Leicester 2-2 Manchester United

Leicester 2-2 Man Utd (Vardy 27, Maguire 90+4) (Mata 40, 60)

United weren’t at their absolute best, and Leicester are a decent team under Claude Puel, yet when the final whistle went the United fans were crushed with disappointment and anger. Well, of course, a last minute equaliser is always gut-wrenching. But this was different, given that United had come from behind, had been playing since the 73^rd minute against 10 men, and spurned at least 4, maybe 5 cast-iron sitters. Childish and immature, as our manager called it afterwards.

8 changes were made from the loss at Bristol City, with only Pogba, Martial and Lindelof keeping their places. Mourinho selected the Swede at full-back over Darmian, who wasn’t even named in the squad in the absence of Valencia.

United started pretty well in the final game before Christmas, with Pogba on his league return from suspension looking sharp, and Martial seemed dangerous despite some rough tackling from Leicester. However, it was Jamie Vardy who opened the scoring with an astonishingly simple goal, borne out of careless (to put it kindly) defending. Ndidi hoofed it 60 yards, Mahrez chased it down before holding it to play in Vardy for a simple finish. Why Smalling didn’t put a foot in on Mahrez, and why Jones ran out to press thin air to leave us exposed are questions that will forever remained unanswered.

To their credit, the players stepped it up a gear and went on the attack, to be rewarded when Juan Mata put us level late in the half with a precise effort from Lingard’s lay off after Martial had found him in the area. It was only the Spaniard’s second goal of the season.

The second half was exhilarating as the Red Devils completely outplayed Leicester, cutting them open on the break frequently, and they were rewarded with a comprehensive 4-1 away triumph but due to demented finishing and decision making, 2 points were dropped.

It was criminal, really. All those chances, and playing against 10 for the closing stages, with Amartey getting two clear bookings only 16 minutes after coming on. The game should have been over, but United took wasteful to a new level and reminded the faithful of the umpteen home games like this last season. It all started with Martial blazing way over from 12 yards out after a top ball in from Lukaku. The Belgian threw his hands up in frustration, but soon he was celebrating.

Mata had definitely come to the party, putting our noses in front with a curling free-kick from the right of the D past Kasper Schmeichel, his first brace since… March 2015! Yep, the famous Juanfield game. His general underperformance for a £37m player notwithstanding, the quality set-piece had surely made the game simple enough for his teammates.

The still makes it look worse... but it's still a terrible miss

Instead United contrived to fuck up glorious chances. Lukaku was great all game at receiving on the turn and letting others run into the vacated space; one such move ended with Lingard facing an open net after taking the ball past the keeper. But, on the run, he incredibly hit the post, before duly hitting the rebound over as well. It was harder to miss.

After Amartey was sent off, Mourinho confusingly brought on Herrera for Lingard, perhaps as a reaction to Lingard’s dreadful miss. But why bring on a more defensive player when they’re at their most vulnerable, and why Herrera, who isn’t in good form anyway? Still, for all the posturing afterwards about this particular sub, it didn’t have much of an impact. It wasn’t Jose’s fault, this one; United still created more gilt-edged opportunities to put the game to bed with a story and a mug of hot chocolate.



Rashford, just before inexplicably trying to take it round the keeper

Rashford had already contributed to the red card, and he was played through again with only Schmeichel to beat. Instead of shooting, he tried to round the Dane, and ended up losing the ball. It was pathetic from the kid. From that position you have to open your body up and put it in the far corner, not try and act clever.

Still, Leicester weren’t looking that threatening. The MOTM Mata came off for Mkhitaryan, so at least his weird isolation appears to be at an end. Mind, the manager was going spare at yet another chance going begging as the Armenian tried to pass back to Lukaku rather than shoot from point-blank range. At this point, I was bricking it. Surely we would be punished for such muddled thinking in front of goal?

Smalling was involved in a heavy tackle, and it looked like we would have to see it out with 10, but then Rashford was sent clear again and United had almost a 3-on-1. It was the 92^nd minute, so he could’ve even chosen to run the ball into the corner and waste time. But instead he stopped, delayed, passed inside, and lost possession. It was fucking amateur hour, brain-dead from such a good player, one more chance to finish the game wasted. Why did he stop running? What the hell was going through his mind?


