Bourne supremacy as Reds stroll to win
The benefit of having an experienced striker on the bench has helped in recent run
THE potential travesty for Odion Ighalo is he may be denied a start at Wembley. The 32-year-old has five goals in four United starts – three of them in the FA Cup.
If ever a contrast vindicated United’s aversion to starry names it is that Ighalo has now poached more goals for the club than Angel Di Maria or Radamel Falcao, and as many as Alexis Sanchez.
Out of that terrible trio, only Falcao seemed genuinely enthralled to pull on the red shirt and that infectious enthusiasm of boyhood fan Ighalo is more apparent with every appearance.
Ighalo is yet to contribute a Premier League goal but has at least managed one against Premier League opposition, albeit a Norwich that is of Championship level in all but status. Ighalo’s shin made some contact with the ball when it looped into the air but the connection and concentration were exemplary.
Staff at United were phlegmatic at the prospect of Ighalo’s loan expiring as Marcus Rashford was fit again, yet the benefit of having a
Plan B striker on the bench has bolstered their unbeaten run.
Marcus Rashford nor Mason Greenwood are outright number nines and Ighalo is an unabashed penalty box striker.
The advantage of Ighalo’s expertise extend to his superior. Anthony Martial has not completed a full match in any of the 11 Ighalo has been available for and started every domestic and European cup tie on the bench.
United have managed Martial’s playing time carefully, mindful of the absence of Rashford at the start of the year and his workload during Martial’s eight-week lay-off between August and October.
Finishes against Sheffield United were of a variety Martial is not synonymous with and Ighalo is a close example on the training pitches at Carrington. Henrik Larsson’s loan legacy and impact at United in 2007 were grossly overrated yet Wayne Rooney’s finishing following the Swede’s return to Helsingborgs was sharper and his contribution in the run-in more notable than the player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo. Many at United will hope Ighalo’s loan is prolonged.
Had United avoided an extra 30 minutes the Ighalo inclusion would have masked Solskjaer’s erratic rotation that he conceded had backfired with the removal of three players in the 63rd minute, and then in his post-match debriefs. The changes did not entirely energise United, either; Rashford strutted at the pace of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It was a regular who spared United the ordeal of a 12-yard staring contest with Tim Krul. Harry Maguire was careless in every third bar the opponent’s – where he poached like Ighalo.
The enthusiasm of boyhood fan Ighalo is more apparent in every appearance
Samuel Luckhurst