Ranking Manchester United's Top 10 Goals of 2014
2014 was an unusual year for Manchester United fans, but in among the changes in playing staff and having three different managers, there have been some superb goals.
Ranked out of a combination of aesthetic preference, technique and importance, the earliest on the list came in January and the latest in December.
Unlucky to miss out on the top 10 are:
- Wayne Rooney's superb counter-attacking goal against Arsenal, featuring lovely passes from Marouane Fellaini and Angel Di Maria.
- Ander Herrera's goal against Queens Park Rangers, which featured a darting run from Di Maria and some good support play from Rooney.
- Robin van Persie's goal against West Ham United this season—a Herrera tackle led to a lovely run and finish from RvP.
- Rooney vs. Norwich, which saw Rooney somehow curl a shot past the 'keeper while falling over, had a chance of being the only goal on the list scored during Ryan Giggs' brief managerial tenure.
Also worth of a mention are some of the superb goals scored on United's summer tour of the USA, which are absent because they came in non-competitive games. A fine list featuring gifs of those goals can be found here.
Ashey Young vs. Cardiff City: Youngy's Special Move
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Ashley Young has scored this goal before, and he will score it again—but for the outstretched fingertips of Hugo Lloris he would have scored it again against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Cutting inside and curling the ball to the opposite top corner of the goal is Young's "special move." I have said before that if he was a character in a fighting game, it would be what happens when the player entered quarter-circle forward and pressed hard kick on the control pad.
This was a fine example and deserves a spot on the list, coming in a year that started well for Young and has finished well too, given his recent run of good form.
Robin van Persie vs. Liverpool: Juan Mata's No-Look Pass
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The third of three as United routed Liverpool, gaining sweet revenge for the reverse scoreline earlier in the year, Robin van Persie's finish was fine, but the goal was made by Juan Mata's stunning no-look pass to find the Dutchman.
Brad Jones in the Liverpool goal bought Mata's attempt to give him the eyes hook, line and sinker, and Van Persie was left with an easy task thanks to Mata's lovely work. A special moment in a special game.
Marouane Fellaini vs. West Bromwich Albion: Unexpected Impact
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I begin this slide with a confession: at half time during the featured game, sat among the home fans at the Hawthorns, I turned to the person I was with and said: "If Fellaini is the answer, I don't want to know the question."
Immediately forced to eat my words, Fellaini's arrival sparked United to life, and his impact was soon written onto the scoresheet.
Featuring superb chest control—of course—Fellaini brought the ball down, flicked it out to give himself some space and rifled the ball past the 'keeper, triggering a run of decent form from the much-maligned Belgian. A brilliant moment and brilliant goal.
Juan Mata vs. Newcastle: A Perfect Free-Kick
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While David Moyes may have used Mata's fine free-kick as an excuse to offer yet more praise to Rooney, per ManUtd.com, Mata deserves the credit for a beautiful curling example of the set-piece taker's art.
A simple, effective and beautiful-to-watch way to beat a goalkeeper, there is little more pleasing in a football match than a well-taken direct free-kick, and this was a particularly good one.
However, given David de Gea saved a similar free-kick when Mata was playing against him for Chelsea, it is easy to imagine the Spanish stopper suggesting to his friend after the game that he would have kept it out.
Robin van Persie vs. Hull City: 'I Needed That Goal'
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Robin van Persie said after the game against Hull City that he "needed" this particular goal, per the Manchester Evening News. It was the first goal in a run of five goals in seven games, and it was a goal worthy of starting such a run.
Making himself less than half a yard of space with a deft flick of his foot, Van Persie let loose a thunderbolt of a shot past the Hull 'keeper. Moments earlier, the goalkeeper and an offside flag had combined to deny him a repeat of his stunning World Cup header, and the Stretford End had erupted into a chant of his name.
The photograph above shows him acknowledging the crowd's support. The feeling was very much mutual.
Danny Welbeck vs West Bromwich Albion: What Might Have Been
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One of the problems at United during Moyes' tenure was that the football was...well, the football was not very good.
