Mata’s magic eases the pressure on Mourinho
manchester united 4 fulham 1
Finally there was a semblance of normality for Manchester United in a season of chaos.
They made short work of bottom-of-thetable Fulham to record their biggest league win for 13 months.
True, Fulham were woeful, but the victory puts United back in the top six and the goal difference back in the positive column.
This was more like the type of display that manager Jose Mourinho wants and he insisted this was the blueprint his United side need to maintain for the rest of the season.
“The first half was really, really good at every level,” he said.
“The players understand that when we have 11 players sticking together, we can be a much better team.
“The team was clearly there to win and give everything and when you give everything no one can point the finger at you, even when the opponent is better.
“What I want is not one single United fan to point the finger at us and say we do not give everything.”
In his search for a winning formula, Mourinho had brought up a half-century as he made four changes from the line-up that had drawn with Arsenal in midweek.
That made it 50 changes in 16 games, but for the third time in four games, record signing and World Cup winner Paul Pogba started on the bench.
However, the manager revealed afterwards that the Frenchman would be in the side for Wednesday’s Champions League game in Valencia.
“Paul has to play with the same mentality as the team is playing,” he said. “Paul can be a fantastic player. He has the potential. He is going to start against Valencia and he is going to show everyone how good he is.”
With Pogba watching from the bench, Ashley Young got things going when he cut inside the weak challenge of Denis Odoi and hit an unstoppable shot into the far top corner to score his first goal for over a year.
The shackles were off and United soon had a second. Marcus Rashford had so much space to run into, but he had the presence of mind to look up and find Juan Mata, who bagged his 50th Premier League goal.
The Spaniard then turned provider when he was alive at a short corner to play an incisive one-two with Jesse Lingard, before putting a chance on a plate for the recalled Romelu Lukaku to score from six yards for his first goal at Old Trafford since March.
There should have been more goals after the break. Rashford was denied by Sergio Rico, while both Lukaku and Ander Herrera shot wide from good positions. Then from nowhere, the visitors were granted a soft penalty when Aboubakar Kamara was adjudged to have been tripped by Herrera, and he picked himself up to score.
But any sense of a lifeline was taken away a minute later as Andre-frank Zambo Anguissa was sent off for a second yellow card.
Although a second glance showed the Frenchman was unlucky as he appeared to get a touch on the ball and he wasn’t helped by Rashford’s reaction to his challenge.
A more realistic look then returned to the scoreline as Rashford made it four.
Minutes after missing an easier chance, he was invited to shoot from distance and beat Rico at his near post with a fearsome shot.
That completed the punishment for Fulham, who have now conceded 40 goals in 16 games and it’s easy to see where the main problem is for manager Claudio Ranieri.
He said: “I told my players that if we play like the first half, we will be relegated.
“If we play like the second half, we survive.”