Look at the pitch. Then the clock. He stopped and passed inside. Despair.

Leicester pushed Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire up front and went route one for the dying seconds. Amid confusion with our shape, with United taking the ridiculous decision to send Smalling back on at centre-back, Albrighton sent in a deep cross and Maguire volleyed in at the back post, leading to rapturous scenes all over the King Power. It was the last kick of the game.

The post-mortem wasn’t pretty as it was suggested Herrera had ignored Jones’s instruction to fill in at right-back so Lindelof could move into the centre. But that was splitting hairs, tt was at the other end where the fault lied. Romelu Lukaku had been robbed of 3 assists, from Martial, Lingard, and Mkhitaryan. Those three but in particular Rashford should hang their heads in shame at throwing away two points. Lukaku was creating 1 on 1’s at will, they all fluffed their lines, and we were rightly punished by a Leicester team that, to be fair, deserve considerable praise for never giving up despite going down to 10 men. Even though the dirty bastards didn’t deserve anything from the game, obviously. I’m not bitter, what gave you that idea?

The only crumb of comfort from this is with City’s lead being 13 points, the title race is over in the self-styled most competitive league in the world before Christmas. I’m sure Sky’s shareholders are delighted at their flagship product being all but wrapped up before the Champions League even starts again. Fuck them, and fuck their pathetic hype for games that meander into nothingness. It’s the little things, I suppose. Merry Christmas.

United (4-2-3-1) De Gea 7; Lindelof 6, Smalling 5.5, Jones 6.5, Young 7; Pogba 7, Matic 6; Mata 8.5 (Mkhitaryan 83, 5), Lingard 5.5 (Herrera 76, 5), Martial 6 (Rashford 71, 4); Lukaku 8.

Manchester Utd 1-0 Brighton

Manchester United 1-0 Brighton (Dunk og. 66)

A narrow win courtesy of a deflected shot seemed fitting for the sort of match this was, a drab, low-skilled affair. It was poor, with Mourinho’s admirable 4-4-2 team selection not resulting in free flowing attacking football. Still, Man United are now unbeaten at Old Trafford in 39 league and cup games. An impressive statistic, with our last home defeat coming against Manchester City in September 2016. Our next league visitors? City.

Instead of the dull football, the crowd was worthy of comment, with ‘It’s Carrick, y’know’ getting a hearty airing after the club captain made his heart issues public on Friday. After a smattering of it during Basel away, ‘Five Cantonas’ was also sung with gusto. It’s not even December yet, lads. The fans were much louder than usual today, probably helped by the passionate Brighton contingent relishing their trip to Manchester, because no ground confirms you’re at the big time more than Old Trafford.

They had a decent side to cheer on, mind. Chris Hughton has the newly-promoted southerners playing some good stuff in the relative safety of mid-table, and his team played some interesting stuff. In the early stages of the game Dutch international Davy Propper and his partner in crime Gross were at the heart of Brighton’s positive outlook. Both were comfortable driving forward with the ball and launch counters with balls towards the experienced Glenn Murray. Murray was a decent lone foil for Brighton, holding the ball up well. They were tough throughout and good in the air.
The main penetration came from the pacey Anthony Knockaert down the right hand side, but he was up against Ashley Young who tracked him back stride for stride and never showed him inside. Never was the Frenchman and lower league legend allowed to shoot from distance, with Smalling often out quick to close down the space.

At the other end United were ponderous and safe, I mean, four shots on target in the entire game tells its own story. In the first half, Pogba was spraying the ball around, always at the centre of things, looking in good touch, but he was almost getting too much of the ball with the players constantly passing to him when he was tightly marked or there were teammates better placed. One of the tiny problems with having such a dominant personality and player as Pogba is occasionally the players look for him to work his magic too often, to rely on him, even subconsciously. To be fair to the players, ‘give it to Pogba’ is as good a tactic I can think of for this United squad.

