HEAD START FOR JOSE’S BOYS
Fellaini and Lukaku rise to occasion as United get ball rolling
Better than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, better than Wayne rooney, better even than ruud van Nistelrooy. romelu Lukaku’s firstseason impact at Manchester United has redefined the phrase ‘to hit the ground running’.
to outstrip this group over his first six appearances is one thing, but Lukaku is even ahead of Cristiano ronaldo at the same stage of his 42-goal season. ronaldo had only one goal after six matches that year; Lukaku already has six.
Add his four for Belgium on international duty and United’s marquee summer signing is into double figures for 2017-18, midway through the second week of September.
Last night, he put the game beyond an underwhelming Basle side who were too timid to threaten United and ultimately overpowered by the sheer size of the opposition as much as the task.
Headed goals from Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini — coming on as a substitute, but surely the man of the match — separated these teams before Marcus rashford made it three.
It would be wrong to say, however, that United won through a display of sheer brute force. this was an assured performance, if not exactly explosive, then certainly impressive. United are not as quick and technically gifted as the cream of europe — Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain might have made them look sluggish by comparison — but they were always in command and not for a moment flattered by the margin of victory.
Basle should not be dismissed as cannon fodder, either. they have visited Old trafford twice previously and not lost and in their four Champions League meetings prior to this, United had won only once.
this was a very different tie, then. Basle simply had no answer to United’s height in the area. Fellaini put them ahead in the first half, Lukaku secured the tie in the second. rashford rounded the night off with six minutes to go from the substitutes’ bench. His fresh legs were the last thing Basle wanted to see having battled to contain United for so long.
David de Gea only had one save of note to make, from Mohamed elyounoussi in the second half, and when the Swiss tried to come out of their shell, invariably United hit them on the counter and occasionally took advantage.
Aside from bookings for Ashley Young and Daley Blind — they add up swiftly in this competition and were wasted against such mediocre opposition — the one negative for United on the night was the injury to Paul Pogba. the bonus was that his replacement, Fellaini, as good as stole the show.
the sight of Pogba hobbling from the field after 20 minutes was worrying and distressing in equal measure. Sad, because he had been given the chance to captain the team in the absence of Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick and it was plainly a proud moment for him. He had strutted through the match to that point, head up, pulling the strings in midfield.
With each game he looks increasingly like the £90million midfielder United purchased a year ago and here was confirmation: trusted to lead them into their first Championspi League match of the Jose Mourinho era. It was sad to see his moment end so soon.
the worry was the nature of the injury — another hamstring by the looks of it — sustained in an innocuous challenge on elyounoussi. He was replaced by Fellaini. Who knew that this would prove a turning point?
Complaining that Belgium had taken a chance with Fellaini’s readiness during the international break, forcing him to miss the 2-2 draw at Stoke, Mourinho insisted before this game that he feels safer with the enforcer in his squad, even if he does not start.
One could see why. Far fromm being a poor man’s Pogba, he wass the thinking man’s Fellaini and d had a mighty influence on the outcome, creating a fresh set of problems for Basle’s overworked d defenders, scoring one and d making another — more if f Anthony Martial had not skied a great chance in the second half.
Fellaini’s goal was textbook, bigman stuff. Young on the right toyed with his man before whipping in a cross which Fellaini rose to meet at the far post. It had been coming. Basle had just mustered their first chance — a Luca Zuffi shot — but until that point it was all United.
Only two minutes had passed when a Juan Mata corner forced United’s first chance of the game. It fell to Lukaku, who unleashed a ferocious shot blocked on its way to goal by defender Manuel Akanji.
From there, Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed two glorious opportunities to continue the vein of scoring form that helped take United to europa League triumph last season. the first came on 14 minutes, a header from a volleyed cross by Mata which travelled over the bar. the next was even clearer. Mata fed Lukaku who drove a low centre across the face of goal. Mkhitaryan met it at the near post but somehow steered his finish against the woodwork. the ball obediently came back to him, but this time he saw his shot smothered by goalkeeper tomas Vaclik.
It could have been shaping up as one of those nights, except United have fewer of those these days. the second half began very much as the first ended, Martial’s shot saved by Vaclik, winning the corner that would lead to the second goal. United went short, Blind delivered the cross and Lukaku rose with almost contemptuous ease to head past Vaclik.
there could have been more, certainly from Lukaku and Young, but with seven minutes remaining, rashford finished off Basle. Fellaini cut the ball back from the by-line, rashford having dropped off into the perfect position to shoot. His strike wasn’t his cleanest, into the ground and up, but it did the job: much like United.
they were a different class here, but wouldn’t be against europe’s highest fliers. that isn’t their problem, though: yet.