ANGEL DI MARIA made his Manchester United debut at Turf Moor this lunchtime and we went minute-by-minute. Email adrian@thescore.ie, tweet us @thescore_ie, find us on Facebook or leave a comment below.
Gather around friends, and look at the new guy.
Angel Di Maria makes his first start for Manchester United this afternoon with a very tricky looking trip to Lancashire rivals Burnley.
Louis van Gaal will know he’ll do well to not sign autographs after the final whistle if the Premier League heavyweights fail to atone for their defeat at MK Dons in midweek.
How do you see this one going?
Here’s the team that LVG can get his season back on track.
He’s sticking with the ol’ 3-5-2 then.
The players have emerged from the tunnel to a mixture of Arcade Fire’s Wake Up and the Turf Moor crowd’s loud roar. This is gonna be a real welcome for new signing Angel di Maria from Real Madrid.
This is not the Bernabeu.
Oh my days! Burnley are inches from going ahead!
David Jones — a former United youth star — lashes a free-kick off the crossbar after Phil Jones typically gives away a stupid free kick with a barge.
Moments later a shaky-looking Jonny Evans puts De Gea under massive pressure with an under-hit back pass while under zero pressure.
One United fan’s HD stream offer on Twitter made us chuckle:
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Di Maria’s been bright enough so far, showing some nice touches from deep. And he just showed exactly what he’ll bring to the party, playing in Robin van Persie with a lovely direct ball from the centre circle.
The Dutch striker took it on his chest and got a crisp shot away but the Burnley keeper Heaton got a strong hand to it.
Don’t take my word for it; here’s that Di Maria pass to RVP:
He’s been great so far.
‘You win nothing with kids.’ Michael Carrick’s in the stands with United’s fresh-faced new signing.
Interesting comment from one reader Sean Flanagan:
“I have a wee theory about to United’s poor start to the season so far, which I have yet to see written anywhere (I’m open to correction).
Players who have been at United for years appear to be lacking in confidence, particularly central midfielders and defenders. I reckon that boasting about having so much to spend on new players was bad enough, but the worst idea was identifying areas we need to strengthen and then not having them strengthened by the start of the season!
Everybody knows we need a proper central defensive midfielder like Keane was. Hence all the hype about Vidal. Everybody also knows the likes of Evans and Jones are prone to being rubbish so we need to strengthen there too, hence the hype about Blind, Rojo, and Shaw. Our wingers have been singled out as blunt instruments, hence the long running saga over DiMaria.
Such speculation must have an impact on the egos of the existing players. Imagine playing in any of these positions over these past few weeks, knowing that the club are actively trying to find a better player in your position! Your confidence would be shot, especially when you’re (by association) being partly blamed for the worst season United have had in ages!! Most of us agree that there is a lot of dead wood still at United, but I’m sure they know who they are too.
I reckon these kinds of big transfers should ideally be completed before the season starts and leave the time between gameweek 1 and Deadline Day to strengthen the squad!”
What do you reckon?
Manchester United have had 63% of the possession but Burnley have looked like the side most likely to score in the past few moments.
First, Valencia plays a loose pass down the right which is intercepted; Jutkiewicz dinks a clever ball into the box and Arfield — between two centre halves — heads just over.
Moments later, De Gea has his palms stung by a long range shot that looked dangerous. Half an hour now elapsed.
The newly-appointed England skipper looks a right mug here:
Ashley Young went down in the penalty box but the referee waves play on. The dive-prone United winger didn’t make a meal of the slight coming together and quickly picked himself up.
So what’s Dutch for hairdryer treatment?
We’ve had our half-time cuppa, the players are back out on the pitch and we’re under way.
That coat was a brave choice, Sir Bobby:
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As we approach the hour mark, Di Maria’s recorded his first shot on goal as a United player.
The Argentine arrives on the end of a Rooney pass to the edge of the D but his effort is deflected behind for a corner that comes to nothing. More importantly, Lovejoy is here:
“I’m not too sure what position he is going to play in. I don’t think he is strong enough for a left-back in England. And the only place we can seem to get him into the team in central midfield. He’s a very good footballer but is he the answer? We will wait and see.”
- Paul Scholes wasn’t impressed on BT earlier when talking about new signing Daley Blind.
Meanwhile, Danny Welbeck is on in place of Van Persie. Almost 75 minutes elapsed now.
What a chance for Wayne Rooney to at last break the deadlock. A corner arrives at the back post and the England captain completely mistimes his jump and nods tamely wide.
This isn’t great.
This is your five-minute warning. With 85 minutes elapsed, United are in possession and are going sideline to sideline in front of the Burnley back four without ever really threatening.
Juan Mata is off and Adnan Januzaj is on for United. Stephen Reid looks to be getting ready to come on too for the hosts.
Massive penalty shout. Ashley Young’s shot on goal travels a long way before striking Ashley Barnes’ stretched-out arm. That should probably have been a spotter right?
Former Ireland international Reid is now in fact on the pitch for his Burnley debut.
How’ya gettin’ on there, Fergie?
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone