It's that weekend in the Premier League where all of the fixtures played on the first weekend are repeated. On that day, Manchester United hosted Swansea City and saw their first loss under Louis van Gaal in the new era of the club. The reverse fixture was now giving Swansea a chance to finally do the league double over United, but would first have to overcome a side that have only lost 1 match in 19.
In the opening minutes of the game, United were pressing Swansea high up when they had the ball in the hopes that they could stop them from playing their usual passing game. However, it still seemed to be Swansea who had the best luck at the beginning of the game. Marcos Rojo gives the ball away to Bafétimbi Gomis, but managed to get back in time to cover his mistake. The resulting corner was played well by Swansea with Gomis being found in the centre of the 6 yard box. He directed his header towards the far post, but could only see his shot cleared off the goal line by Ander Herrera.
United started to press forward slowly but surely after this. Angel Di Maria got his cross into the box and found Wayne Rooney who just managed to get the ball under control, but his shot bounced which took it straight over the crossbar. Swansea set pieces seemed to be the best chances in the match though. Another Swansea corner saw Gomis get his head onto the ball once again, but this time he couldn't keep the shot down and it sailed over the crossbar.
United's build up play was extremely patient during the game. They didn't rush into attacks, instead choosing to pass their way down field, especially using their left side with Luke Shaw and Di Maria. On 16 minutes, Di Maria's delivery from a free kick seemed to cause Fabianski a lot of problems. The ball eventually found its way out to Robin van Persie who was at the far end of the 6 yard box, but the angle was too tight and the ball went out for a throw in. Through a counter attack, Swansea found their first chance from open play. The United players didn't close down their opposition and the ball ended up at the feet of Wayne Routledge who turned and took the shot, but saw David de Gea collect it comfortably.
Van Persie didn't have a particularly good game, and found it difficult to get his shots on target, never mind find the back of the net. This was proved once again when he was played in by Di Maria and he sliced the shot with his right foot which caused the ball to curl away from the net. Not even a minute later, United were ahead. The build up play once again was very patient and Di Maria plays the ball to Herrera who curls his shot towards the goal. It takes a slight deflection of Ashley Williams, but could still have been heading in without it.
It didn't take long for Swansea to reply. Not even 2 minutes later, Ki Sung-yeung had found the back of the net for the hosts, leaving the United team wondering what went wrong, but that was simple. All of the Swansea players were allowed a lot of time and space with the ball allowing them to build up the attack. The ball came out to Jonjo Shelvey on the left wing and even with two United defenders around him, he was given the space to cross the ball into Ki in the centre of the box. This only left him with the job of directing the ball into the back of the net and past de Gea which he did with ease.
The first half contained a lot of sloppy passing and some scrappy play by both teams, as neither of them wanted the other to have time on the ball. This caused some of the moves to be played out slowly and there wasn't the smoothness to the passing which both teams are associated with. United were able to create more chances following the goal, with van Persie having most of them. Marouane Fellaini left the ball for him, but the shot that he tried to curl into the bottom hand corner went wide of the post. Another chance shortly after saw van Persie get away with a hand ball shout and then he directed his shot just wide of the left post.
All of the players were certainly putting in a good shift for both teams. Wayne Rooney was showing his worth as United captain by keeping the ball, dropping back into midfield when his team needed him and playing his part in the build up to the attacks. This doubles with the performance of both Shaw and Di Maria down the left hand side who had looked extremely dangerous all game. For Swansea, Shelvey was definitely putting in some work when it came to defending and shutting down the United attacks. On the opposite end of the pitch, Gomis had held up the ball well for Swansea which allowed his team mates to join the attack and make them more dangerous. Overall, the first half made it difficult to decide between the two sides.
The second half was all United. They were still playing a patient passing game to try and break down their opponents, but they were camped out in the Swansea half and not allowing them to move down field. On the hour mark, Rooney brings the ball under control in the box but gets dispossessed. Swansea couldn't retain the ball though and saw van Persie curl his shot into the side netting. Within a 10 minute spell, United saw a lot of chances go to waste; Rojo got the chance to put United ahead through a corner, but his header went over the crossbar and van Persie got his first effort on target, but the shot was weak and Lucasz Fabianski easily collected the ball.
Then, on 73 minutes, completely against the run of play, Swansea get the lead that United had so desperately chased since the beginning of the second half. It was their first attack since the very beginning of the second half and Shelvey is left with acres of space to run with the ball and get his shot away. The shot is powerful and de Gea looked to be in a good position to possibly save the attempt but Gomis got his head to the ball as it soared over him which took the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net.
This left United pushing for the last 15 minutes of the game for the equaliser that they needed. No matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't find a way past the resilient Swansea defence or even get near the goal at some points. Swansea did have more chances to put the game out of sight but their attack always broke down as the United defenders were determined to get the ball back up field to their forwards.
They couldn't do it though, meaning that Swansea had finally done the league double over Manchester United and it also left Louis van Gaal without a win over Garry Monk's side. End score: 2-1.
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