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MOTD: Manchester United 2-1 Stoke City

By on December 2, 2014

When Manchester United beat Stoke City 2-0 in 2012/2013, Stoke wanted change. The Potters would go on to a thirteenth-place league finish, and Tony Pulis find himself sacked. Stoke wanted tactical revolution. When Stoke beat Manchester United late last season, United wanted the change. They would go on to record their worst ever Premier League finish, as David Moyes was clearly not working as a successor to Sir Alex Ferguson. Today, both Stoke and United got their tactical changes.

Stoke, until the very end, did not play the long ball. Mark Hughes’ side kept the ball well, bar a few early dangerous giveaways in their own third, for which they were lucky not to get punished for. But at least they were trying to play out of the back, and have not been involved in a scoreless draw in forty-two matches.

United, meanwhile, were also calm in possession. Their midfield was very fluid and Louis Van Gaal made the appropriate tactical change after United’s first goal in putting Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini in slightly wider positions in response to Stoke attempting to crowd the middle. In every position, however, their midfield was fluid and furthermore, provided options for their center-backs when playing out of the back. Fellaini and
Mata, two of United’s biggest under performers last season, also seem to finally be finding their form. Even without Wayne Rooney or a fully fit Falcao, United hardly looked the weak team they were just a few weeks ago, now on their fourth consecutive win for the first time in 2014. And, though Stoke gave them a run for their money, they are slowly rebuilding their stock; tonight marked the eighty-second match without loss when they scored first, bar a single exception in their freak 5-3 loss to Leicester City earlier this season.

Results are the one thing Stoke now need, though. They have just four wins in their last twenty-two away matches, and really should have nabbed an important draw at the death tonight. It was Mame Biram Diouf who missed both their chances, first heading a far post free-kick straight at David De Gea, who still needed to perform acrobatics to keep the ball out, before seeing his poked effort somehow kept out of the net by Ashley Young on the goal-line after he saw De Gea’s kick save from Marko Arnautovic’s shot rebound in front of him just yards out from goal.

Yet backtrack we must. Diouf actually had little service over the ninety minutes otherwise, and De Gea little work. United largely dominated the opening stages and sixteen minutes in Ander Herrera had a gold edged opportunity to make their possession count. Robin Van Persie cut out Asmir Begovic’s attempt to play out of the back, but instead of shooting cut it back to Herrera on the top of the box, where with all the space in the world the Spaniard skied his curling effort. Luckily for him, he wouldn’t rue his miss for long. Just five minutes later Mata and Herrera linked up down the left, and the latter whipped in a far post cross, which Fellaini came barreling down on. And if you didn’t know, when Fellaini comes barreling down on a cross, he won’t be stopped. United took the lead.

Stoke slowly came out of their shell, but still didn’t look very dangerous in the final third. However, with a by of luck the ball fell to Steven N’Zonzi twenty yards out, and from there it was pure skill which saw the midfielder drive and unstoppable effort right into the back of the net.

Stoke’s goal failed to deter United, and on either side of the half they pressure for another to restore their lead. Fellaini drew a wonderful stop out of Begovic to stop his far post poked shot forty-one minutes in, and James Wilson came inches wide after beating two Stoke players early in the second period. Wilson himself impressed on his second start in United’s senior team, with his work rate and quality. Van Persie also played well, finding spaces and beginning to look like he is regaining form, coming close with a deflected flick, but Wilson might even have outplayed his parter up front.

Neither could match the striking form of Mata and Fellaini; the latter arrowed a twenty-yard effort just high and wide while the former had given United the lead with a crossed free-kick squeezing its way past everybody and into the far corner of the net moments earlier. Nonetheless, it cannot take away from Stoke’s performance, which kept the game agonizingly close until the final whistle – however possibly both sides can draw many more positives than negatives from the match.
Man of the Match: Juan Mata

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.