Rojo and De gea but nothing that can’t be weeded out. Offensively they were almost perfect, with more playing time with each other they would be expecting to finish off the half chances that they had in the match.
On the other hand, the visitors were woeful. They had no attacking sharpness, their defending was poor and Robert Green would not be happy with the goals he conceded today. If QPR continue to play like this they are going to be favourites to be relegated from the Premier League which could spell out serious consequences for them.