Mourinho lined up in a pretty flat 4-4-2 with Rashford twinned with Lukaku, presumably because he thought we could overwhelm Brighton, but credit must go to Propper and Gross who prevented United taking control of the midfield. They were helped by Matic though, who had a bit of a stinker, with heavy touches and lax passes galore, although the Serb duly showed his value to the side in the last 10 minutes with some smart defending.

We were the better team, but not creating many chances, because the front four just didn’t get much of the ball. Instead it was our converted wingers who provided the thrust and the width; It was Young who was taking players on and showing some flair, it was Valencia who was always available on the overlap. United were better when they switched to a 4-2-3-1 on the stroke of half-time, and almost straight away, new right-winger Rashford put a cross onto Lukaku’s head from two yards only to see it well saved by the Aussie keeper Matthew Ryan.

15 minutes of the second half passed with the only incident worth mentioning being Knockaert coming out second best in a challenge with Lindelof, staying down for ages, United not kicking the ball out, and then not giving the ball back when they do. Unreal mentality, and it got the crowd going again too. He got up and ran around soon after though, the prick.

On came Zlatan for the ineffectual Mata. I was saying Matic needed to be taken off as well, when the goal came, with Young buying space with some neat footwork before seeing his shot ricochet off Dunk and loop into the net. Oddly, we didn’t use that momentum to go for a second, and that, apart from a Zlatan shot after a brilliant one-two with Pogba, was rather that for our forward line.

Instead they scrapped around, fighting for the team. Lukaku was working brilliantly hard for the shirt, closing down players and chasing full backs down the wing. Go on lad. Lots of fouls from both teams - including a naughty late one by Duffy on Ibrahimovic – contributed to the low quality, and so Fellaini was sent on to stiffen up the midfield to try and check the Brighton moves.

It worked, and a rather crap game ended 1-0. I wouldn’t have minded missing that one, really. Still, it’s all about the three points, last year that probably would’ve ended in a draw, and with Spurs drawing at home to newly de-Pulised West Brom and Chelsea and Liverpool sharing the spoils in the evening game, United ended the day happily.

United (4-4-2) De Gea 6.5; Valencia 7.5, Lindelof 7.5, Smalling 7.5, Young 8; Mata 5 (Ibrahimovic 62, 6), Pogba 7.5, Matic 5.5, Martial 6.5 (Mkhitaryan 71, 5.5); Rashford 7 (Fellaini 80, 6), Lukaku 7.

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (Morata 55)

 

I say it every year, but an away match at Chelsea is a special kind of sporting torture. More often than not it involves scoring few goals and conceding many, and get this, you have to pay one of the richest men in the world thirty odd quid to watch it happen. Our terrible record at Stamford Bridge barely needs mentioning (the loss here made it one win in the last sixteen league games) but the fixture has taken on a bigger significance ever since Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s greatest ever manager, took up his office at Carrington.

Last year’s games here were a 4-0 tonking and a 1-0 Cup quarter final loss after Ander Herrera had been sent off. Undeterred, Mourinho ordered Herrera to perform man-marking duties on Eden Hazard again, and the Spaniard carried out the job to perfection at Old Trafford as United, in one of the best results of last season, came away with a 2-0 win. It was highly unlikely such tactics would be utilised again this time around with Herrera needed in the middle of the park as one of only two fully-fit senior midfielders. Fellaini was back unexpectedly, but was only fit enough for the bench. So, the United boss kept faith with the same XI that had beaten Spurs a week ago, maintaining the three/five at the back. It made sense, not only to match up with Chelsea’s formation, but also because, hey, we beat Spurs. As the boss said in his pre-match presser "Tottenham beat Liverpool 4-1, Real Madrid 3-1, but didn't score against us. My players deserve a little bit of credit”.

The main omission was obviously Anthony Martial. In his stubborn refusal to play Martial, Rashford and Lukaku together, Mourinho hurts the team and restricts our attacking potential. Mkhitaryan is a lovely footballer but he is dreadfully out of form, and had no business starting a game of this magnitude. Mata was never going to start at his former club given his propensity to disappear in away games, and his own patchy form, but his omission from the squad was a surprise. Matic though, was going to be one our key men at his old stomping ground.

