After a string of negative results against the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United were under a mounting amount of pressure prior to the game against Burnley. The fans were left furious as the red devil’s crumbled in a 3-0 defeat against Tottenham. United had to respond and respond well against Burnley at Turf Moor and luckily they managed to get a positive result with 2-0 win.
Full-time: Burnley 0 #MUFC 2.
Two @RomeluLukaku9 goals are enough to give us all three points – well played, lads! 💪 #BURMUN pic.twitter.com/q15EQTStwW
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 2, 2018
United’s performance out there on the night was very good. They looked like they were at their best right from the first minute. The only way Burnley were going to cause United the problems was by their energy and physicality. Jose Mourinho tactically nullified this by deploying Marouane Fellaini who brings the same physicality and the energy in the midfield and it worked quite significantly.
This move allowed Paul Pogba to have the freedom and this freedom made him go forward to attack. The attitude of Manchester United when they had the ball is something that allowed them to play well. When United had the ball it wasn’t just sideways passing which we had been seeing in the first few games of the season, it was more of to test Burnley and see if Burnley are able to defend them. To actually challenge them in their own half and in their backyard.
Turf moor ain’t the easiest of places to visit specially since Sean Dyche has been at the helm and yet United actually managed to run over the defensive masterclass of Sean Dyche and bring back a smile to fans faces after a truly gloomy and sombre couple of weeks for the Old Trafford faithfuls.
United had most of their possession in the Burnley half which allowed the likes of Sanchez and Pogba to have more of the ball and then the quality of United took over and showed. United capitalised on the errors from Burnley and could have punished them a lot more if it weren’t for their wastefulness. The performance that United showed in the first half of the game is what Manchester United fans want to see from the red devil’s and exactly what they expect their team to be doing out on the field.
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It wasn’t just the victory which was important as it was the way through which they achieved this that was important. This attacking mindset and the offensive style of play was what everyone was asking from Jose Mourinho and Manchester United. Similar kind of performances individually and as a team is all that everyone has been wanting, asking and expecting from this club and finally they got to see some.
It is quite right to pay credit to Lukaku, the Belgian International was simply outstanding throughout the game, he was back to his goalscoring best and had been quite efficient in running on to the through balls from Sanchez and Pogba.
“In the first 10 minutes we played so well that it reminded me of the Tottenham game because we were dominating opponents – but this time we scored,” he said.
“Should we score six, seven and eight? Yes we should.
“But at least we scored two and the team was strong, defensively very good. Even with 10 men we were the team that had chances to score. We are very happy the boys can go on their international break with the feeling of a good result.”
– Mourinho after Post-match [/perfectpullquote]
