The fabled “new manager bounce” was in evidence in South Wales on Saturday evening as Manchester United ran riot at Cardiff City, scoring five goals in a Premier League match for the first time since Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as interim manager got off to the best possible start, with the Red Devils’ front three all getting on the scoresheet and Paul Pogba returning to prominence with a hat-trick of assists.
It would be foolish to draw too many conclusions from one 90-minute rout of Neil Warnock’s side, who have conceded 22 goals in their half-dozen meetings with the “big six” clubs this season.
But this was a performance of a side visibly transformed, perhaps both lifted by Solskjaer’s infectious enthusiasm and liberated from the departure of a manager whose team had looked stale and unmotivated in recent times.
Even if the Norwegian’s appointment serves only to give the United squad a psychological boost, then their Fantasy assets are worthy of consideration going forward, particularly given the appealing nature of the Red Devils’ fixtures in the short-to-medium-term: Solskjaer’s side sit second-top of our Season Ticker for the next six Gameweeks.
As well as the usual round-up of goals, assists, injury news and manager quotes, we discuss United’s eye-catching Fantasy assets and their appeal for the coming weeks.
Cardiff City 1-5 Manchester United
- Goals: Victor Camarasa (£4.6m) | Marcus Rashford (£7.0m), Ander Herrera (£5.0m), Anthony Martial (£7.3m), Jesse Lingard (£6.7m)
- Assists: None | Paul Pogba (£7.8m) x3, Jesse Lingard
Given that his name was often synonymous with the general apathy of the late-Mourinho era, it seems only right to start this recap with Paul Pogba (£7.8m).
The French international made his first league start since December 1st and it was fitting that he racked up his highest FPL score of the season in the first game after Mourinho’s departure, doubling his assist count for 2018/19 in one fell swoop.
The United team line-up didn’t look too dissimilar to a Mourinho set-up of yore, with Pogba stationed on the left of a central midfield three alongside anchor Nemanja Matic (£5.0m) and the bustling Ander Herrera (£5.0m).
There the similarities ended with the recent displays under the “Special One”, however.
The word “unshackled” has been repeatedly trotted out in newspaper headlines and match reports (we’ve done it ourselves) over the last 24 hours, but this was very much a performance free from restraint.
That Herrera even attempted the deflected, long-range shot that doubled United’s lead was suggestive of the freedom with which Solskjaer gave his players going into this match – something the ex-United supersub mentioned that he had been advised to do by a former team-mate:
They are a great bunch of players and their quality is unbelievable. I arrived on Wednesday night and only had Thursday and Friday with the players.
Wayne Rooney text me and gave me some advice —so it must be down to him! He told me to make them play football, enjoy themselves and be Manchester United.
I said the same to these lads as I do back home in Molde: ‘Just work harder than them, enjoy yourselves, pass it forward, run forward, if you lose the ball I don’t mind as long as you work to win it back’, and they did.
Solskjaer went on to discuss Pogba’s performance, also hinting that the player’s role may shift throughout the season – something that may encourage/discourage Fantasy managers, depending on their outlook:
There’ll be different solutions to different problems that the teams cause us.
But Paul is capable of playing as an eight, as a 10, as a six. So he’s got quality to play many positions and today I thought he did excellent.
Pogba had three shots on goal in South Wales, though the same negatives about the France international’s goal threat still hold weight – all of his efforts were from outside the Cardiff box and he only touched the ball once in the opposition area all evening. The former Juventus man was still the most advanced of United’s central midfield three, however, and ranked second of all the players on show for touches in the final third.
Pogba’s Fantasy appeal was chiefly about the assists last season (he registered 13 in all), of course, and his “hat-trick” in this fixture potentially bodes well.
While his first was a “Fantasy assist” after being fouled for the free-kick that Marcus Rashford (£7.0m) subsequently converted, Pogba demonstrated his excellent distribution – which was admittedly a little off-radar in the early exchanges of this encounter – by supplying the “key passes” for Herrera and Jesse Lingard (£6.7m) to convert.
United’s possession was 75.4% yesterday compared to a season average (Gameweek 1-17) of 53.2%, while they made 554 successful passes – well up on their mean of 406.5 per match under Mourinho in 2018/19.
What was noticeable yesterday was that United often eschewed the cross (attempting only nine, compared to a season average of 20.2 per game) and favoured the short pass instead: the Reds’ successful number of passes in the final third totalled 112, in contrast to the season-long mean of 73.8.
All of this mumbo jumbo is intended to show that, if those figures continue in a similar vein, then Pogba will surely turn the extra possession into more assists given his undoubted (sometimes frustratingly unfulfilled) ability on the ball: one no-look pass in the second half and a deft flick to Luke Shaw (£4.9m) before the interval demonstrating just that.
