It was a mixture of excitement and professionalism as Jose Mourinho’s men cruised past Swansea City with two goals early in the first half. United had to win to secure the second spot in the table as Liverpool were actually ahead of them prior to kickoff. Paul Pogba returned to the starting XI after spending three matches out of the field as United played the usual 4-2-3-1 formation. Without further ado, here we look at how the United players fared in the game.
David de Gea: 8/10
David wasn’t called up for major portions of the game but his concentration should be applauded as the Spaniard produced two excellent saves in quick succession to deny the Swans any chance at reducing the lead.
Antonio Valencia: 6/10
Valencia guarded his flank well but was a bit slow to react to certain attacking moves at times. He made some occasional runs ahead but otherwise had a quiet game as such.
Victor Lindelof: 7/10
Lindelof won everything that was thrown at him and showed no discomfort at all with the ball at his feet. He passed the ball out from the back quite precisely and even made a daunting run ahead and could potentially have secured an assist.
Chris Smalling: 6/10
Smalling wasn’t tested much but was strong and used his physical demeanour to good effect while defending at times.
Ashley Young: 6/10
Young produced a decent performance too as he balanced the attacking and defensive aspects quite well and displayed why the manager rates him so highly.
Nemanja Matic: 7/10
Matic was at the centre of everything that happened with United as he orchestrated the play from the centre with his composure on the ball.
Paul Pogba: 7/10
Pogba was playing a lot deeper than required early on but settled in well in the game. He could have grabbed a couple of assists if Mata and Lukaku would have put in the excellent chances that Pogba created for them.
Juan Mata: 6/10
Mata found pockets of spaces and built the play with his exquisite touch and interlinking ability. He should have easily scored from Pogba’s delivery into the box.
Jesse Lingard: 7/10
Lingard created a lot of space for the other forwards with his intelligent movement around the box and hence United created such dominance in the first half. He provided a good ball for Sanchez’s goal and could have scored a couple himself if the finishing would have been a tad better.
Alexis Sanchez: 8/10
Sanchez endured one of his better games in the United shirt as initially he simply squared the ball to Lukaku for the opening goal. Then he scored with a thumping finish from Jesse Lingard’s delivery and hence grabbed a crucial goal and assist in this match.
Romelu Lukaku: 7.5/10
The Belgian scored his 100th Premier League goal with a safe finish and then went on to create some more chances with his movement and positioning inside the box. However, he was guilty of missing at least three goal-scoring chances and hence should have easily notched a brace or a hat-trick.
Substitutes:
Marcus Rashford: 6/10
Rashford came in the final twenty minutes to wreck havoc to the opposition with his searing pace and goal-scoring threat in and around the box.
Ander Herrera: 6/10
Herrera came back from his injury and was brought on to maintain the energy and intensity at the centre of the park.
Scott McTominay: N.A
The lad was brought in the injury time and had little time to make an impact on the game.
