Two goals by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting ensured that Manchester United’s 100% start to the season came to an end at Stoke City who produced an equaliser shortly after Romelu Lukaku had handed the initiative to Reds in the second half.
United’s superior goal difference, thanks to 10 goals scored without reply in their first three Premier League games this season, ensured they reclaimed the top spot off Manchester City who had scored five goals without reply against Liverpool earlier in the day.
Reds manager Jose Mourinho bemoaned a lack of sharpness in his players following the international break in their first real test of the season away at Stoke – who haven’t been beaten by the Reds at home since Sir Alex Ferguson was the United boss.
He said: “Behind at 1-0 and 2-2 which is almost the same as going behind again. It’s easy to feel that some of the players were not with the sharpness and intensity with the decision making – I know – after national teams.”
With organised Stoke hard to beat, Mourinho conceded that a draw was a reasonable result: “It’s probably a fair result.” said the Portuguese. “One team wanted to win and another team wanted to draw. The team who wanted to draw fought hard for that and it’s becoming quite trendy in the Premier League this way to defend now.
“We tried to win in the last 20 minutes – that much was clear – but we couldn’t.
“We could have scored more goals and won, yes, but we could have also not conceded that second goal which is a really a bad goal to concede.
“We’re disappointed but we have to be honest and say Stoke City probably deserved a point.”
He added: “We have ten points after four matches and are top of the league.
“We are OK and there are many good teams in the league. Every match is a difficult match, every point is a point you have to fight hard for. I have the same mood and mentality as when we had three matches, nine points, zero goals against.”
Choupo-Moting, who arrived at Stoke this summer as a free transfer from Schalke, became the first player to beat David De Gea this season and stunned the Reds with the first goal in the 43rd minute.
But United were level before the break – just 161 seconds later – when Paul Pogba’s header went in off Marcus Rashford in first half injury time – his second strike of the season.
Lukaku put the Reds into the lead in the 57th minute with his fifth goal of the season after Henrikh Mkhitaryan put him through but Stoke quickly cancelled out that strike with a header from Xerdan Shaqiri’s corner following a slip by Phil Jones.
The Belgian striker wasted a late chance to score the winner after blazing over Antonio Valencia’s cross while Jack Butland in the Stoke goal ensured that the Potters claimed a point by preventing an own goal with a brilliant save in added time at the end of the game.
Stoke City: Butland, Zouma, Cameron (Martins Indi 46), Wimmer, Diouf, Allen, Fletcher, Pieters, Shaqiri, Chupo-Moting, Jese (Berahino 76)
Stoke City Subs: Berahino, Tymon, Martins Indi, Adam, Crouch, Sobhi, Grant
Man Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Darmian, Herrera (Martial 72), Matic, Pogba, Mkhitaryan (Lingard 84), Lukaku, Rashford (Mata 72)
Man Utd Subs: Mata, Martial, Smalling, Lingard, Carrick, Blind, Romero