Chelsea had come into this late Sunday encounter in slight disarray, after being swept aside 3-0 by an impressive Roma team in midweek. The defence, which Antonio Conte holds so dear, was schoolboy like, and the pundits afterwards focused on the sale of Matic as a key factor for their loss of midfield protection. Conte took action, dropping David Luiz from the squad and instead placing his faith in Andreas Christensen. N’Golo Kante returned after injury to form three in the engine room. As always with the Blues, whispers of dressing room unhappiness and the Russian tycoon’s itchy trigger finger were never far away.  Chelsea needed to respond.

After Liverpool and Spurs, everyone expected us to park the bus, but in fact United started positively, pressing high up the pitch and doing our best to get Rashford and Lukaku away running against their defenders. This wasn’t a surprise. With City beating Arsenal 3-1 earlier, they were now 8 points ahead. Dragging them back to 7 wouldn’t make a great difference – it was time to win, and banish those bad memories of pathetic away days at the top 6. The game was explosive for a top-of-the-table clash, with the first incident packed twenty minutes flying by.

Phil Jones scored an own-goal volley worthy of any bloopers DVD presented by Danny Baker, but the ref thought that Alvaro Morata had pushed him and the strike was chalked off. Less than a minute later, Rashford had a free header from close range to put us ahead, but he closed his eyes at the point of impact from Young’s cross and it looped over. Had he headed it downward, it probably would’ve beaten Courtois.

Chelsea responded immediately. United’s pressing had one big flaw; the coolness of Cesc Fabregas under pressure. The stylish Spanish schemer was never rushed and always seemed to have an extra second to try and create, and he was so successful at playing around United that his midfield partner Bakayoko, a summer signing from Monaco who had been quite disappointing so far this season, was able to make several piercing runs into the box. He tamely sliced wide when in a great position after a top centre from Zappacosta, and throughout the entire match was able to exploit the hole and take up great positions behind Herrera and Matic. Without Pogba or even Carrick (clutching at straws here) to put his foot on it, Chelsea seized the initiative.

Hazard forced De Gea into an untidy save when striking from the D, and from the rebound Fabregas headed wide. Chelsea’s system was now purring, and Morata was pulling our three centre-backs all over West London with his clever runs into the channels. The former Juventus and Real Madrid striker was a terrific outlet, with his pace (and ability to dribble directly if he had no help) giving United’s defence a real headache. At the other end, Lukaku had a snap shot parried away by his international team mate Courtois, as the first half continued to excite. We were having difficulty in launching counters, as Azpiliceuta regularly stepped out of the back 3 to block passing lines to Lukaku, plus our wing-backs, Valencia and Young, were having a tough time advancing into Chelsea territory.

One of the reasons Chelsea had begun to be dominant was that Hazard was getting more of the ball in attacking areas. Why? Well, simply, Chelsea had three in midfield to our two and we always struggled to retain the ball. But just as important was our unfamiliarity and unsuitability with the back three. We don’t, with Rojo still not back, possess a centre-half who is brilliant at bringing the ball out, and too often we had three players marking one, Morata. This meant in practice that Chelsea could occupy a chunk of our team with one man and thus pass around the players stationed in front, hence why Bakayoko and Hazard were picking up great positions. On the team sheet of course, Hazard was listed as playing up top with Morata, but the Belgian roamed around in a free role befitting his status as Chelsea’s star man. United didn’t assign one player to follow him, and so he was becoming more influential.

Still, half time came and went and we were in it. Our coach had noticed the problem with the space, and within 5 minutes of the restart two United players were booked for tough tackles on Hazard, keen to let him know he would not have as much freedom in this half. United’s centre-backs also started to push further up to stop the space between the lines. It needed to be done, but it inadvertently led to the goal.

Opta had put out the stat that no player has scored more headed goals in the big five European leagues since the start of last season than Morata. So of course he was unmarked to power home an admittedly towering header from a great ball from the ever resourceful Azpiliceuta. Jones had been drawn out to cover other threats, but we still had two centre-backs to cover the Spaniard, but Bailly and Smalling were caught napping and top strikers only need a sniff. 1-0.

