Another win in London as we beat cup holder Chelsea to progress to the 6th round of the FA Cup. We’ll face Wolverhampton Wanderers away which will be played on 16 March 2019.
Paul Pogba was brilliant, while Chris Smalling, Nemanja Matic and Sergio Romero were special performers. But Ander Herrera was definitely man of the match!
Highlights below:
Bring on Liverpool next weekend!
The 4-0 Goal galore was opened by a superb strike from Antonio Valencia. It was his first of the last few months and it was mental! I would bet that very few, or even none, goalkeepers who can stop that kind of attack. After the goal, we play dull, predictable and unimpressive football. It’s obvious that we missed the creativity of Paul Pogba, who are sidelined for bad injury. However, for casual observers, it’s obvious that Jose Mourinho tend to replace the right players at the right time. And so far this season, it managed to change the output of the game.
It was a similar scenario against Everton last weekend. Jose replaces Marcus Rashford with Jesse Lingard, apparently to ensure that left back Ashley Young is well protected, as Jesse is relatively more resilient than Marcus in defending. The second crucial change was Ander Herrera who replaces Juan Mata. The game fairly did not develop to Reds’ liking until the Spanish midfielder entered the field and changes things. Last was the introduction of “super sub” Anthony Martial.
We beat league leaders Chelsea 2-0 at home. Masterful tactics by Jose “Judas” Mourinho to keep Conte’s key players STFU for the whole game.
#MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/O3sFWzGhKk
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 17, 2017
Ander Herrera is my man of the match. He kept Eden Hazard quite while assisting a goal for Marcus Rashford and create one for himself.
Drawing away from home isn’t exactly the achievement that any United supporter should be celebrating like it’s Christmas as our last 2 visits to Anfield were perfect wins. But a solid performance is a solid performance. Mourinho was playing into Klopp’s game and it worked well, nevermind poor ball positions at 35% (the figure which Mou denies), currently the lowest in the league, when we have 99% but we can’t even shoot and trouble opposition’s goalkeepers presented by the previous manager.
On our best performers; it’s important to note, should Ibrahimovic converted his chance, which he usually does, we would take home full points. It apparently just wasn’t his night. Meanwhile Herrera was a commanding boss at deep midfield with man of the match performance and his Spaniard fellow David De Gea also pulled incredible saves, taking away 2 points from the side who currently have the time of their life.
Like Mourinho said it best:
Mourinho to SkySports on Liverpool "They are a good team but they are not the last wonder of the world like… https://t.co/YbNF8eHbgI
— BeanymanSports (@BeanymanSports) October 17, 2016
We wouldn’t care if this happened 3 months ago. However, time has changed. Marouane Fellaini is definitely one of our stand out defensive performer so far.
I guess it’s a perfect time for Ander Herrera, Morgan Schneiderlin or Michael Carrick to show what they can do, step up and fight to fill the Belgian’s position.
The 27 year old Spaniard is usually fielded in an energetic midfield role constantly marching forward but he is sitting deeper in the last 2 winning games under new boss Mourinho as The Guardian correctly pointed out.
He also confirmed that he was in talk with the boss regarding his new role:
“I had to do a different role in the team and I think I can be important there for the manager. I have spoken with the manager and we are agreed with that, that I can be an important player for the team and that I can help the team in that position. I think I can win a lot of balls back for the team. My instinct is to try to win the ball back for the team as quickly as possible.”
Just a note to strengthen the case how good Mourinho is; the previous United manager can’t figure this out.
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