Getting a chance to watch this game firsthand following some string pulling from family friends was an exciting thing for myself to say the very least. It was an incredible chance to get a proper look at how our team operated on and off the ball. It was a rare opportunity that I made the very most of, soaking in everything I could and personally reviewing how each of our players looked before our 2nd Premier League campaign under Jose Mourinho kicks off in just over a week.

In the pre-match warmup, it was intriguing to watch as Jose didn’t even look at our team once, rather that he stood on the halfway line talking cheerfully with Sampdorias manager Marco Giampaolo as members of their backroom staff and players would often come up to him and give him a quick hug/handshake. I imagine an aspect of that was to watch some of their players, but it seemed like he was genuinely enjoying a heartfelt talk with Giampaolo. Was also quite funny and rather expected to see two of our substitutes Mata and Herrera spending the entire time together doing tricks, skilled passes, laughing and messing about, with Rashford and Jones keeping the ball in the air together for a good 5 minutes before Jones messed up which prompted Rashford to burst out laughing and Jones chasing him, all in good spirits though.

Kick-off then came, and I was…perplexed by the experiment that Jose had set out on our left flank, with Matteo Darmian seemingly taking up a wingers role for the first time (it worked better than I’d anticipated). All eyes however, were evidently on Nemanja Matic who to everyones surprise was actually starting the game in the middle, with Pogba to his left and Pereira to his right. I watched him like a hawk that entire half, and it was interesting to see how he’d been deployed by Jose, whereby if possession was in our half, he’d set right in front of Smalling in the back three and ultimately go from one side of the pitch to the other depending upon possession, but always safe-guarding any play coming through that middle channel and damn did it work. He sniffed out multiple passes through interceptions and would then calmly re-distribute the ball out wide or make a pass up the pitch to either Pogba or Pereira, and it was a joy to watch us having a genuine midfielder in that position who knew his role. Along with defending, I was also impressed how should our play have gradually moved into their half, he’d make his way to a position as almost an anchor of our attack sitting just past the halfway line and choking our any potential counter attacks, whilst also being aggressive when in possession and bursting forward trying to find the right pass, and I can safely say he didn’t put one foot wrong in that 45 minutes yesterday (bar booting that woman in the face with the ball, which the whole stadium laughed at and applauded him for apologizing.)

Elsewhere, Pogba played at an almost left wing position which I found off, as he was drifting futher up and out wide than I think I’d seen him do before, but it worked in some cases and Darmian was usually bombing it down past him for a layoff and cross. Pereira was a bit shaky at times, seemed like he was trying to impress more than doing the simple things, which I can’t really be mad at as he knows what a chance hes been given in this first team, but I hope he composes himself more in the future as he absolutely has the ability to be a starter for us for many years to come.

Mkhitaryan, looks a man possessed this pre-season tour so far. I hate getting myself over excited for players as most of the time it doesn’t work out, but he looked so fucking good yesterday. Everything he did was magic, every pass was perfect and whenever he was passed to he’d constantly be on the turn looking ahead and it was joyous to watch, and I’m hoping he can keep this form up going into this season and become the player we knew we were buying from Dortmund. For being the smallest player at 6’1 that Jose has bought, he sure ain’t half bad at headers, is he? After a tactical and pre-planned backpass from Blind knowing De Gea would be forced to save it, leading to an indirect free kick, we broke with speed and fluidity following its blocking, with Lukaku, Darmian, Pereira, Mkhitaryan and Valencia absolutely bombing up the pitch like a pack of sharks who’d smelled blood as soon as they realized the counter was on, and after (perhaps his first ever) an inch perfect cross from Darmian, Mkhi headed it in.

Defensively…I dont really know about Smalling and Blind, Smalling was a bit too hands on yesterday, it worked being that aggressive at times but I felt like he gave away a multitude of reckless fouls that would’ve been punished with cards in the league (along with a lot of our tackles come to think of it, Matic and Darmian come to mind for having absolutely fucking clattered two of their players). He’s fast, but he seems like a deer in the headlights who just takes a punt at it and hopes for the best most of the time and I’m mildly concerned if he’s a starter this year. Blind bar his tactical backpass was alright, but I just doing think he has the pace required to be a solid leftback in the league for attacking and defending (he got done in by their winger yesterday).

Lukaku, I actually felt for during his time on the pitch as we barely played through the middle and didn’t play to his strengths as much as we could have (balls put along the floor in behind defenders for him to latch onto before bullying his way into the box), he had one shot that just missed the post and I’d only have loved if it’d gone in, for his sake especially. Valencia I have no comment on, as usual he was a fucking tank with what seemed like an unlimited amount of stamina, hes arguably one of our best players and a key part of how we play. Lindelof is really showing how lucky we got with Bailly. He looks shaky at times, but I can see in how he plays exactly what he could become with hardwork as hes pretty good on the ball, just (like with Pereira) needs to calm down a bit at times and do the simple thing.

The second half was honestly quite forgettable (bar their goal) until the subs were made, the fans even prompted a Mexican wave that went around I’d say 5 times out of boredom, the game had gone stale until Martial came on for Darmian on the left wing, and Rashford took over up front for Lukaku. The pace they injected into our attacks, with our midfielders knowing that 9/10 if you put it behind Rashford would get there was brilliant to watch, and who will ever get bored of Martial running at a defender and turning them inside out? Mata looked good to be fair to him after an injury, along with Herrera being that work horse in the middle we love oh so much. A combination of a Martial darting run into the box and a composed pass and then finish from Mata made it 2-1 with 10 minutes to go (to my delight as I would’ve been quite unhappy having watched us draw live, albeit it was only a friendly).

Would also like to give major props to Maraoune Fellaini, who despite major backlash from fans both inside and outside our club, played brilliant yesterday and was great at feeding Martial down the left whilst bullying anyone who went near him, even put in a few tricks to the love of the crowd. I saw him doing sprints alone after the game had finished and almost everyone had gone down the tunnel, which to be honest sums up why every manager who he has played under loves him, he ain’t a lazy lad, and he always gives 100% which I’ll never fault him for (despite often being clumsy)

Overall, it was a fine showing from our lads, I obviously would’ve hoped for an 8-0 thrashing, but Sampdoria were a lot better defensively than I’d anticipated and I’ll give them props for that. It seems like we’re finally starting to click on the pitch as a team, and a proper evaluation of that will be had in 5 days when we play Madrid in the Super Cup, which I’ll be right here for again.

Thanks for reading, GGMU.