Few teams are harder to play against when losing than Chelsea and you sensed straight away it was going to be an uphill task. It could’ve been two as Fabregas played in Hazard who swept a first-time effort straight at De Gea. Mourinho reacted quickly bringing on Martial and Fellaini; It was a welcome return for the giant midfielder, but it soon turned nightmarish.

Let’s not get this twisted, Manchester United have badly missed Fellaini, especially with Pogba out. His game changing qualities made him an obvious candidate for coming on, but it was clearly too soon. Even Stevie Wonder could see straight away he wasn’t fully fit. He was immediately pickpocketed by Bakayoko when dawdling on the ball and was lucky that the Frenchman blasted wide after being held up by Smalling. If he had waited a couple more seconds, he could’ve given the rapidly advancing Morata a practical tap-in for another goal. This was one of three Chelsea opportunities created by Fellaini’s clumsiness in possession and general lack of finesse. He was a direct hindrance to his side for a good while.

United then did fuck all for ages, or rather, Chelsea didn’t let us. The Champions then passed it around, happy to make United chase the ball, content to let the game drift into the closing stages knowing they could counter as the Red Devils pushed more players forward. In the final 10 minutes, Fellaini was stationed up front as a target man, ball after ball was slung into the box, and all of a sudden the mood of the game changed. It was curious that as much as we had been outplayed in the second half, you could clearly see Chelsea were bricking it in the last 10 minutes as they drastically dropped deep to deal with Fellaini. It was quite frantic.

The expensively assembled Man Utd of Jose Mourinho went route one in search of an equaliser, and the ABU’s loved it, I’m sure. Pretty much every team goes direct when losing in the last few minutes, but whatever. It was starting to work, anyway. Rashford flashed wide with a left footed half-volley from the edge of the box after a Herrera cross was headed out poorly. Then an even better chance – a hoof from Bailly, world class chest control and turn in the box from Fellaini, and a shot that forced Courtois into a good save. On the other hand, we were now vulnerable at the back, and Morata should’ve finished off a swift breakaway but got his feet in a muddle and blew a one-on-one in pretty much the only mistake he made all evening.

At one point during this onslaught, the ball trickled towards Matic out wide on the left with loads of red shirts in the box, and he let it out for a throw which he didn’t even take long. A minor detail but it annoyed me no end – just lump it in the general direction of Fellaini, you daft prick. As good as he’d been, he was constantly receiving it in 1 on 1 situations during this phase of play. The ball fell to him in a dangerous situation frequently in the last 10 minutes but he couldn’t do anything, it was pretty frustrating. I’ll forgive him though, he was the only outfield player who really was calm and thoughtful with his passing throughout. It’s not like we bought him to unlock a packed defence and nick us a goal in the dying minutes at Chelsea anyway.

It was end-to-end at this point. Lingard's long ball was flicked on by Fellaini (by now, our biggest threat) and Matic was fouled 25 yards out. Rashford took the free-kick, and it was deflected over. Chelsea cleared the corner, and that was that. Conte had got it spot on, and we were a tad lucky it was only 1-0.

Chelsea had obviously won the midfield battle. Kante coming back made a big difference to them, he enabled the superb Fabregas and Hazard, meaning they could focus on attack. Bakayoko, as mentioned before, was excellent with the timing of his runs, but fortunately for us he made the wrong decision almost every time to waste his chances. But I still do feel they could’ve been nullified if we had played a trio in the middle from the start, but with Fellaini not fully-fit it maybe wasn’t worth the risk.

Did Mourinho do loads wrong? Probably not. Some reckoned we were scared and terrible… We were a lot more offensive than at Anfield. In any case, had Morata’s incredible man of the match performance rendered discussion of our set up largely meaningless? We need our own talisman Pogba back sharpish for the big games. Oh and no more back three. Please. Even against City. Well, maybe in that special case. Obviously, for this game it was fine, but with Fellaini fit again, changing the system to a variant of 4-3-3 is a must for the big clashes. We just don’t quite have the personnel to truly make the most out of the back three/five.