There were exceptions to that, though, and this fine Danny Welbeck goal against West Bromwich Albion was one of them. Van Persie had been having a poor game and looked very static. Welbeck changed that, and once Shinji Kagawa arrived on the pitch, United really clicked, scoring this excellent team goal, with some fine interplay giving Welbeck a chance, which he took with aplomb.
None of Kagawa, Welbeck or Moyes remain at the club, but this was a fine moment for all three.
Adnan Januzaj vs. Newcastle United: The Promise of a Brighter Future
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Speaking of good moments under Moyes, the 4-0 victory at St James' Park saw the triumvirate of Mata, Kagawa and Adnan Januzaj at their best.
All the goals in this game were good (indeed, two feature on this list), but the best of them was this lovely goal from Januzaj, brought about by Mata's fantastic thinking and subtle feet, as he backheeled the ball into the path of the youngster in Newcastle United's box.
This game made it seem possible that United might find a way to be good again. For that and the sheer class on show, it deserves its place here.
Angel Di Maria vs. Leicester City: A New Dawn
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In the end, of course, United's attempts to become good again took a very different form, and with the arrival of Angel Di Maria, much excitement built.
That excitement peaked with his incredible goal against Leicester City. The top three on this list could all be in with a shout of first place, and this is unlucky to miss out, given the technique on show.
A slightly under-hit through ball from Rooney meant Di Maria had to fractionally adjust his stride, and despite that, he still managed to scoop the ball over the Leicester 'keeper with power and precision. In that moment, it felt like United were on their way to something quite remarkable this season.
What happened immediately afterward meant that feeling quickly dissipated, but the goal itself was a moment of magic, more of which will surely come in 2015.
Wayne Rooney vs. West Ham United: Simply Magnificent
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And speaking of moments of magic.
This goal misses out on the top spot only by virtue of the sheer drama of the winner, but it edges out Di Maria's effort against Leicester because of the incredible distance from which it was hit.
Standing just inside West Ham United's half, Rooney, seeing the 'keeper off his line, let rip at the bouncing ball, which bounced again, once, on its way into the back of the net.
Steve Bruce's brilliant reaction, seen during a press conference he was giving at the time, captured the spirit of the response to the goal.
"Oh, what a goal by the way, you've got to see that. Oh wow, wow, wow, wow. You're never gonna see anything like it again."
Knowing Rooney, we probably will.
Patrice Evra vs. Bayern Munich: 22 Seconds of Joy
10 of 10
After a backs-to-the-wall draw at Old Trafford, United took an unlikely lead in this Champions League quarter-final tie with Bayern Munich through Patrice Evra's wonder strike.
It's at number one because it was a brilliant goal, sure, but mostly because it was a truly incredible moment. Evra's love and respect for United was clear in his celebration. After the fact, speaking to MUTV (h/t ManUtd.com), Evra said of his goal:
"It was an emotional day, the day before the game. Everyone had been to the Munich memorial, where the plane had crashed with the Busby Babes. It was amazing. I was talking with a young player like Adnan Januzaj and telling him, 'These people were like us, they were on a plane going to play a football game.' And at the end they never see their families again.
I always pray before games, I pray every day—to save my family, I even sometimes pray for my enemy. But I asked, 'Can I give something for the Busby Babes'. I didn't say a goal, but just to make sure we played for them in that game. That's why when I scored that goal, you can see I was really emotional, I was angry. I couldn't believe it.
That's my little secret—and now everyone knows that secret. In the end we went out of the competition and that is why I was really disappointed, but it was a special moment for me.
"
Evra's heart-warming story tells us much about his relationship with the club. This goal probably would not have topped this list if someone else had scored it. But in his last season with the club, with a goal scored in honour of the Busby Babes, Patrice Evra deserves his place atop this list.
It might not have been the "best" goal of 2014 from a pure footballing perspective, but it was the best goal of 2014 from a Manchester United perspective. Here's to a 2015 with even more to choose from.
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