Ruthless Martial exposes Blades as post-lockdown malaise deepens
BACK in the Eighties era of Bryan Robson, Frank Stapleton and Norman Whiteside, a large ‘Wonderfuel Gas’ sign dominated the top of the Stretford End at Old Trafford.
For Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, his time in charge has been one where his boyhood club have been ‘cooking on gas’ to coin another phrase and functioning with huge effectiveness, while making rapid progress.
But no-one could ever accuse Wilder of luxuriating in past achievements or glories, it is just not his style.
Witnessing a spark in performances in the here and now after two low-key away dates at Aston Villa and more especially Newcastle United, was his only focus.
It palpably failed to transpire, though, as the Blades’ trilogy of away dates on football’s resumption ended in undesirable fashion and a second straight three-goal loss as they struggled in uncharacteristically sultry Manchester heat en route to an eighth straight defeat at Old Trafford. It was a June evening that saw Anthony Martial enjoy a feast by way of his first hat-trick for the hosts.
This was routine much in the same way as several other meetings on the red side of Manchester have been since the Blades triumphed here on Boxing Day 1973.
Even though Bramall Lane will be deserted on Sunday, the Blades will be glad to at least be back home when they host a flaky Arsenal team in an FA Cup quarter-final.
A change of environment and competition might just be timely; they certainly need something.
Denied the chance of walking out in front of 50,000 fervent Geordies in one of football’s true cathedrals on Sunday, the football romantic in Wilder would have lamented not being able to compete at the Theatre of Dreams in front of a 70,000-plus partisan audience.
At half-time, he would have rued his side’s defending far more as they conceded goals at the worst possible times, early in the piece and close to the interval to effectively end the game as a contest.
The Blades were minus two of their defensive mainstays in John Egan and Jack O’Connell and it showed, with the visitors – who handed a start to veteran Phil Jagielka – showing hesitancy on occasions and looking susceptible to the express pace of Marcus Rashford, Bradford-born Mason Greenwood and Martial.
It was the latter who profited twice in the first period as Wilder’s side lost two successive league games for only the second time in a hitherto remarkable season, with Martial rounding it off late on with his third. Wilder’s final instructions will have gone something along the lines of ‘don’t concede early’ against a home side for whom the absence of the fervent backing of the Stretford End – when they are attacking that goal – is rendered insignificant when opponents are so benevolent as the Blades.
His non-plussed touchline demeanour when his side did exactly that to gift the hosts a charitable seventh-minute opener to Martial was there for all to see.
Going forward, the visitors had actually started off in decent fashion, with a couple of confident trademark raking crossfield passes from Ollie Norwood, in his first outing at Old Trafford after failing to make a first-team appearance here, hinting at better fare than at Newcastle.
It proved a mirage, with the Blades fatally dozing for a splitsecond soon after following a throw down the right and falling straight back to square one.
Rashford seized upon uncertainty to tee up Martial for a closein opener he was never going to miss with Simon Moore – making his first league appearance since the reverse fixture after stepping in for the ineligible Dean Henderson – afforded little protection.
Moments later, it was the usually genial Ole Gunnar Solksjaer who displayed anger by smacking down his hand on the back of a seat after a miss from Rashford.
The visitors were opened up far too easily with Martial returning the compliment to set up Rashford, only for the striker to inexplicably scuff the ball wide of an open goal under minimal pressure from Jack Robinson.
A fresh air shot from Rashford following a lovely dinked pass from Paul Pogba provided more comedy. Wilder will have been in no mood for laughter after lax defending let in Martial for his second and the sight of his side out early ahead of the start of the second half perhaps told a story.
A rare moment of incision saw substitute Oli McBurnie – on for the injured Lys Mousset – miss a presentable header following enterprise from Chris Basham.
The vigorous Greenwood went close while Martial spurned a chance after outrageous skill from Pogba. But he was not to be denied a hat-trick after coolly lobbing over Moore following a delightful team move.
Attacking the Stretford End – where a banner which said: ‘Football is nothing without fans’ was prescient – the Blades huffed and puffed, but their pre-lockdown bounce has disappeared. Manchester United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Pogba (Pereira 80), Matic (McTominay 80); Greenwood (Mata 81), Fernandes, Rashford (James 80); Martial (Ighalo 80). Substitutes unused: Romero, Bailly, Fred, Williams.
Sheffield United: Moore; Basham, Jagielka, J Robinson; Baldock, Lundstram, Norwood (Berge 45), Fleck, Stevens; McGoldrick (Zivkovic 64), Mousset (Norwood 45).
Substitutes unused: Verrips, L Freeman, Sharp, K Freeman, Osborn, Rodwell. Referee: A Taylor (Cheshire).