Sanchez banishes fatigue with goal the ideal tonic
Alexis Sanchez had admitted that his struggles at Manchester United had left him “psychologically exhausted”, so it was no surprise to see such an outpouring of emotion as he claimed his first goal for almost two months and only his second for the club.
The Chile striker seemed to be unloading weeks of pent-up frustration after coolly steering the ball past Lukasz Fabianski as he raced towards the corner and slid to his knees, fists pumping, a sight everyone of a United persuasion expected to have seen much more of by now.
It has been a trying 68 days for Sanchez since his move from Arsenal but like his manager, Jose Mourinho, not to mention United’s supporters, he will hope this marks a corner turned.
It was not a flawless performance – an air shot from a glorious position shortly before half-time underlined that – but it was a clear step in the right direction. That was evident from as early as the fifth minute when he set up the in-form Romelu Lukaku, impressive throughout, for his 100th Premier League goal to put United on course for an ultimately comfortable win.
Swansea City, improved by the halftime introduction of Tammy Abraham and Tom Carroll, rallied in the second half, but the damage was done in the first 20 minutes.
Too often United have looked like a side trying to force the issue, but they were fluid and firmly in control in a first period that Mourinho described as “perfect” and “probably one of the best we have played here”.
Like Sanchez, Paul Pogba was back in the starting line-up after being dropped for the FA Cup win over Brighton but, a couple of flashes aside, the Frenchman was relatively subdued and upstaged by several of his teammates, not least Lukaku.
There was a drop in tempo after the interval, which Mourinho attributed to tiredness after the international games, and David De Gea was twice forced to make excellent saves from Abraham in quick succession before the hour mark, but United never appeared in any greater danger bar that.
“The team played very well,” Mourinho said. “I don’t like to make it about individual performance. The team played very well in the first half, so Alexis played well. Second half, I think Alexis was one of the guys who paid the price of the international week, playing two matches in three days, almost no time to train, so after 60 minutes he was on his way down, but it was important to score.”
At that early point in his press conference, Mourinho beckoned his Portuguese and Swansea counterpart, Carlos Carvalhal, who was carrying a cake for his compatriot, into the room. “Come on, give cakes to the guys,” Mourinho said.
Swansea had certainly come bearing gifts in the first period. They had held firm for 79 minutes with 10 men against Huddersfield to claim a precious point in their battle against relegation, but at least until Abraham and Carroll gave them some much-needed cut and thrust going forward, they had wilted. The game was in its infancy when Jesse Lingard squeezed the ball through to Sanchez. who fed Lukaku in the penalty area. His shot was on target but fizzed into the top corner courtesy of a deflection off Alfie Mawson’s outstretched boot for Lukaku’s league century.
“I’m really happy to achieve that milestone,” he said. “It is a dream come true in a league I’ve wanted to play in since I was six years old.”
The Belgium striker was denied a second when he latched on to Lingard’s delicious flick-on as Fabianski got down quickly to his right to push the shot away, but it was not much longer before United found the net again.
Pogba picked the ball up from de- fence and found Juan Mata, who played a quick pass into the feet of the onrushing Lingard. Spotting Sanchez making a dart for it on his left, Lingard went for the through ball and was grateful to see his pass take a slight deflection off the foot of Federico Fernandez, which wrong-footed Mike van der Hoorn, the ball sliding through the defender’s legs and into the path of Sanchez, who steered calmly into the bottom corner.
The Chilean should have claimed a second before the break. When Lukaku muscled Fernandez off the ball down the right channel and swung over a fine cross that Ashley Young headed back, it sat up kindly for Sanchez, but he swung at thin air and the opportunity was lost.
“United started very strong with high intensity. It was difficult for us to control. We couldn’t pressure them, and between the lines they created a lot of problems for us,” Carvalhal said.
He was much happier with the second half and had Abraham scored from one of his two chances, United might have got a little nervy.
Pogba? A wonderful floated pass for Mata in the 57th minute should have yielded a goal, but the Spaniard, swivelling to face the ball, volleyed over from eight yards. This was better than some of his turgid showings since the turn of the year, but Pogba still looks short of confidence.
Sanchez’s confidence got a very clear lift here, though.