Sunderland victory sees United climb to the top of the pile for the first time in two years

770 Days. Manchester United are back on top of the Barclays Premier League table, after a gap of seven hundred and seventy days! Quite a long time for modern day United fans who had become so used to on-field success when a certain Sir Alex Ferguson was at the helm of the club’s affairs. Nevertheless, Louis van Gaal has managed to do what he has been promising since day one of his reign at Old Trafford, i.e., to bring back the glory days of Manchester United Football Club, albeit using his own patient and often frustrating style of play.

The match against Sunderland showed the influence of van Gaal’s tactics, and was justified on the players’ part by the commentator when he informed the viewers that any player who does not follow the van Gaal philosophy, gets benched, so that fear alone sets the ball rolling in van Gaal’s favour.

The first half, up till the 44^th minute, was, for lack of a better word, uninspiring when suddenly, Daley Blind showed amazing vision (what an irony!) and picked out Juan Mata at the far post, from just in front of the halfway line. The delightful ball flew over the defence’s collective heads, and Mata, being the good Samaritan that he is, cut it back for Memphis Depay to score his first League goal as United went into the break, leading by 1 goal to nil.

The United players emerged for the 2^nd half visibly motivated, none more so than Depay who was showcasing his pace brilliantly. Juan Mata was working his magic well and Anthony Martial was coming up with the ball everywhere! And just as they ended the first half, United scored began the second.  Right after the 2^nd half started, Martial’s trickery on the right wing bamboozled the defence as his pass found Rooney’s knee, resulting in the ball rolling inside the net past a hapless Costel Pantilimon. That was Wayne Rooney’s first goal in over 1000 minutes of Premier League football, the longest goal draught for the United captain.

The introduction of Bastian Schweinsteiger for Michael Carrick in the 68^th minute brought new life in the midfield. The German captain showed why he’s still a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the park. Later on, a knock to Daley Blind allowed Phil Jones to get some minutes under his belt as he came on in the 74^th minute. Memphis Depay was replaced by Ashley Young who lit up the match with his usual bold runs and cut ins. De Gea had to make a couple of routine stops with his feet to keep his clean sheet with Jeremain Lens being a positive attacking outlet for the Sunderland team.

Sunderland’s defensive strategy was dealt a final blow in the 90^th minute when Young smashed the ball across the goal, which was calmly controlled by Mata who then duly banged it in with elan.

Chris Smalling was rock solid at the back, with Valencia surprising everyone with his seemingly newfound ability to cross! Jokes aside, some clinical finishing from the Manchester side gave them a  well  deserved three points that also saw them secure the position as the current leaders of the Premier League, and now what remains to be seen is how long they can last there.