PAIN IN THE RASH FOR JOSE
Ace Marcus at double to hurt old boss Mourinho
MARCUS RASHFORD blitzed Tottenham with a brilliant brace to leave Jose Mourinho seeing double on his return to Old Trafford.
When it comes to relationships the saying goes that ‘you should never go back’ – and Mourinho is living proof of why after crashing to his first defeat as Spurs boss at the hands of his former club. The welcome might have been warm from Manchester United supporters but Rashford’s finishing was cold and calculating to inspire his side to a massive win and ease the pressure on boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Mourinho, sacked by United almost 12 months ago, knows all about the skills of Rashford but there was nothing his side could do to stop him as he struck at the start of both halves to make it 10 goals in his last 11 games.
United hero Rashford said: “We want to show people we can play against the top teams.
“We had a lot of shots. I wouldn’t say we wasted chances but we had a lot of shots on goal. But that’s football – sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t. It’s the result that counts.”
Dele Alli pulled one back in between to notch his third goal since Mourinho took charge but it was nowhere near enough to save Spurs as United produced one of their most impressive displays of the season.
Solskjaer made four changes from last weekend’s draw with Aston Villa, with Scott McTominay returning in midfield to provide United with a timely boost and Mason Greenwood replacing the injured Anthony Martial.
Brandon Williams, Juan Mata and Andreas Pereira all dropped to the bench, with Jesse Lingard and Ashley Young both coming back in.
Mourinho, meanwhile, made two changes with Harry Winks and Lucas Moura replacing Tanguy Ndombele and Eric Dier, while Christian Eriksen was left stuck on the bench again.
It appeared to be an attacking line-up from Mourinho but it looked like he had forgotten to tell his players, because United ripped them to shreds for most of the first half, with Rashford almost unplayable.
It took the England ace just seven minutes to fire United ahead with a low drive that beat ponderous keeper Paulo Gazzaniga at his near post.
Rashford seemed intent on beating Spurs on his own as he fired a free-kick just wide and rattled the crossbar with a 30-yard thunderbolt before seeing
Gazzaniga tip wide another curling effort. Lingard also shot wide while Gazzaniga denied Greenwood as United continued to run riot.
It had been 137 home league games since United had gone on to lose after taking the lead, when Liverpool won 4-1 a decade ago.
But their failure to get a second looked like it might come back to haunt them before the break when Alli levelled with a virtuoso effort.
It was way more than Spurs deserved but normal service was resumed two minutes into the second half when Moussa Sissoko stood on the toes of Rashford to concede a penalty – which the man of the moment duly dispatched to restore United’s lead.
Even though a third never came from United, there was little evidence of a fightback from Spurs, despite the efforts of Alli, leaving Mourinho’s plans of revenge in ruins.
JOSE MOURINHO suffered a nightmare return to Old Trafford.
After slipping to his first defeat as Spurs boss, ‘The Special One’ suggested his team didn’t heed warnings about Marcus Rashford.
The former United manager said of the two-goal match-winner: “When he plays from the left he’s really dangerous. I gave my players the best possible information – my boys knew it.”
Dele Alli, who scored the consolation, said Spurs may have been arrogant. “We lost the game not by them outplaying us – just attitude,” he said.