NODING OFF TO A WIN IN AMSTERDAM

Manchester United treated us to one of those node-off games last night as they virtually booked a place in the last 16 of the Europa League with a 2-0 away win at Ajax.
Optimists will call it a professional performance but even the manager couldn't help but be critical of his players that turned in a performance that was more akin to the drab UEFA Champions League performances than to the brilliant possession football we've been treated to these past few weeks.

Perhaps the fact that nearly all our injured returning players started could explain the lack of spark in our play. Tom Cleverely, Phil Jones and Nani were welcome names to the starting line-up but its fair to say that they were in it only for the match fitness.

As far as good performances went, I thought De Gea did a great job in goal yet again and its fair too say that he'll grow into a world class keeper.
Javier Hernandez got a goal but you could tell that his build up play a tad short of what Welbeck was doing with Wayne.

The most outstanding bit of news however was the injury to Antonio Valencia. He's been in the form of his life lately and now injury has ruled him out for another four or five games. It means that Nani and Young will have to step up quite quickly to take on from where Valencia left off.
Him aside, we seem to have a clean bill of health going into a quick double of fixtures next week.

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