Martial starts repaying transfer fee
Anthony Martial has started repaying the faith shown in him by scoring on his debut for Manchester United against Liverpool.
|||The mood in the Manchester United dressing room was no longer flat - the word that Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick had used to describe it to Louis van Gaal in the run-up to the nearest thing English football has to el clasico. The dark, wood-panelled walls would have reverberated to the easy talk and laughter that comes with decisive victory and a fabulous debut.
It was said of Van Gaal at Bayern Munich that it only mattered that nobody liked him when he stopped winning. There are several things that mark him out from his predecessor, David Moyes, and not least of it is the ability to win the big games - something Moyes never did.
Nevertheless, even in the final delirious few minutes when Anthony Martial's astonishing goal ensured Liverpool would not be rising from the canvas, nobody appeared to be singing “Louis van Gaal's red-and-white army”, the tune he belted out during a bizarre, confessional pre-match press conference.
The one he gave in the afterglow of his third straight victory over Liverpool was infinitely more relaxed, although he confirmed that Rooney, who missed this game, would not be travelling to PSV Eindhoven for the start of the Champions League.
Had Martial not skipped through Liverpool's defence to settle this game with a goal that had more than a hint of Thierry Henry about it, this might have mattered. If you wanted an indictment of Manchester United's transfer policy since the departure of David Gill as chief executive, the team sheet would be exhibit A. The vast flow of money in and out of Old Trafford had produced Marouane Fellaini as centre forward.
Faced with the sight of Fellaini's vast mop of hair lumbering towards them, rather than the crewcut ofRooney, Liverpool's defence might have been expected to control the game. Instead, still carrying the scars from their capitulation to West Ham, they were, to use some Harry Redknapp terminology, bang average.
Matteo Darmian, fed beautifully by Michael Carrick, muscled past Joe Gomez on the Liverpool left and his low cross found Fellaini, whose first two touches carried the weight of a lorry. Not for the first time in a stultifying first half, you wondered what Rooney might have done.
Better defences than Liverpool's will have to worry about Martial, who had come to Old Trafford via the same expensive formula that had given United Radamel Falcao - selling club: Monaco, agent: Jorge Mendes. He seems better value.
His manager pointed out that he had come on at a good time. Liverpool had to press forward to drag the game back and there would be space to exploit. “It shall give him a boost but you cannot expect consistency from him,” said Van Gaal. “You can expect it from Schweinsteiger or Michael Carrick but not from 19 or 20-year-olds.”
Van Gaal liked United's first goal best because it was something perfected on the training pitches at Carrington during sessions that have drawn criticism from his players.
The shot from the edge of the area that finished in the top corner of the net beneath the Stretford End was perfect. It came from a very cleverly taken free-kick, played across the 18-yard line to Daley Blind.
With the Netherlands, managed by his father Danny, making a dreadful hash of reaching the European Championship, this has not been a good couple of weeks for the Blind family. This would have raised their spirits. Defensively, Blind was superb, clearing off the line as Liverpool rallied and containing Christian Benteke. It was coincidence that it was Blind's half-clearance that Benteke met with a bicycle kick that produced one of the most spectacular goals Old Trafford has seen since Rooney did something similar in the Manchester derby.
However, by then Liverpool were two down after Joe Gomez had tripped Ander Herrera who drove his penalty past Simon Mignolet as emphatically as Blind had.
It was only in the final 20 minutes when Benteke struck and David De Gea, on his long-anticipated return, was stretched as much as he had been when Liverpool lost here in December.
Van Gaal had refused to select him while Real Madrid were making their clumsy attempt to bring him back to Spain because his mind was not “properly focused”. His mind could have been anywhere for an opening 45 minutes in which Liverpool contrived to give the ball away at virtually every opportunity. Until a one-handed save from Danny Ings just short of the hour mark, he could have been selecting his 10 favourite Beatles tracks or wondering why nobody makes a decent musical these days. For the first hour, the football was the least of his concerns. – The Independent on Sunday