It was a great start from Mourinho as he won the first match of his Manchester United regime.
Jose Mourinho enjoyed a winning start to life at Manchester United as his new-look Red Devils ran out 2-1 winners against league champions Leicester City. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of imagination, and at times Manchester United looked highly bereft of pace, a fact that’s not surprising given the advanced age of their two front men – Rooney and Zlatan. But like most Mourinho teams of yore, they finally got the job done with a late goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic who rose to head from Valencia's cross in the 83rd minute. Before that Jesse Lingard had given Manchester United the lead with a magical solo goal, before Jamie Vardy capitalised on a Marouane Felliani mistake to equalise.
Here are some major talking points from the match.
Magical goal from Jesse Lingard
The man who finished the Louis Van Gaal era with a magical goal to hand United their first trophy in the post-Ferguson era, also kick-started Jose Mourinho’s reign with an even better goal. Picking up the ball in midfield, the winger darted past a couple of strong Leicester challenges, sneaked passed Morgan and then guided the ball into the net. Schmeichel came out strongly but it wasn’t enough to prevent Lingard from scoring.
Rusty Rooney
Mourinho stated that Wayne Rooney would not be playing in midfield under him and now questions might arise whether Rooney will play it all. Throughout his career, Rooney has been plagued with horrible dips in form – that makes him look like a Sunday League player – and it was the same at Wembley as the England captain failed to show his class. His first touch was terribly off (he was trapping the ball further than he was kicking it) and he did nothing in the 90 minutes to suggest that he should be an automatic start in the starting XI.
Eric Bailly looks like a proper defender
One of the banes of the modern game is the lack of defensive capability of defenders but Eric Bailly definitely looks like one who will go against the grain. A strong presence on the field, the centre-back looked assured against a menacing Leicester forward line that included the quick Vardy and he was good for almost every part of the game except for a couple of off-key challenges. He has got pace and with time, one hopes he will imbibe the knowhow that will allow him to cancel out attacks. His desire to defend is reminiscent of an early Nemanja Vidic and United look to have a rough diamond on their hands
Vardy shows Arsenal what they are missing
While his partner-in-crime Riyad Mahrez looked off-key and distracted, Vardy was in top-form to hand Leicester City the equaliser. Capitalising on Felliani’s horrendous mistake, Vardy rounded David De Gea in the second half to give Leicester City the equaliser and chance back into the match. Vardy teamed up well with Garay and Leicester fans will happy to know that their talisman decided to say instead of becoming one of Arsene’s men.
Felliani makes a horrible mistake
Understanding Marouane Felliani’s appeal to managers is really difficult, but despite being obviously less talented than his counterparts, he still makes it to the Manchester United and Belgium national team. Perhaps this is because Felliani has a little bit of the Machiavellian about him, that slight glint of evil that his teammates don’t possess. He is a constant nuisance on the field, harrowing the opponent unlike any of his teammates. However, his star might have fallen in Mourinho’s eyes after a horrendous mistake that allowed Leicester City back in the game. After intercepting the ball, Felliani under-hit a pass to his goalkeeper that Vardy pounced upon to equalise.
Zlatan has the final say
While Zlatan Ibrahimovic might not have had the meaningful impact that you expect a player of his calibre to have on the match, he still had the final say when he scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute. The Swede rose highest to head in an Antonio Valencia cross and Mourinho will hope that this is the first of many goals to come.
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United regime is off to a winning start and while it wasn’t pretty fans will hope this is a sign of things to come.
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