Milestone marvel
Rashford sparks United rout on his 200th appearance
AFTER taking flak for Manchester United’s woeful displays in the defeats to Arsenal, Wolves and Manchester City, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first victory of 2020 would have tasted particularly sweet, and necessary, with Marcus Rashford scoring twice on his milestone 200th appearance.
Nobody pretends a handsome win against the Premier League’s bottom club will cure all of United’s ills. They remain five points off a Champions League spot and, with yesterday’s match won, significant sections of the Old Trafford crowd chanted: ‘We want Glazers Out’ in protest against their owners.
And yet the manager will rightly feel satisfaction in the way his young team bounced back from a humiliating lesson delivered by City just a few days earlier.
Harry Maguire courageously clambered off the treatment table following a hip injury and wore the captain’s armband with authority. Rashford produced the pirouettes, flicks and goals demanded at the
Theatre of Dreams, and there were impressive finishes from Anthony Martial and substitute Mason Greenwood for United’s third and fourth goals.
‘It was an excellent reaction,’ said Solskjaer, referring to the post-City bounceback. ‘The key was attitude and intensity. If we’d let Norwich play, it would have been tough.’
‘What an achievement for Marcus to get to 200 games at his age. He’s a great kid, great attitude, wants to learn, improve and knows how to keep his feet on the ground. He was carrying a few knocks but there was no way he was going to say he wouldn’t want to play.
‘Juan Mata was excellent. When we get him facing forward, he can pick passes and deliver crosses. I could have chosen Dan (James) with his pace but Juan gives us a different dimension.’
It helped United that Norwich’s talisman Teemu Pukki was missing with a hamstring injury.
The packed visiting defence survived the first 27 minutes but when Mata’s clever pass dissected their back line, Rashford timed his run perfectly to volley in the opener.
After David de Gea had kept out Todd Cantwell in first-half injurytime, Rashford effectively sealed the win with United’s second goal after 52 minutes, initially supplying the pass that saw Brandon Williams being cleaned out by Tim Krul and a penalty awarded. Rashford made no mistake from 12 yards.
Once United had the two-goal cushion, it was a case of how many it would be.
When a short corner was played to Mata after 54 minutes, the Spaniard delivered a cross that allowed Martial to get in between markers Grant Hanley and Alex Tettey to head in.
It should have been four soon afterwards but somehow Williams send Andreas Pereira’s cross over the bar from six yards.
But United would eventually get their fourth when Greenwood, on for Pereira, executed a smart finish from the edge of the box which gave Krul no chance.
‘The better team won and we have to accept the loss,’ admitted Norwich boss Daniel Farke, whose side are now five points adrift at the bottom. ‘At 1-0, to give the penalty away was unnecessary but he (Krul) has been so good this season, I don’t want to accuse.’