It was a courageous attempt from Preston North End in this FA Cup tie but the quality Louis van Gaal has at his disposal provided Manchester United with the means to overcome an early goal in the second half from Preston North End by going on to score three goals, and progressing into the next round against Arsenal.
As the draw for the next round of the FA Cup was made just before kick-off and it was announced that the winners of this contest would go on to face Arsenal, the crowd reacted with a booming raw as they set the tone for a game full of pace, passion, excitement and of course, controversy.
United started the game purposefully as Rooney returned to his favoured attacking position partnering Radamel Falcao up front, with Marouane Fellaini playing behind them. Ander Herrera started in midfield and in the early stages of the game, there was a telling difference with our midfield as the Spaniard was at the hub of everything that was positive.
The only negative being the final ball, as it has been all season. Rooney and Falcao were trying to make attacking runs but they were unable to exploit any space they found as Fellaini and Di Maria especially, failed to provide a quality pass to find them.
As the first half progressed, Preston North End found their composure and was comfortably nullifying any attacking intent from United and as a result, frustrated United. Man United returned to playing the ball in amongst their defenders and midfielders something Preston were all too happy for United to do.
If the first half failed to ignite, the second half started with a boom. Only two minutes into the second half, Preston took the lead through Scott Laird as his riffled shot took a deflection off of Valencia’s toe to change the path of the ball, consequently zipping underneath David De Gea who was already mid-flight as had dived to save Laird’s shot.
Following the goal, Preston North End continued to pressure United’s back line and they were unlucky to not score a second as Clark was a whisker away from connecting onto a cross. This led to van Gaal changing the team.
Off went Falcao who was unable to have an effect on the game and on came Ashley Young. There was now urgency to United’s play as Di Maria and Ashley Young were deployed on the wings and Fellaini partnered Wayne Rooney up front. Shortly after, the Red Devils scored their first of the game. Ashley Young was seemingly involved in a lot as he took up a wide position, in a 4-4-2/4-3-3 shape which worked a lot better.
Ashley Young with some neat work found Herrera in the box who did well to shift the ball away from the defender and find the bottom corner with a neatly placed shot. The goal was awarded however in amongst some controversy. As Herrera shot, Rooney was standing in an offside possession and moved himself out of the way of the ball as it found its way into the net. Preston North End players were furious that the offside was not given and again raised doubts about whether a player is ‘interfering’ with play, despite being in a stationary position.
It may be ugly, but it has proved affective for van Gaal shifting Marouane Fellaini up top. On the 72nd minute, he fired home United’s second goal. He towered above the defenders to head the ball and force the goalkeeper to make the save and Fellaini was able to smash the loose ball home.
Preston North End were now dejected. They were making rash challenges and it epitomised the penalty that was awarded to United as Preston goalkeeper, Thorsten Stuckmann, rashly brought down Rooney. Again, there was an element of controversy over the decision as there was no contact but you could argue if Rooney didn’t ‘dive’, he would have been seriously injured and a foul would have been awarded irrespectively.
After winning the penalty, Rooney emphatically smashed it into the top left hand corner, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, thus ending his nine game goal drought.
This again was not a vintage Manchester United performance from van Gaals side, in fact at times they were woeful, but despite the inconsistencies in their displays, it was another victory from the unconvincing Red Devils as we wonder when it will ‘click’ for our team.
Line ups:
Preston – Stuckmann, Clarke, Huntington, Wright, Laird, Humphrey, Welsh, Kilkenny, Gallagher, K. Davies and Garner. Subs: Wiseman, Reid, King, Robinson, Brownhill, Ebanks-Blake, Hudson.
Man Utd – De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Rojo, Shaw, Blind, Herrera, Rooney, Fellaini, Di Maria, Falcao. Subs: Valdes, Evans, McNair, Januzaj, Mata, Young, Wilson.
Attendance: 21,348.
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