From My Seat: Man Utd (H)

Just to echo what you wrote: I watched the highlights on the OS, and Rooney didn't seem to me to be giving his all when the chances were presented to him. Still a Blue, then.

Or perhaps the mighty Singaporean bookies bought him off on this one. (Full disclosure: I am Singaporean, but not a bookie.)

When the team was announced I thought it was on the negative side. However, we did play some nice stuff most if not all of which went through the big man.

The last twenty minutes would have to be a worry, surely the best way to defend a lead is by keeping the ball not just dropping off. Still a good start to a long season.

Also envious cos as a long term exiled Scouser living in SE Asia I haven't attended many games over the last few years but remember fondly those barmy early season evenings and the 'crack'. Great performance from the boys.

Laughing at the variety of Fellaini superlatives on the net today, I'm a huge fan. Where's £32m come from, not surprised but who ? I imagine the line of suitors must be like the queue of co-stars at Annabelle Chong II.

Great report (as always), didn't see the Heitinga nonsense on the broadcast this end... Pity, great player sadly who seems to be a bit too highly strung for his own good. I hope it gets sorted without further fuss.

Best game I've been to in a long, long time

But Moyes will always be true to himself and insist any new player have a bedding in period on the bench first. I wonder if that forms part of his discussions "So Kevin for the first season you'll get a couple run ons because well Osman was here first"

I'm more than happy to be proved wrong, I thought we dominated them.

I watched the game at lunchtime in the US, and I'm still awake at midnight... adrenaline still pumping. I too was nonplussed by the lineup, and I too was dazzled by what turned out to be Moyes' genius. His most controversial choices -- Jags and Distin instead of Heitinga, Pip in the middle with Hibbert at RB, and most of all Fellaini up front -- turned out brilliantly. It was Felli's best game ever.

Two quibbles... Moyes waited too long to sub Osman and Jelavic, who were struggling by minute 70, and Baines was poor for much of the game, passing inaccurately and getting caught up too often. Distin bailed him out on two memorable occasions.

And Ken, I wouldn't worry about the "injuries"... on ESPN, Distin and Jelavic (as well as Pienaar) seemed to be suffering only from cramp, which is not unusual in the first game of the season.

One more glass of rum and I might be able to sleep. But I doubt it. COYB!!!!!!!

If the 'new player' you're referring to was Naismith then he was on the bench for good reason. When players have serious injuries you ease them back into the game.

Anyway, Osman played well, what's with all the bitterness?

The Japanese lad had a beautiful game for United as did Scholes.

Happy days indeed.

oh.. and I have no bitterness..I chose Osman because he was on the wing, his least effective position.. but he did well. I admitted he made the right call.

And, I thought I would never say this - but thank god we have Hibbert on our side. 2 tackles that won us goal kicks towards the end really helped us run down the clock.

Pienaar was poor and wasted many openings and was responsible for giving away possession to ManU on many occassions. Baines was poor defensively, but he did deliver that beautiful free kick.

Neville had a superb game and so did Gibson defensively although his shooting left a lot to be desired.

All in all, a great result but these are early days. Moyes needs to build a squad of 17-18 solid players and success for us will depend heavily on how well he rotates the squad.

And, Ken, yes I do agree - Rooney looked strangely subdued. Whether it was because he was playing his boyhood club or some other reason, I don't know.

Agree, carrying too much bulk. Looked fat until Anderson came on.

90% of the season it's an armchair ride at ManU he can't go past people and saunters about waiting for one of the bagful of scoring opportunities they create.

In real games like last night he vanishes everytime.

Wouldn't be surprised if he's shipped out this year, I know utd fans are pissed off with him.

Fergie's post-match comments were laughable, as ever. We may have defended a little too deep after the goal, but we certainly weren't hoofing it all night.

Goodison under floodlights is something special.

Some posers:-

KITAP1?
4-5-1?
Neville midfielder?
Decision to pick Jags over Heitinga?
Ferguson belittling Everton with long ball jibes?

One more thing, Vidic proper bottled it by picking Jelavic as his man. Jesus Carrick must not have been impressed with that choice.

KITAP1? - It might of been 1-0 but this was a million miles from that. More shots, better quality of chances etc etc

4-5-1? as long as it's fluid it's a winning formation

Neville midfieler? - No, not even last night can dissuade me from the opinion that he belongs at RB or on the bench. Given Hibbo's performance last night, it's on the bench.

Decision to pick Jags over Heitinga? - odd at first glance, justified by the result. I dearly hope Jonny doesn't throw his toys because of it....

Ferguson belittling Everton with long ball jibes? - you KNOW you've got it right when Sir Alex resorts to blatant bollocks in his post match interview :)

Our bench by comparison cost less than Berbatov never mind Van Persie and the rest.

We have the smallest, cheapest squad with very limited cover for more than one position. UTD's manager (as usual) took defeat with very poor grace.

He was out managed tactically and was lucky to get away with just a goal defeat.
We hit the bar and post whilst De Gea was their best player and kept them in the game.

I'm so proud of the example that we set to Naismith and Marallas, I just hope that the new acquisitions live up to our expectations.

Im afraid that Sir Alex let down his team with his 'hoof ball' comments which were in total contrast to the praise that one of his former players Gary Neville heaped on us as a team and Fellaini in particular.

If Felli continues in the vein he showed last night, he will cause problems to every other teams defence in the premier this season.
Shame on you Fergie :(

I came in mid-way thru the 09-10 season, so almost all of you have seen more of us in the Moyes era. Maybe it's just prejudice, but in my time watching, Moyes appears to out-manage Ferguson pretty easily.

