What we learnt from the Tottenham game

Manchester United got off to the perfect possible start in the 2015/2016 season with a narrow victory over Tottenham Hotspurs. Considering what happened in last season's opener against Swansea city, this was a big improvement. But in truth, all who watched the game will be quick to add that United laboured to win. Perhaps it's just one game, maybe it's too early but Saturday's match brought out more questions than answers. 

Tempo is something that was a hallmark of the great teams Sir Alex Ferguson built and it's also something Van Gaal looks for in his teams but it was clearly  missing here. United spent a lot of their time passing backwards. Our attack was almost rendered sterile as a result. Despite having majority of possession, the 20 times league champions only created 4 chances and had only one shot on target. This should be a concern.

Depay is a Ronaldo type of player; players that depend on pace and definitely needs space to cause havoc unlike the Messi type of players (Mata) who can make space in tight areas and determine a game. The number of times  Memphis was caught in possession seems to affirm this statement. Despite the brilliant defensive input of Young, he failed to glitter as an attacker. The 30 year old had so much space but his end product left much to be desired. Stats show that he attempted 5 take-ons but wasn't successful in any. Depay would have done better against a struggling Kyle Walker especially with that pace of his. It's not clear why Van Gaal plays Depay as a second striker but using last season as a guide, the Dutch international is much suited to the wings.

In my last article, I wrote about the areas Rooney needs to improve to become that 30 goal-striker that United fans crave for. This factors included his bad first touch and positional or tactical indiscipline. From what we saw against Spurs, it seems he hasn't improved. Rooney was lucky to record the first assist of the League season. He should have really has the net rippling long before Kyle Walker saved him the bother but his first touch wouldn't let him. His heavy touch allowed Walker to take the ball off him too easily. If Rooney is to stay as an attacker for the rest of the season, he has to buck up sooner rather than later.

Now let's talk about Matteo Darmian, one of the few positives that arose out of this game. Finally, Manchester United  have found an heir to the Gary Neville throne (mind you, Rafael was too erratic and injury prone whilst Valencia is simply not a right back). He is one of the rare breed of defenders who can both defend and attack. Defensively, he didn't put put a foot wrong, the Italian right back made 5 important clearances and succeeded in all 3 tackles he attempted. He was good on the offense joining the attack whenever he could. 

But as a fan, I would take the 3 points all day. I just hope we improve as the season progresses.

Thanks for reading.