Jose Mourinho steadies the ship as Man United get vital win

Aditya Devavrat 21:50 02/09/2018
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  • After last week’s disastrous 3-0 loss to Tottenham, Manchester United got back on track with a 2-0 win over Burnley on Sunday.

    Manager Jose Mourinho tweaked his formation again and made more changes to his starting XI – he has yet to name an unchanged XI this season – and it worked as Romelu Lukaku scored twice in a largely comfortable win.

    Paul Pogba started in midfield – though he missed a penalty – and United generally looked much better than they had in their run of two straight losses.

    Here’s a closer look at how the Red Devils’ manager steadied the ship.

    BASIC STATS

    Goals – 2

    Shots – 21

    Possession – 54%

    Tackles – 6

    Dribbles – 6

    30-SECOND REPORT

    Mourinho reverted to a 4-3-3 after last week’s experimental 3-3-3-1 line-up, with the revolving door in defence seeing Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof getting the nod as the starting centre-backs, the third different pairing Mourinho has used in three games. There were also starts for Marouane Fellaini and Alexis Sanchez.

    He will have been pleased with the way his team responded to last week’s loss, with the defence looking much more solid and United far more clinical in attack, with Lukaku scoring two goals to put doubts about his form to bed – though he should have had a hat-trick, and Pogba missed a penalty.

    Lukaku should have had a hat-trick.

    Lukaku should have had a hat-trick.

    TACTICAL TALKING POINT

    Two holding midfielders

    These days Fellaini rarely starts, and when he does play it’s because United are going to Plan B in attack. But here, he was given a specific role, sitting alongside Nemanja Matic right in front of the back four. Indeed, there were times when Burnley had the ball where the big Belgian was deep enough to double up as a centre-back.

    The presence of the midfield duo brought stability to United’s back-line, who looked much less troubled than in previous games this season. It also gave Pogba the license to roam, which made United a much more dangerous proposition.

    The Frenchman had his best performance of the season, and the two holding midfielders were vital to that.

    Matic was solid alongside Fellaini in front of the defence.

    Matic was solid alongside Fellaini in front of the defence.

    VERDICT

    This could have been a much more straightforward win had Pogba not missed a penalty, not to mention Lukaku’s botched 1-on-1. And Marcus Rashford’s red card after coming on as a substitute certainly complicated matters.

    Overall, however, Mourinho will have enjoyed his side’s performance. He got his tactics right and his team dominated the game, scored two good goals, and were rarely threatened even when Burnley were chasing the game.

    Meanwhile, anyone looking for any fault lines in the squad would have been disappointed. Mourinho barely moved from his seat when United scored their first, but celebrated the second much more animatedly. There was a pat on the back for Pogba when the midfielder was substituted late on, as well.

    RATING – 8/10

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