Lambert’s new side Stoke are mauled by Man United
With Sanchez on the way, Jose’s terriers leave Stoke suffering
If only Manchester United had been as tenacious in pursuing Manchester City at the top of the Premier League as they have in trying to snatch Alexis Sanchez away from their rivals, this title race would still be alive.
As it stands, the leaders need to lose another four games to make things interesting. On current form, we would have to wait until the middle of 2019 for that to happen, so let’s not get too excited just yet.
It also depends on United and the chasing pack winning continuously down the home straight while hoping for an unlikely City stumble after that rare setback at Anfield on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho’s side made the first steps by closing the gap to 12 points against Stoke at Old Trafford last night with two wonderful finishes from Antonio Valencia and Anthony Martial.
New Stoke manager Paul Lambert watched from the stand, perhaps wisely choosing to sit this one out following confirmation of his appointment earlier in the day. It left caretaker Eddie Niedzwiecki with the unenviable task of denying Mourinho his first win over Stoke as United boss at the fourth attempt.
‘Stoke bought players to play football, they were not afraid to play and they created us problems in the first half,’ said Mourinho.
‘I didn’t watch Liverpool beat Manchester City. It doesn’t change anything. The distance is an important distance. I have been there before.
‘They have their destiny in their hands.’
Pressed on whether Sanchez is Old Trafford-bound, Mourinho replied: ‘No news on Alexis Sanchez. He is an Arsenal player. If he stays, it’s great for Arsenal. If he comes to us, great for us. If he goes to another club, great for them.’
A miserable cold, wet night in Manchester greeted Mourinho and his players after a week’s warm-weather training in Dubai, and no one seems to be more out in the cold at United right now than Henrikh Mkhitaryan, whose future is in doubt whether he moves to Arsenal as part of the Sanchez deal or not.
Mourinho left the Armenian out of his squad, explaining: ‘I would lie if I said it was a pure tactical decision. I think it’s the best for him and for us, while the doubt is in the air, to protect him.’
The team he selected made a bright start and had already had a penalty appeal turned down after new Stoke signing Moritz Bauer had wrapped his arms around Martial when Valencia fired them ahead in the ninth minute on his return from a hamstring injury.
The Dubai sunshine had clearly done Valencia the world of good as he collected a crossfield pass from Paul Pogba on the edge of the box.
The Ecuador international cut inside Joshua Tymon on to his weaker left foot, but you would
never have known it as he unleashed a stunning shot beyond Jack Butland into the top corner. Curiously, it was Valencia’s first goal with his left foot since he was a Wigan player a decade ago.
At that point, the outlook was grim for a Stoke side who have already conceded seven goals away to City this season and five at both Tottenham and Chelsea.
However, Lambert will have been heartened by the response from his new team.
Xherdan Shaqiri met Darren Fletcher’s cross with an acrobatic bicycle kick that, unfortunately for him, flew into the arms of David de Gea.
Stephen Ireland then stabbed an effort inches the wrong side of the post, and only a desperate block from Phil Jones prevented Eric Choupo-Moting’s shot from going into an open goal after De Gea had spilled Fletcher’s far-post cross.
United produced a second goal seven minutes before half-time.
It came soon after a quite brilliant 50-yard crossfield pass from Pogba released Luke Shaw galloping into space. Shaw pulled the ball back to Martial, whose effort was blocked, but there was no stopping the Frenchman’s next effort.
Valencia dispossessed Tymon and fed Romelu Lukaku, who, in turn, found Pogba. He provided the assist again, delaying his pass to the unmarked Martial, who met it first-time with an exquisite 25-yard finish. Who needs Alexis Sanchez? Lukaku got the goal his performance deserved in the 72nd minute, controlling Martial’s pass in the box to score low into the bottom corner.
‘Paul Lambert told me before the game he wasn’t going to get involved and he paid me that respect,’ said Niedzwiecki.
‘He came in at the end of the game. I said my piece. It’s a big challenge staying in the Premier League.’
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-1-4-1): De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Shaw; Matic; Mata (McTominay 83), Pogba, Lingard (Fellaini 80), Martial (Rashford 80); Lukaku. Subs not used: Pereira, Lindelof, Rojo, Herrera. Booked: Lingard, Lukaku.
STOKE CITY (4-2-3-1): Butland; Bauer, Zouma, Martins Indi, Tymon (Wimmer 46); Allen, Fletcher; Shaqiri, Ireland, Choupo-Moting (Ramadan 60); Crouch (Diouf 70). Subs not used: Afellay, Adam, Grant, Edwards. Booked: Ireland.
Man of the match: Paul Pogba. Referee: Anthony Taylor.
Attendance: 74,726.