Mkhitaryan was a disgrace, there is very little else you can say. His role was crucial, to link the forwards and midfielders, but he completely failed, barely touching the ball, and committing the ultimate sin in a Mourinho team in a big away game: completely failing to press and show your work-rate off the ball. Given that he fought his way back into the team last season partly based on his tenacity compared to some of the other creative players, this was a real shame. With the Armenian on the pitch, Man Utd may as well have played with ten men. He has been the player who has missed Pogba the most, his confidence is at rock bottom, and it’s getting harder to remember his last properly good game. When you’re off form like he is, the least you expect is a bit of fight - instead he looked like he didn’t give a shit. Perhaps the guy just needs a break, give him some time off and let him run riot in December. That, or hypnotise him into believing every game is in the Europa League. But we are entitled to expect more from someone who almost always this season has started in his preferred position and yet produced dreadful crap since September. 

There’s definitely a school of thought that you can’t blame the forwards due to lack of service, and to an extent I accept that. But also, fuck that. (See that intelligent counter argument?) We spent £75m on Lukaku, and despite his great start it’s becoming clear he can’t hold the ball up that well -he certainly didn’t here- and doesn’t create chances for himself frequently. He has to make the ball stick. This was the sort of 90 minutes from him I was fearing in big games when he was signed. The contrast with the all-action Morata (another red target in the summer) was stark. In mitigation, against the big teams we haven’t yet put in a class performance, and it is his first season.

The final whistle went and Conte went onto to pitch to celebrate a pressure-relieving win, blanking Mourinho. Moaning about managerial handshakes should be the sole preserve of Mark Hughes, but the incident did nothing to alleviate the rumours that the two bosses really don’t like each other. Not that I cared about such nonsense – it’s the international break now, with Germany and Brazil strutting their stuff at Wembley. Time to lick our wounds, regroup, and ensure we’re ready for Newcastle on November 18^th.

United (5-2-1-2) De Gea 8; Valencia 6, Bailly 7, Smalling 6.5, Jones 6 (Fellaini 62, 5.5), Young 5.5 (Lingard 78, 5); Herrera 6, Matic 7.5; Mkhitaryan 3.5 (Martial 62, 5); Rashford 6, Lukaku 5.

Chelsea ratings as well, because why not:

Chelsea (3-5-2) Courtois 7; Azpilicueta 8, Christensen 8, Cahill 7; Zappacosta 6 (Rudiger 66, 5.5), Fabregas 8 (Drinkwater 79, 5.5), Kante 8, Bakayoko 6, Alonso 6.5; Morata 9, Hazard 8 (Willian 87).

Manchester United 2-0 Benfica

Manchester United 2-0 Benfica (Svilar og. 45, Blind 78 pen)

Happy Halloween! Trick or treat? Hmm… I’ll go for an Anthony Martial trick, and the treat of another win, thanks. Preferably with no blood.

12 clean sheets in the last sixteen games in all competitions. 8 wins in as many games at Old Trafford, which is fast becoming a fortress again. A perfect 4 wins out of 4 in the Champions League. All but through to the knockout stage for the first time since 2014. Nothing is as effective as a few wins to change the mood around a club. We’re doing pretty well so far this season, y’know?

It’s been an ultra-professional job in Europe so far. Yes, the detractors could easily point out that it is a gentler group than some others, but we’ve stumbled and ended up eating pavement in bad groups before. Sometimes it would be good for Jose Mourinho to drunkenly fall over and hit the concrete himself in a Halloween accident, as maybe it would stop his prick like behavior. Before the match, he used his notes in United Review to seemingly have a go at the fans.  ‘I hope that you enjoy the game more than some of you did against Tottenham’. Probably this was a dig at the criticism of his football, or the small number of boos for the substitution of Marcus Rashford. He also suggested the fans were booing Lukaku himself, which is a clear case of #FAKENEWS. Although by now we all know how he operates, you would think that Mourinho would decide to exclude the supporters as a group to create a siege mentality against. Clearly, he went as a knobhead for Halloween.

But we can forgive his media games for the moment as his United side is proving pretty difficult to score against. We switched back to a back four after Tottenham, with Jones and Valencia again missing Europe. Young and Rashford were rotated, and Mata came back in after missing the last two games. With Chelsea away looming on Sunday wearing a scary Scream costume, Herrera was rested, with Scott McTominay starting in the Champions League in his place, a truly exciting moment for the lanky Lancaster lad.

