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Radamel Falcao shamed Manchester United as he put in a miserable display by missing a sitter during the Reds' easy 4-0 win over QPR.
Sorry. It's just hard, and weird, to watch United as uncritically as this without some sort of sense of doom going on. This was a good performance - albeit against a rotten side - but for the regular United-watcher who has some emotional investment in the team, it was a truly great day and a big step forward. Proper football! Midfielders who score! Pace on the wings! Likeable players! It was all there, and it was wonderful to watch.
So, the goals. The first was a touch fortunate as Angel di Maria - the clear man of the match - sent in a free-kick which evaded everybody and drifted into the net. The second was again a touch of brilliance from the Argentine as he skipped down the left before feeding Rooney, whose shot was blocked, but he played it back to the arriving Ander Herrera who smashed it into the bottom corner to put United 2-0 up.
Herrera then turned provider to get the assist for the third goal as some nice interplay led to Rooney getting the ball on the edge of the area and firing home. The fourth was, again, down to Di Maria as his scything pass from out wide found Mata in an ocean of space and he leathered it past Rob Green.
Falcao and Adnan Januzaj were then thrust into action, and both had decent chances but failed to convert, with United cruising to their easy 4-0 win.
Other highlights of the game included: a quite magnificent pass from Di Maria to give the disappointing Robin van Persie a chance which he fluffed. Daley Blind looking quite magnificent on the ball (but still some question marks about how he'll do off of it against a real team), Rafael returning to action with a great display, and Marcos Rojo looking decent at left-back. The Jonny Evans-Tyler Blackett axis of worry also kept a clean sheet, although they were not duly tested.
So, in all, a great many positives. Here's to the Champions elect.