THE VERDICT: CARDIFF CITY 1 UNITED 5
THE boos that greeted Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as he disembarked the United coach were as inevitable as his chants being sung by the United supporters inside the Cardiff City Stadium.
They chanted his name to ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons; Solskjaer earned four chants as a player and they were all aired prior to kick-off. He would earn more before full-time.
Marcus Rashford struck a thirdminute free-kick with the deception of Cristiano Ronaldo to cause eruptions among the 3,083 Reds in the stands and the players and staff sat in the dugout.
Solskjaer, the man famed for his late goals, had got an early one. It would not be United’s last in Wales.
Solskjaer was brought back to United to ‘put smiles on people’s faces,’ as one figure familiar with Jose Mourinho’s morose mood put it.
They broadened like a Cheshire Cat’s in what was the most emphatic triumph in a season of revivals and escape acts.
Solskjaer’s ‘20LEGEND’ banner has already returned to the Stretford End for his Boxing Day homecoming against Huddersfield and the duplicate was unfurled in the away end.
A remarkable United managerial debut was enriched by a fifth goal, marking this the first match where United had scored five in a domestic game since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 5-5 swansong at West Brom in May 2013. Time will tell whether this is an anomaly. It did reflect damningly not just on Mourinho but the United players that, within two days of the caretaker being driven down the Carrington country lane, could perform with such swagger. Mourinho, though an unabashed pragmatist, was wont to bold set-ups that were not reflected by the players’ football or the final result. This was. Any danger of mutiny over Mourinho’s sacking was extinguished with Rashford’s raking drive. On the beer-fuelled train journeys from Manchester to Cardiff, some supporters promised to boo Paul Pogba for his destabilising role in Mourinho’s downfall. Pogba’s body language was markedly more bullish than it has been in recent months and if there were any dissenters they were not heard amid the din of the Solskjaer soundtrack. Sir Alex Ferguson was absent but Ed Woodward and Sir Bobby Charlton, last seen surreptitiously conversing at Anfield, were sat alongside each other and smiling with satisfaction. This was the idealism Charlton imagined David Moyes would prolong, with that 4-1 false dawn down at Swansea five years ago. Camarasa (38), Rashford (3), Herrera (29) Martial (41) Lingard (57 pen, 90) 26% 74% 9 17 4 7 Cunningham, Gunnarsson Shaw Michael Oliver 33,028 That serves as a warning for the start of the Solskjaer era.
The Norwegian was stoic and focused in the technical area, though Solskjaer was still having an impact off the bench, which he leapt from to cushion the ball first time for Luke Shaw. That elicited a cheer from the supporters that finally prompted Solskjaer to offer a wave.
He was busy before and after Rashford’s raking drive, instructing Phil Jones and urging the United players to press high and seize on the early momentum.
Jesse Lingard was specifically spoken to and Anthony Martial got a thumbs up, but if ever there was a moment that reflected the transition it came during a stoppage where Solskjaer advised Pogba, who was so attentive and appreciated he ended his personal pep talk by slapping Solskjaer’s hand. There was even a flicker of self-criticism from the Frenchman.