Pogba was heavily involved in Anthony Martial‘s (£7.3m) goal, too, the French pair combining beautifully with Lingard before Martial slotted in his eighth goal in ten league appearances.
Martial was superb yesterday and the quality of his performance may have been lost for those who didn’t see the game, with Lingard’s brace and Pogba’s return to form hogging the headlines.
While Martial’s goal turned out to be his only shot of the entire match, no player on show recorded more touches in the final third or penalty box and he appeared back to the kind of form he exhibited before the November international break.
Martial also created more chances than anyone on show at the Cardiff City Stadium and indeed any other FPL player in Gameweek 18.
Solskjaer paid tribute to his front three, suggesting his attack-minded players could improve:
I’m pleased with all of them, every single one of them, but of course it’s a threat [to have such players]. When you’ve got Martial and Jesse Lingard down either side, Rashford up top with Paul supporting them, it’s exhilarating to watch and as long as we keep that standard up we’ll keep up picking points.
When you’re a Man United player, you want the ball and that’s only of the things you say to them: ‘Go and get on the ball’. But in some periods we were too congested, four or five players on top of each.
So when we get to work a little bit with each other and understand that we can trust each other to do a job, then we can have a little bit more distance and we might even improve.
With Romelu Lukaku (£10.7m) thought to be on compassionate leave until after Gameweek 19 and Alexis Sanchez (£10.0m) still sidelined, Rashford looks fairly assured of the centre-forward role for the visit of Huddersfield Town on Boxing Day.
Though Rashford was the nominated “striker”, it was noticeable how much United’s front three dovetailed in attack, with Lingard especially prominent in central positions when drifting in from the right flank.
That the England midfielder claimed responsibility for United’s second-half spot-kick was perhaps also telling and furthers his long-dormant appeal as a mid-price midfield asset: after 14 Gameweeks without an attacking return, Lingard has four goals and an assist in his last four league appearances.
Pogba’s own allure as a Fantasy midfielder, of course, takes a bit of a dent as a result of his loss of penalty-taking duties.
United’s much-maligned defence also showed signs of improvement and while there was not to be a clean sheet, David de Gea‘s (£5.7m) goal was only breached when Rashford conceded a needless penalty.
Victor Lindelof (£4.8m) was especially impressive, moving over to right centre-half and given license to step out from the back as Phil Jones (£5.1m) covered. Shaw and Ashley Young (£5.7m) also pressed the opposition and pushed forward from the full-back positions.
Solskjaer said of his backline:
We had a session yesterday [Friday] about patterns of play and we wanted Ashley Young and Luke Shaw to push on more, it worked out well today.
The foundation was in the defending. I thought the two centre-backs and two full-backs were brilliant.
And I thought Victor and Phil at the back won so many headers that ended up down into midfield instead of a flick on and that was great to see.
While we are effusive in praise of this performance, there still has to be some reservations.
The “yeah, but it was only Cardiff” argument is easy to make but is probably valid, as the Bluebirds showed naivety at times in pressing United too high and leaving space in behind to exploit.
Warnock’s side also had the misfortune of not knowing what to expect from the Red Devils in Solskjaer’s first match in charge, from personnel through to tactics.
It would seem unlikely that David Wagner will make the same mistakes when Huddersfield visit Old Trafford on Boxing Day, with the Terriers making a decent fist of stymying Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal (albeit while conceding in every game) in recent weeks.
That said, United’s three fixtures before FA Cup third round weekend (HUD, BOU, new) are unquestionably excellent and give the Red Devils a good chance to build momentum going into 2019.
Easier tests will await Cardiff and the Bluebirds were unfortunate to come up against a resurgent United at this point.
Victor Camarasa‘s (£4.6m) appeal as a budget, fifth-choice midfielder was further enhanced as he successfully converted a first-half spot-kick to briefly give Cardiff hope; Warnock had indeed promised that Camarasa would succeed Joe Ralls (£4.7m) as first-choice penalty-taker several weeks ago.
Warnock’s post-match comments may also have hinted that Callum Paterson‘s (£5.3m) stint as an “out-of-position” forward could be nearing an end, with Kenneth Zohore (£4.6m) impressing the Cardiff boss on his return from injury.
I wasn’t disappointed by the effort shown today, we were playing against a top side with a new manager. On the plus side the crowd were up for it, and at 2-1 I thought we had a chance, if we could have got the first goal after half-time.
Ken Zohore has been doing well in training over the last three weeks, and he looked sharp when he came on today.
Cardiff City XI (4-5-1): Etheridge; Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Cunningham; Hoilett (Harris 74′), Camarasa, Gunnarsson (Ralls 83′), Arter (Zohore 61′), Murphy; Paterson.
Manchester United XI (4-3-3): De Gea; Young, Jones, Lindelof, Shaw; Herrera, Matic (Fellaini 87′), Pogba; Lingard, Rashford (Fred 79′), Martial (Pereira 87′).
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