Manchester United’s return to the Champions League since the dreadful David Moyes era and there was plenty to talk about. World class goals. Great defending. Unlucky errors and another quiet Rooney. Here are four things we learned:
1) Memphis has the potential to be world class
What a night for the young Dutchman. Following criticism from his first two premier league games against Spurs and Villa, Memphis will have wanted to prove a point, and that he did. His first goal was sensational, the little dink over the Brugge defenders’ head from an expertly taken cross from Carrick, he then weaves through the defence and places it perfectly in the corner. The perfect equalizer. His second though is what shows the potential this lad has in him. Outside the box into the top right corner. Some strikers could only dream of such a goal, especially at Old Trafford. The seal has been broken, the rest will come naturally now.
2) Fellani is the king of heading
The whistle is in the referee’s mouth, there are only seconds left as the cross goes in and big Marouane rises above everyone to score a textbook header. Still being suspended from the premier league for his red card against Hull, Fellani hasn’t had a chance to play yet and only got to come on for Rooney in the 84th minute. What an entrance he made though. There has been a lot of talk recently about where Fellani will fit into this new United squad recently, including by me. But tonight showed that there is hope for him yet, his first 9 minutes of the season and he scores in the Champions league. Januzaj and Rooney may have more competition than they thought.
3) Another stellar United defensive performance
Once again, praise must be given to the back four. Darmian and Shaw are the perfect mixture of defence and pace going forward while Smalling and Blind keep impressing as a partnership. The scoreline is misleading as the defence could do nothing about the own goal from Carrick. These boys should have had their third clean sheet out of three. Can’t wait to see this defence against a tougher opponent so they can really prove their worth.
4) Romero had his first unconvincing night
Sergio Romero was praised for his debut game again Tottenham. His second at Villa, his defence was so good he barely had any work to do. But tonight the Argentinian seemed slow and flat footed. For the own goal the keeper left an extraordinary amount of room at his near post and when the deflection was heading that way, he was flat footed and very slow to react as the ball bounced in. He also had a close scare from a Darmian back pass that he failed to come out for and nearly set up Diaby before drawing a foul and having Vazquezs’ goal ruled out.
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