It was Martial, full of confidence from the winner against Spurs, who was the best player on the pitch, giving Benfica defenders nightmares similar to ones small children get when watching the Exorcist. He was constantly dangerous, impossible to tackle, and the ball seemed tied to his foot at some stages, such as the audacious dribble past three players to win a penalty. In the only blemish on an outstanding display, the usually ice-cool Frenchman saw his spot-kick brilliantly saved by the 18-year-old keeper Mile Svilar, in the process becoming the youngest ever keeper to save a penalty in the Champions League. Some redemption then, for the talented kid after the bollock he dropped carrying Rashford’s free-kick over the line in Lisbon.

Benfica did keep the ball well, but United were breaking forward at pace. Lukaku’s shot from 20 yards was saved, before the Belgian headed over from a Martial cross, both chances coming from slick, fast moves. The Portuguese visitors only had one chance in the first half, but David De Gea was on top form. The Spaniard saved Diogo Goncalves' curling effort towards the top corner with a strong hand. At the other end, Martial left the right-back with twisted blood when turning in the penalty area but blazed over with his left foot after a poor touch. For all our great play, it did seem like it would be 0-0 at half-time, but once again, fate intervened in Svilar’s fledgling career.

Another great counter, featuring a sharp pass from McTominay surrounded by three players duly led to Matic striking from range, and his shot ricocheted off the post and went in off Svilar’s back. It was cruel again on the teenager. Forget Final Destination – the highlight reel of Svilar’s European travails against Man Utd will be enough to give any shot-stopper a nightmare. You had to feel for him – it almost seems like he is cursed. Or haunted. Or did a deal with the devil. Or something else vaguely to do with Halloween, I don’t bloody know. He did show his resilience when making a save one-on-one with Lukaku only moments later, though. Our star striker never quite looked confident or got it out of his feet, and maybe five games without a goal was preying on his mind.

Lingard was replaced at the break after a minor back injury and Mkhitaryan came on. United were impressive going forward with Mata hitting row J after a great Martial backheel had played in Darmian. It was a poor miss, a Texas Chainsaw Matassacre, you could say (I know, I know). But Benfica were growing into the game and starting to get the ball in United’s territory. Mexican striker Raul Jimenez had a shot saved, but saw a far better chance later on clip the post after Bailly gave the Old Trafford crowd a spooky fright with his horrendous under hit pass to Smalling being intercepted. Thankfully Jimenez only hit the woodwork, and his team-mate Goncalves had also seen an effort kept out by De Gea after skipping past Smalling.

Herrera was sent on to tighten things up and it seemed to work, as Benfica’s attacks soon died out like a comic relief character in Saw. The birthday boy Rashford was introduced for Martial (because heaven forbid was see an attack of Lukaku, Rashford and Martial, oh no) and he made an instantaneous impact, his direct mazy run ending only when being upended by a clumsy defender. With Martial off the pitch (and having missed one anyway) Lukaku put the ball down, but the manager seemed to communicate he didn’t want that, and via Herrera, Daley Blind ended up converting the penalty, hitting it straight down the middle. Although it would be nice for our number nine to get a goal, given his miss against Leciester, I don’t see it as a big deal, unlike some for the duties to be given temporarily to Blind, who of course, is hardly technically deficient.

We move on to Chelsea, with the penalty pass-the-parcel dominating the headlines, rather than the win, which suits Mourinho, of course. McTominay, was a calm presence on his full European debut, which was lovely, and the kid Rashford celebrated his 20^th birthday in style. No Nightmare on Eld Trafford Street for us, eh? Eh? So you’re telling me these Halloween references have been excruciatingly unfunny? Jeez, everyone’s an ‘Einstein’, as Jose says…

United (4-2-3-1) De Gea 8; Darmian 7, Bailly 6, Smalling 7, Blind 6.5; McTominay 7, Matic 8; Mata 6.5 (Herrera 68, 6), Lingard 5.5 (Mkhitaryan 46, 6), Martial 8.5 (Rashford 75, 7); Lukaku 6.5

Swansea 0-2 Manchester United EFL Cup 4th Round

Swansea 0-2 Manchester United (Lingard 21, 59)

After the disastrous 90 minutes against Huddersfield, Jose Mourinho desperately needed a good nights work to get the season back on track. The Portuguese boss got exactly that, thanks to a virtuoso performance from Jesse Lingard, admittedly helped by a Swansea side who were, ahem, not the most ambitious.