Since 2009/10 Season:

Ferguson - 1 x Prem title, 2 x Runners-Up, 1 x Champions League Runners-Up, 1 League Cup.

Moyes - 1 seasons participation in Europa League, never finished in top 6. No trophy finals.

Discuss.....

Comparative budgets for that comparative success? I think not.

Old whiskey nose’s comments about “hoof ball” tactics are way out of order, what a Joker! Next he’ll be saying Fatman & Robin are world-class strikers. Hmmmmm!

BUT….make no mistake this was a great result regardless of how the game turned out i.e retreating for the last 20 mins or more. There is a certain way to beat the top teams and going gung-ho at them is not it. It has to be a balance between caution and attacking intent. We went at them hard for 60 minutes and deservedly lead and after a combination of us retreating and united pushing it was backs against the wall. How else could we have expected this match to go and still get the same result, given the quality of the opposition?

I have most definitely come around to the idea of contenting myself that Hibbert is worthy of his place now. No doubt he can defend so if we maybe put something with real attacking quality in front of him Mirallas maybe then the right side has good balance.

The brother and I have been trying to work out - when was the last time a night at the Old Lady was as good as that? Some great European occasions in the last ten years for sure, but do we have to go back to the 80's for such a great team display?

No more can be said about Fellaini - perfect 10 will do it. And 10 more heroes - not grafters, skilled, intelligent footballers who can graft. And that includes Hibbo! His defending in the last 20 minutes was done with his brain as much as his body.

A mention for Gibson - an injury scare who was always there, covering, intercepting, winning and moving the ball about to keep them running all over the place. We could defend against them because, actually, they were as knackered as we were. And they were chasing the game, not us.

I'll bet Kevin Mirallas was watching thinking 'good decision Kev - but better get out and run round the block a few times tomorrow morning!'.

Its on the bbc site if you want to hunt down his exact words.

We have three of the best centre backs in the league. There's a possibility that the club might cash in on Heitinga because he's saleable. But that wouldn't be Moyes' footballing decision. Should Sylvain be injured, having Johnny play instead would be something many a top European club would have no trouble with whatsoever.

And apart from anything else, it looks very much like Baines has simply said no. 110% player for us last night.

I believe that SAF claimed that whoever it was last night was swayed by the home crowd. Don't know where to begin on that one - maybe Scholes' second yellow that was never produced will do.

But I will admit to one instance. When 4 minutes (why?) was looking like 6, I do believe we shamed him into blowing up. Somebody upstairs won't like that.

Moyes needs to shuffle them about as it would be disappointing for the club to get rid of Heitinga because he was pissed off with not getting any game time. He's too good to be regularly sat on our bench but then again we don't want Duffy as our only other CB (cannot see Jags and Distin both going the season without injury).

Its a tricky one for Moyes but that's one of the reasons hes paid 3.65m a year I guess Also we have loads of games so it should be easy (relatively) to shuffle them about.

There weren't many stoppages in either half but I think there was treatment for players in both and the substitions in the second so an extra 2 and 4 minutes respectively seemed reasonable to me. Always seems unfair if you are protecting a one goal lead.

Good shout Gary Creaney (#080) - it should not be heretical to propose different players and formations even after a magnificent win. A lot of people are now wanting squad additions just so we can play Fellaini in the advanced role every week without having the foggiest of how the team could perform with either Naismith or Mirallas there and Felli dropping back.

One game and we are apparently guaranteed of success / or doomed to failure based on where one player plays.

On another point touched on earlier, I see that Rooney still splits opinion. To pinch Ken's catchphrase, from my seat (Park End, Row B, corner flag) I thought that in the pre-game warm-up, Rooney looked fitter and leaner than I'd ever seen him. He also looked frighteningly sharp in this warm-up, in marked contrast to his Everton routine, when I recall he'd just muck about with Unsie the whole time, and smash shots twenty yards over the crossbar to his mates in the Street End !!

But loved seeing Gibson after the final whistle celebrating with the rest of the players in the center of the pitch and singing along with the fans to "If You Know Yer History". Once Everton gets in your blood..........

Ken great to read the report and I think you may well find it a challenge to write a happier one all season.

Were Jelly and Distan injured? I just took it they were playing down the clock, I didn't see anything after the whistle blew too many people jumping up and down infront of me.

Maybe Rooney is just in awe of us, I know if I played against Everton I would be!

If you watch lescott he is exactly the same as Jags and Distin.
He just makes short passes and lets the midfield at City do the long passing.
We do not have City's midfield so sometimes hoof ball is the last resort.

Jagielka and Distin give 100% in every game and until either are injured or lose form then they should be automatic choices.
Hibbert is playing his best football throughout last season since he joined us and defensively he is excellent.
Baines is more attack minded but gets up and down the field really well and was not exposed against Man Utd.
Im just glad that UTD did not play Valencia in his best position.
He is UTD's best winger by far but thats up to SAF ????

Inciderntly, what has happened to NIANG ?
I suppose BK will snap his purse closed now we won our first game and stick the remainder of the Rodwell money in his piggy bank until the fans get restless.

One swallow etc but I would say Moyes won people over with his tactics...you just have to see the pre match comments to see how his line up was questioned (to put it mildly).

If (and it's a fairly big if to be fair) this repeats over the next 10 games, you won't find a card carrying mob member anywhere on this site...