LEE KEEPS ’EM OUT!
But De Gea cock-up stuns United
THIS was a tale of two keepers – the Premier League rookie who starred and the best stopper in the division who slipped up at the vital moment.
Stoke keeper Lee Grant, on loan from Derby and making just his second appearance in England’s top tier, made save after save to deny Manchester United’s wealth of talent for most of the afternoon.
United No.1 David De Gea spilled a shot that led to Joe Allen cancelling out Anthony Martial’s opener and earning the Potters a much-needed point.
De Gea’s mistake was as rare as the sunshine in these parts at this time of year.
It was to prove costly for United – but if the Spaniard’s team-mates had been clinical at the other end, it would not have mattered.
Allen’s goal should have been a consolation at the end of a rout. Thanks to a combination of United’s poor finishing and Grant’s stunning display, it was the equaliser. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had set the tone early on for United as he got reacquainted with Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross.
The last time the pair met was in 2012 as Ibrahimovic, in the yellow of Sweden, scored four in a 4-2 win against England, with three coming after Shawcross came on to make his debut.
A brilliant pass from Paul Pogba put him through on goal with just two minutes on the clock, but Grant got down to push it away.
When United appointed Jose Mourinho in May, they thought he would bring wins – but the fear was that the football would be as dull as it was under Louis van Gaal. This was the opposite – attacking, exciting football, but no victory.
Pogba was the next to miss after brilliant build-up play from Ibrahimovic and Jesse Lingard.
The Frenchman then headed wide before Lingard met a great ball in from Ibrahimovic first time, only for Grant to push away the point-blank strike.
Superb
The Derby loanee – who has made 436 league appearances outside of the top flight – was signed on deadline day by boss Mark Hughes as third choice behind Jack Butland and Shay Given.
But with Butland injured, Hughes dropped Given last week for the 1-1 draw with West Brom and now Grant has the starting spot.
As brilliant as he was, the keeper could do nothing to stop Martial’s superb strike.
The France star scored within a couple of minutes of coming on as history repeated itself for Wayne Rooney, brought off the
bench at the same time. On Thursday night against Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League, Rooney came on in the 67th minute and inadvertently helped with the goal two minutes later. Yesterday, it happened again.
This time, Geoff Cameron nipped in to take the ball off his toe after a poor first touch, but the Stoke man could only push it out to Martial and he found the top corner.
But United would still be punished when Allen found the net with eight minutes to go after a bit of calamity keeping.
Glen Johnson’s deflected effort was spilled by De Gea before Jon Walters hit the bar from the rebound and then former Liverpool midfielder Allen smashed it home.
There was still time for one more Grant save from Ibrahimovic – a chance a striker on £250,000 a week should be scoring – before Pogba cracked the bar with a header from a Marcus Rashford cross.
Stoke remain without a win but found a star between the posts.