By MARTIN SAMUEL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
There may have been a moment, after referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot, when Wayne Rooney fondly imagined he would be taking it. You know, like usual.
And then a giant man with a top-knot calmly collected the ball and placed it on the spot. Rooney lives in Zlatan’s world now. And in Zlatan’s world only one man gets to take the penalties.
So Zlatan Ibrahimovic stepped up and stuck the ball, smartly, low to Fraser Forster’s right. It was his second goal of the night and Manchester United were 2-0 up. All was right in Zlatan’s world.
Rooney won’t have minded, whether he was forewarned or not. He has got what he has needed for several years now; a proper goal-scoring foil, a partner who wants to take responsibility, to shoulder as much as share the load.
Ibrahimovic’s first goal was a header from a magnificent cross by Rooney — even if he was given too much room to deliver it – and while the pair keep harmonising like this, United may remain the team to beat in the Premier League title race.
It helps when opponents capitulate as Southampton did, a reasonably spirited performance undermined by a foolish challenge from Jordy Clasie on Luke Shaw, to concede the penalty that locked them out of the game. They did not look like coming back after that, and United could have gone further ahead with a Paul Pogba header after 64 minutes, and break through Anthony Martial a minute later.
Jose Mourinho said he didn’t expect Pogba to beat five people with his first touch.
One would have been enough, to be fair. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any manoeuvre Mourinho wouldn’t have preferred to what occurred mere seconds into the game.
It wasn’t quite an air shot from the £89million most expensive footballer in the world, but it was pretty close. Pogba got just enough on the ball to divert it into the path of a Southampton man and send United’s opponents away. The break came to nothing but, even so, it was a rather inauspicious start. Happily, it was an aberration rather than the standard for the night.
Pogba’s passing wasn’t always exemplary, but that sometimes happens with a player who is involved as much as he is.
No doubt wanting to make an impression, he was everywhere. Up in support of the forwards, back helping out Luke Shaw, he was an imposing presence, exactly what United need — the sort of midfield powerhouse Arsenal once boasted in Patrick Vieira. On occasions, an opponent would think he had him, only to be bundled off the bar, run over by this combine harvester of arms and legs.
It was March 18, 2012, when Pogba last played for United — a 5-0 win over Wolves, 1,616 days ago. He came on as a 57th-minute substitute for Michael Carrick with the score at 4-0.
It is fair to say the player who has returned is unrecognisable — not in ability, necessarily, but in confidence and impact. In the 29th minute, an exquisitely weighted chip to Juan Mata almost delivered the breakthrough, the ball headed on to Ibrahimovic whose overhead kick travelled wide. What a start to his Old Trafford career that would have been.
Undoubtedly, what Mourinho has done this summer is create a United team that lives up to the name. In the 13th minute, Rooney found Mata, whose ball reached Ibrahimovic teeing up a shot for Pogba. It was saved by Forster. Rooney, Mata, Ibrahimovic, Pogba: now that is some roll call. That is how a United build-up should sound.
Yet, as if to remind that this is still a work in progress, an act of construction on Mourinho’s part, before United opened the scoring they did give Southampton several opportunities. The best came in the 17th minute when substitute Clasie — on for Oriol Romeu, injured and unable to continue past 11 minutes — found Nathan Redmond on the right. He sped away and should have set up a first goal but overcooked his cross, which eluded Dusan Tadic at the far post, with the goal invitingly open.
Soon after, a Shane Long shot — after a free-kick was only half cleared — flew just wide, and a mistake by Daley Blind ended in a Southampton break which Long finished, weakly.
So it was United who broke the deadlock nine minute before half-time — and Ibrahimovic who rose to the occasion like a true star, once more. Of his three United goals up to this point, this was arguably the most impressive: a mighty header that left goalkeeper Forster no chance and bonded him to the home crowd, in an instant.
Claude Puel, Southampton’s manager, must be sincerely sick of the sight of Ibrahimovic by now. He faced him seven times as Nice manager and in that run Ibrahimovic scored 11 goals for Paris Saint-Germain. In the only game of that seven in which he didn’t score, it was his touch that forced a Nice player to put through his own net.
Yet a share of the spoils, at least, must go to Rooney for the cross. It is hard to imagine Old Trafford will see a better one all season. Rooney chased the ball out to the right, and had enough time to tee it up before firing it perfectly on to Ibrahimovic’s head.
It was almost a corner; and to think Rooney was denied the chance to take them for England this summer. Taking nothing away from Ibrahimovic, but it would not have required one of the world’s greatest strikers to make good on a cross like that. It was almost retro, a throwback to the days when wingers could all put in crosses, before a good ball was not one that hit the first man and went for a corner.
