- In my last article for the game against West Ham, I had underlined how Mason Greenwood was getting into the groove with his performances and while he was unlucky to hit the woodwork twice in that match, Mason was showing good touches and I asked whether he could be our winning card in the last part of the season. Today, he delivered. In a first half where United disappointed somewhat, he was one of the few players in red who still showed enterprise and his movement was good, not to mention that he was unlucky again to hit the post with a crisp volley. In the second half with a goal down, United were more aggressive and after Rashford levelled the match, I was hoping that Ole would pull out an off-colour Cavani to move Mason in the middle. It materialised and Mason managed to get to a miscued volley by Pogba to head the ball past Sanchez in Brighton’s goal. The way United play with two wide strikers, Mason made that role on the right-hand side of our front line his own lately. It suits him well, as he is able to cut inside on his left foot and hit it. On the flipside however, he often finds himself too far from the penalty area to get on crosses and I feel United are losing his potential to score goals regularly by not utilising him more central. I think with Cavani having issues and clearly not happy in England – also reported by the press in the last two weeks – Mason has to utilised more regularly as a central striker. Big decision for Ole.
- Special mention for Harry Maguire for his performance against Brighton. The United captain has been immense today. He never put a foot wrong and won so many tackles and clearances – including a last ditch tackle on Lallana in the first half that would have put us two down – apart from the fact that he surged forward with the ball in the Brighton half on numerous occasions. Despite the grumbles by some United fans, citing the £80 million price tag when he came to United, I think that Harry has become so important for United. He never shies away from tackles and his positional play is excellent. I still think that he would be even better if he had a quicker partner in the heart of the United defence but he has formed a reliable partnership also with Lindelof. Harry leads by example and if there is one area which I would like to see more from him is that he needs to be more of a goal threat for opposing teams and I expect him to pitch in with between five and ten goals every season.
- For the umpteenth time this season, United came back from a losing situation to get all three points in the second half. This characteristic shows that the team has the quality and the fighting spirit to overturn results and that is an important attribute, which has positioned us as the best team from the rest, when you isolate City. Our noisy neighbours have been relentless in obtaining results week in week out and we just could not live with them over the whole season. On our day, United can beat City and we have showed that again this season. The difference between placing second and winning the Premiership next season could easily be on whether United are able to impose their superiority in matches from the first minute and killing teams off just like City did this season, and having to come back from losing positions time and again. A bit more arrogance and personality will help and possibly another dominant defender with Harry. Ole just has to look at City and the difference Ruben Dias made for them this season. The summer window is going to be critical. Hopefully it is fun also.
Looking forward to receiving your thoughts on the Facebook page. GGMU!
Article contributed by Contributor Roderick. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.