On a weekend whereby Manchester United gained ground on both Manchester City and Arsenal courtesy of their Sunday draws, our Red Devils fans in the Football Transfer Tavern are feeling a little happier about life.
Having had to put up with some lacklustre performances with no goals to show for their efforts of late, Saturday’s 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion was just what the doctor ordered.
Building on his impressive young reputation with every kick right now it seems, Jesse Lingard stole the show yet again on Saturday afternoon with the England Under-21 international expertly controlling the ball before dispatching with aplomb past the hapless Boaz Myhill to open the scoring for Louis van Gaal’s men.
Having been given a big chance against Everton a few weeks back, Lingard has been in the team ever since and is repaying the faith placed in him by the manager right now.
If he keeps on his good run of form, perhaps Lingard could be a wildcard choice for England boss Roy Hodgson to take to Euro 2016 next summer but one of our wiser Red Devils punters claims it’s still rather early to be talking about senior international call-ups just yet.
With United four points clear of fifth-placed West Ham United at the moment, you feel the Red Devils will need an extra boost in the January transfer window and one man who has sensationally been linked with an Old Trafford move today is Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
With The Telegraph claiming United are to open talks with the maverick Swedish legend, if a move was to take place at all, it probably would next summer as opposed to in January due to the player then being out of contract at the Parc Des Princes but you never know.
With that in mind, we’ve devised what we believe to be the best United eleven with Zlatan metaphorically included for good measure.
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Click on the image below to reveal the best Manchester Utd XI under Louis van Gaal including Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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David De Gea
One of the best goalkeepers in the business alongside the likes of Manuel Neuer and Petr Cech, it might’ve proved a different scenario altogether for David De Gea this season.
Seeing a deadline day switch to Real Madrid fall through, the Spaniard went onto sign a new deal at Old Trafford and in fairness to the player’s professionalism, he’s picked up from where he left off last season.
Having claimed United’s Player of the Year crown for two seasons running now, this tells you all you need to know about the former Atletico Madrid man’s status at the club.
Matteo Darmian
Rotated with Antonio Valencia on occasions this term, Matteo Darmian has for the large part managed to nail down the right back berth as his own.
A standout player for Italy in their World Cup group stage victory over England last summer, we haven’t seen the same explosive pace from Darmian as we saw back then but on the whole, he is going about his new life at Old Trafford quite well.
Chris Smalling
A lot of credit must go to Manchester United’s Chris Smalling this term with the player looking a far cry from the one who got himself sent off at Manchester City last term while producing a series of bad errors in United’s backline.
Having gained extra strength it seems, Smalling is an incredible physical presence nowadays and is rarely beaten off the ball.
Still having a long way to go to emulate the heroics of the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, at least Smalling is now on a solid path to matching the performances of those defensive legends with the former Fulham man maturing at the right time.
Daley Blind
Having featured in many of United’s games so far this season, Daley Blind has played the majority of these fixtures in the Red Devils’ defence with Louis van Gaal failing to bring in either Nicolas Otamendi or Sergio Ramos in the summer.
With Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo initially injured too, Blind stepped up to the plate and hasn’t done such a bad job in the Red Devils’ backline.
Having played as more of a defensive midfielder last season, the sheer fact that Blind has reverted to left back and centre back with minimum fuss and relatively combative performances deserves some credit.
Luke Shaw
Marcos Rojo has stepped back into the United team in Luke Shaw’s absence through injury and although he is an established international with Argentina, most United fans wanted to see their young England international continue his good early season form.
This of course won’t be the case now with Hector Moreno’s challenge causing the former Southampton man a lengthy absence but one thing’s for sure; when Shaw is back fit, he’ll be in Louis van Gaal’s starting eleven.
Of course, the likes of Ryan Bertrand, Kieran Gibbs, Leighton Baines and Danny Rose will now be in with a chance of grabbing Shaw’s England berth for Euro 2016 but our United fans are in no doubt that Shaw is the best of that bunch when fit and firing.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Starting alongside Michael Carrick against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon, it was Morgan Schneiderlin who missed out this time.
Representing United’s squad depth in the central area, Louis van Gaal can now select from a plethora of experienced options in what is undoubtedly one of the strongest midfield pools in the entire league.
In his time at United so far, we’ve seen Bastian Schweinsteiger bring a calm influence to the Red Devils’ midfield so far this season and it must be said that the former Bayern Munich man never looks rushed in the engine room.
One of those players who can control the pace of a game while being good enough on the ball to buy himself time, Schweinsteiger has quietly gone about his task well at Old Trafford on the whole.
Morgan Schneiderlin
Dropped at the weekend but not for an alarming dip in form, Morgan Schneiderlin is just getting used to the fact that he isn’t as indispensible as he was in his time at Southampton.
In truth, this was always going to be the way with Michael Carrick still good enough to play at the highest level as well as Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini representing experienced options.
Having only registered against Everton so far, Schneiderlin would love to be getting more opportunities to strike but in fairness, most United fans are content with the French international completing the good shielding job he does while being able to thread through balls to the attacking departments.
Juan Mata
While Jesse Lingard has been a positive influence on this United team in recent weeks, he’ll still get plenty of opportunities over the years to come and in the here and now, we still think the class of Juan Mata beats the England Under-21 man outright.
Scoring a last minute penalty against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, the Spanish international is a relatively trusty player from the spot but he brings far more than spot kick consistency alone with the former Chelsea man having surprisingly impressed on the wing so far this term.
In his time at Chelsea, a lot was made of Juan Mata’s talents being wasted on the flanks as opposed to his favoured number 10 berth but in fairness to the player, he’s made it work out wide this season.
Wayne Rooney
Still struggling to find the net on a regular basis but scoring a hugely important goal in the Champions League against CSKA Moscow last week, Wayne Rooney is receiving mixed fortunes right now.
Continuing to run about while performing his captain’s duties, this still hasn’t been enough in recent weeks with the player looking jaded compared to his former self.
The player has of course turned 30 of late but you’d still expect more from Rooney who has been a veteran of so many Premier League goals in the past.
Because he’s a quality player, Rooney is likely to turn his form around but our resident Red Devils supporters are a little concerned at how long it is taking for their number 10 to get that consistent Midas touch back.
Anthony Martial
He may not have scored to the regularity of his haul right at the start of the season of late but every Red Devils supporter in the tavern agrees that Anthony Martial has been a great signing.
A huge £36 million purchase from Monaco in the summer, it could’ve gone awfully wrong for the now senior French international who could’ve been branded a big money flop but so far in his fledgling Old Trafford career, we’ve seen a player with a real verve to his game.
Still just 19-years-old of course, United will get the best years out of their new striker who boasts pace in abundance, a clinical nature in front of goal and a swagger akin to Thierry Henry when in full flow – well this is what the experts claim anyway!
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
And so, our United team is headed off by Zlatan Ibrahimovic – the man most recently linked with a high-profile transfer to Old Trafford, possibly next summer.
Now 34-years-old, Ibrahimovic’s personal form hasn’t dipped since turning 30 with the Swedish international still boasting the status of being one of the world’s greatest strikers despite reaching the twilight of his professional career.
With the egotistical forward having previously claimed he would relish clashes with Louis van Gaal if they worked together again, it would be fascinating to see how the pair would embrace each other at Old Trafford.
One things if for sure however; with the player having struck 35 league goals at Ajax, 23 at Juventus, 57 at Inter Milan, 16 at Barcelona, 42 at AC Milan and currently on 84 at Paris Saint-Germain, the striker would most definitely improve United’s goalscoring prowess tenfold!
