I think the most refreshing thing to see from Moyes was the strength of the starting team which was selected. For all his genius, in the past few seasons, Fergie could certainly be criticised over the quality of his team selection - and it often cost us. Everyone remembers the catastrophe of crashing out in the group stages before Christmas in 2011, but there was also the 1-0 home defeat to Besiktas in 2009 which broke our unbeaten home record in the competition which stretched back to 2005 - of course that result was much less important, but it still wasn't good. In stark contrast, Moyes played all his big guns from the start, including a centre back combination of Ferdinand and Vidic which I thought was a very surprising choice given that we play City away on Sunday. You can't imagine Ferguson would have played both of them and may even have opted for two out of Smalling, Jones and Evans instead. The result of playing such a strong team was an interesting and exciting group stage match, against good opposition, where United created chances, pressed the ball well as a team unit and had a cutting edge going forward too. Vitally, we also secured the three points comfortably, allowing Moyes to remove key players from the contest once the result was sealed - something which many of us lambasted Sir Alex for not doing, in his final seasons.
The standout performers from the night were Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini - starting his first match since his deadline day move from Everton. In Rooney's case, his performance was not unusual or new to the Old Trafford crowd; he was energetic, he passed the ball well, carried out his defensive duties, led the front-line well and vitally scored the opening goal, as well as the killer third. It was an all-round top notch performance from Rooney and suggested he may well be approaching his best form once more - which had deserted him over the course of last season. Amidst the background of his perceived unhappiness and his request for a summer move, it was great to see Rooney simply put in a performance in a United shirt. We can debate whether he deserves the support of the fans or not, however my main concern is that he performs and plays well on the pitch - he did just that. I fully believe that Rooney in this kind of form gives us the best player in the league and if he can keep it up and continue his excellent partnership with van Persie, we've got a great chance of winning the title again.
Valencia's performance took on slightly more significance I think and he was certainly my choice for man of the match. I'm a big fan of our Ecuadorian winger and I probably defended him at times last season when his performances slipped to the point where they were indefensible - he had a crap season last year, along with all of our other wingers. However, when he was playing at his best during our title chase of the 2011/12 season, I genuinely believed he was one of the best wingers in the league; he has very little trickery or diversity in his game and remains over-reliant on his right foot, but his sheer pace and power leaves defenders struggling to cope with his running. Against Leverkusen he repeatedly tore their left side to shreds, reached the by-line and picked out red shirts with his crosses - he really was excellent. His assist for van Persie's goal gave us the lead again and he even managed to cap off his performance with a killer, counter-attacking fourth goal. Early in the game, he took a good, positive first touch towards his marker, before knocking the ball round one side of the defender and sprinting around the opposite side to retrieve the ball - I sat up, alert in my seat. He followed that up by racing off into the space behind the full back and picking out Kagawa at the far post with a perfect cross, which almost led to a goal - "Was that really Valencia?! I haven't seen him do that stuff like that for months!" It really set the tone for his night; I truly hope he's back to his best now and we'll continue to see those kind of performances frequently once more.
Finally, our new Belgian midfield signing, Marouane Fellaini. Many believe we overpaid for him, especially considering the issues with the release clause and I had my doubts over whether he was good enough to truly make the improvements to our midfield that were required. However, he was excellent against Leverkusen - no doubt about it. I won't try and suggest that he's a better acquisition than Thiago Alcantara or Cesc Fabregas might have been, however it was great to finally see United have some kind of physical presence in the centre of the pitch, alongside Michael Carrick. Fellaini repeatedly won headers and returned United into possession of the ball with his tenacious work-rate and tackling ability - I was also really impressed with his ability to pressure and get close to players without conceding fouls, especially for such a big guy. He misplaced a few passes though and I don't think Carrick had a great game, possibly due to not being familiar with another deep midfielder playing alongside him, but the way the midfield was set up was excellent. The protection which Carrick and Fellaini offered gave Rooney, van Persie, Valencia and Kagawa the ability to express much more creativity and interchange positions with each other - it was far from the flowing football of 2007, however it will keep improving I'm sure.
Overall, it was a really good start for Moyes in Europe; we got the win which is the main thing, Rooney and van Persie both got goals and we actually had a functioning midfield as well as wingers who actually took part in the match, which is genuinely a welcome improvement. Onwards and upwards!
As always, I welcome comments, feedback and any tips or advice on how to improve this blog. You can find me on Twitter too, where my username is @JmRssll555.
