Manchester United staged another master class performance on Boxing Day to defeat Newcastle 3 – 1, in a game that United could have won with a wider margin and that continued United’s fine home form this season.
It was a game with many positives for United, though the game also came with a few negatives. Redly United highlights five of those salient lessons.

1. Mata Mattered: Manchester United against Aston Villa had the problem of unlocking the well organised Villa defence, in a match where Mata and Rooney were not with their keys. But the game against Newcastle was in every ramification different. Mata was at his best, with two killer passes that lead to United’s first two goals, both were defence opening passes and his moves in the final third were laudable. Always looking to put in that final pass across to the strikers and he looked dangerous throughout the game. It was a Mata performance the United fans would wasn’t to see more often. His performance made the fans forget the absence of record signing Di Maria. The only downside of Mata’s performances this season is that, most of his best performances have been at Old Trafford. And with United’s next three games being away games, it’s an aspect of his game he should and can improve.

2. Falcao – Van Persie combination looking promising: When Falcao joined United, everybody knew that his combination with any of United’s top strikers in Rooney or Van Persie would be a treat to any team. Though the Colombian didn’t settle in early with injury and fitness problem, he is gradually overcoming that and proving his worth, in the last two matches, he’s started alongside van Persie and their combination is looking good. Against Newcastle, their movement on and off the ball was great and caused the Newcastle defence a lot of problems. All the three goals were results of their instinctive movement. The first and second goals in particular. With Rooney finding it comfortable in the attacking midfield role, the Falcao – RVP combination is one fans would want to see more.

3. Where’s Wayne Rooney’s Favourite position? We all know he is a striker and a great one at that. But for tactical reasons, even under Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne has played and excelled in the midfield severally, and on some occasions drawing comparison with Paul Scholes. With his long passes and match reading ability. Under LVG, he’s had to take up a role in the midfield for most of this season, and has performed beautifully well. But his performance against Newcastle is one that certainly brings up that lingering question again, Where’s Wayne Rooney’s Favourite position? He was at his all round best controlling the game, and still scored two goals. His movement each time into the Newcastle box was predatory, and his movement with Mata couldn’t have been better. Van Gaal has voiced out that he loves multi positional players, and you can bet that with his performance against Newcastle, Rooney would be one of LVG most priced assets.

4. Fletcher’s performance still raising doubts: he came on a replacement for Michael Carrick, who Van Gaal must have substituted because of United oncoming busy schedule. But his performance was still not convincing. In the game against Villa, he was not at his best, giving the ball away easily. And in the game against the magpies, he continued that below par performance, giving away the ball on a few number of occasions, one in particular in a dangerous position. With such performances, and the return of United injured midfielders, it’s most likely he’ll have to settle for a peripheral role in the team.

5. United dominating, but not killing off games: with scores at 3 – 0, everyone knew united had the game in their hand and might even go for the jugular, winning with a wider margin, thoughts of the 6 – 0 bashing of Newcastle some years ago came into the thoughts of many. But somehow the team took its feet of the pedal, reduced the momentum and then gave away a sloppy penalty. Against a better opponent, a dwindling performance like that could be of concern and costly, and with a lot of away games coming soon, the team better up their game.
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