Cardiff City 1, Manchester United 5
Reinvigorated Manchester United won 5-1 at Cardiff City as new Reds manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lifted the gloom over the club with goals by Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Anthony Martial, and a double by Jesse Lingard.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was the first time that the Reds had scored 5 goals in a Premier League game since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge of the Reds and they looked a much more eager side than in recent months.
Solskjaer was helped by assistant manager Mike Phelan, once an assistant to Sir Alex himself, as the Reds restored some of the swagger that had been missing from recent games against the modest opposition.
The Norwegian may only be an interim manager until the summer but with a relatively kind run of fixtures until early January he may make it difficult for the United board to ignore his claim to become permanent manager in the summer.
Solskjaer took his team to Cardiff City where he endured an ill fated spell as boss and took them down into the Championship in 2014.
He restored Paul Pogba to the starting line-up along with Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, and Martial – all players who had been sidelined by Jose Mourinho at times during his Old Trafford spell as manager.
Solskjaer’s job was to bring smiles back to the faces of United fans and it didn’t take long for the travelling fans to sing about their hero after their first goal went in.
United were up and running after just three minutes when Marcus Rashford hit a 30 yard free kick that went past Neil Etheridge in the Cardiff City goal after Pogba had been fouled by Aaron Gunnarson.
Herrera doubled that margin after 29 minutes after his long range shot took a wicked deflection off Greg Cunningham to wrongfoot – and loop in over – Etheridge after being released by Pogba’s cross field pass.
Rashford’s handball briefly allowed Cardiff back into the game when he handled the ball in the United area and Victor Camarasa reduced the Bluebirds’ deficit from the penalty spot with a rising spot kick in the 28th minute.
But Martial restored the two goal lead after 41 minutes after an interchange of passes started by Martial, who moved the ball to Pogba, and finished with Lingard laying on the French striker for a goal from 6 yards out after he had continued his run.
United were rampant in this game, dominating possession and firing in shots aplenty while Cardiff were finding it hard to cut the flow of chances down.
Lingard in particular was making life difficult for their hosts and earned himself a penalty with a mazy run after a push from Sol Bamba.
The England international picked himself up to score a confident spot kick to to the right to make it 4-1 to United with 57 minutes on the clock.
Pogba had been spraying passes around all game and almost got a goal himself but with a one handed save from Etheridge.
The Frenchman made do with making the the through ball that released Lingard to round Etheridge before making it 5-1 at the end of a very satisfying game.