Events on the weekend had made this game vital in the quest for the ‘big M’ of momentum, but it was still the League Cup, and that means a slightly weakened side, with Valencia and De Gea left at home and Lukaku and Matic on the bench. Mata and Mkhitaryan were also dropped rested. Lindelof did indeed play, to some raised eyebrows, but really anything else would damage his confidence. No matter the circumstances, it was pleasing to see two kids get a chance, moreover, Phil Jones made it on to the bench, to puffed out cheeks from relieved United fans fearful of what Spurs would do to us come Saturday lunchtime. Whatever the team, a response was needed to the manager’s comments after Huddersfield regarding the ‘poor attitude’ shown.

When the team was announced, it looked like a 4-3-3 with either Blind or Tuanzebe in midfield, but in fact it was a back 5, with Lingard playing as the number 10 to great effect behind the two forwards. This setup led to United completely bossing the game, having total control of possession. Herrera and Darmian were both positive in the build-up and the Italian was rather adventurous in his right-wing back role.  

Jesse Lingard’s first league start of the season had been poor, but he was keen to make it up to the fans from the first whistle here. He instantly showed that he was up for the challenge when forcing a save from the Swansea keeper within the opening exchanges with a powerful long range shot. The Warrington born lad was constantly playing on the turn, looking to take on opponents, reveling in a role which gave him considerable freedom and pace ahead of him to look for. His first goal saw him receive reward for his proactive movement, with a classic third man run goal. Herrera fired in a strong low pass forward (he doesn’t do this enough, really) to Rashford whose clever flick put Lingard through, and the number 14 opened his body up and unerringly finished into the bottom-right corner. Cue a celebration where he mimicked playing a flute.

Jesse wheeling away after the opener...

Swansea were worse than they were when they were beaten here 4-0 in August, but then again, they had made 8 changes, and their attempt to get back into the game wasn’t helped by Martin Olsson limping off through injury in the first half.

The first 20 minutes of the second half was scrappy, with a decent number of fouls from both teams breaking up play. It was stop-start, but also, a tad dirty and cynical, given the tactical nature of some of these infringements. This passage of play was interrupted by Lingard’s second goal, another great move. Tuanzebe advanced into midfield before inviting Darmian to run down the wing. He sent in a cross and Lingard used the pace on the ball to head in from almost the edge of the area! Yep, a header from around 20 yards that fairly flew into the net. Was it Lingard or Alan Shearer?

... jubilant after putting United 2 up...

As the game entered the final stages, it was getting harder to retain possession as Swansea’s defence pushed up to the halfway line. They duly gave it a go and attacked, but our three Centre-backs were commanding in the air, and Romero made a couple of smart stops late on. This coincided with Mourinho puzzlingly bringing on Matic and Lukaku, but I suppose it makes sense to share out the rest between Herrera and Matic, and well, Lukaku must want to play every game at the moment anyway.

Both McTominay and Tuanzebe did well on their first starts of the season, which was lovely, and 4 academy players starting is good to see. Hopefully this will lead to more chances, I mean, saints alive… even Luke Shaw got some game time! The mostly forgotten, rather chubby defender got a whole THREE minutes for his second outing of the season. His medium term future at Old Trafford looks cloudy to say the least, but at least Mourinho hasn’t completely abandoned him. Given our struggles at left-back, the door must surely be open for him – although, better make sure it’s a double door if Shaw has to get through it.

Overall, it was a resilient display, with many things to enjoy; two fabulous goals from Lingard, the encouraging performances from the young lads, a clean sheet, and hopefully a return to form.

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United (5-3-2) Romero 7; Darmian 7, Lindelof 6, Smalling 7, Tuanzebe 7, Blind 6.5; Herrera 7 (Matic 67, 6), McTominay 7, Lingard 8.5; Rashford 7 (Lukaku 67, 6), Martial 6.5 (Shaw 87).