Even so, it still had to be converted and once it was in Ibrahimovic’s orbit, there was only one candidate for that. Pogba was lurking, but never got a look in.
Neither did Forster. Neither will many of United’s rivals unless they are prepared to hit the ground running, too.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
There may have been a moment, after referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot, when Wayne Rooney fondly imagined he would be taking it. You know, like usual.
And then a giant man with a top-knot calmly collected the ball and placed it on the spot. Rooney lives in Zlatan’s world now. And in Zlatan’s world only one man gets to take the penalties.
So Zlatan Ibrahimovic stepped up and stuck the ball, smartly, low to Fraser Forster’s right. It was his second goal of the night and Manchester United were 2-0 up. All was right in Zlatan’s world.
Rooney won’t have minded, whether he was forewarned or not. He has got what he has needed for several years now; a proper goal-scoring foil, a partner who wants to take responsibility, to shoulder as much as share the load.
Ibrahimovic’s first goal was a header from a magnificent cross by Rooney — even if he was given too much room to deliver it – and while the pair keep harmonising like this, United may remain the team to beat in the Premier League title race.
It helps when opponents capitulate as Southampton did, a reasonably spirited performance undermined by a foolish challenge from Jordy Clasie on Luke Shaw, to concede the penalty that locked them out of the game. They did not look like coming back after that, and United could have gone further ahead with a Paul Pogba header after 64 minutes, and break through Anthony Martial a minute later.
Jose Mourinho said he didn’t expect Pogba to beat five people with his first touch.
One would have been enough, to be fair. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any manoeuvre Mourinho wouldn’t have preferred to what occurred mere seconds into the game.
It wasn’t quite an air shot from the £89million most expensive footballer in the world, but it was pretty close. Pogba got just enough on the ball to divert it into the path of a Southampton man and send United’s opponents away. The break came to nothing but, even so, it was a rather inauspicious start. Happily, it was an aberration rather than the standard for the night.
Pogba’s passing wasn’t always exemplary, but that sometimes happens with a player who is involved as much as he is.
No doubt wanting to make an impression, he was everywhere. Up in support of the forwards, back helping out Luke Shaw, he was an imposing presence, exactly what United need — the sort of midfield powerhouse Arsenal once boasted in Patrick Vieira. On occasions, an opponent would think he had him, only to be bundled off the bar, run over by this combine harvester of arms and legs.
It was March 18, 2012, when Pogba last played for United — a 5-0 win over Wolves, 1,616 days ago. He came on as a 57th-minute substitute for Michael Carrick with the score at 4-0.
It is fair to say the player who has returned is unrecognisable — not in ability, necessarily, but in confidence and impact. In the 29th minute, an exquisitely weighted chip to Juan Mata almost delivered the breakthrough, the ball headed on to Ibrahimovic whose overhead kick travelled wide. What a start to his Old Trafford career that would have been.
Undoubtedly, what Mourinho has done this summer is create a United team that lives up to the name. In the 13th minute, Rooney found Mata, whose ball reached Ibrahimovic teeing up a shot for Pogba. It was saved by Forster. Rooney, Mata, Ibrahimovic, Pogba: now that is some roll call. That is how a United build-up should sound.
Yet, as if to remind that this is still a work in progress, an act of construction on Mourinho’s part, before United opened the scoring they did give Southampton several opportunities. The best came in the 17th minute when substitute Clasie — on for Oriol Romeu, injured and unable to continue past 11 minutes — found Nathan Redmond on the right. He sped away and should have set up a first goal but overcooked his cross, which eluded Dusan Tadic at the far post, with the goal invitingly open.
Soon after, a Shane Long shot — after a free-kick was only half cleared — flew just wide, and a mistake by Daley Blind ended in a Southampton break which Long finished, weakly.
So it was United who broke the deadlock nine minute before half-time — and Ibrahimovic who rose to the occasion like a true star, once more. Of his three United goals up to this point, this was arguably the most impressive: a mighty header that left goalkeeper Forster no chance and bonded him to the home crowd, in an instant.
Claude Puel, Southampton’s manager, must be sincerely sick of the sight of Ibrahimovic by now. He faced him seven times as Nice manager and in that run Ibrahimovic scored 11 goals for Paris Saint-Germain. In the only game of that seven in which he didn’t score, it was his touch that forced a Nice player to put through his own net.
Yet a share of the spoils, at least, must go to Rooney for the cross. It is hard to imagine Old Trafford will see a better one all season. Rooney chased the ball out to the right, and had enough time to tee it up before firing it perfectly on to Ibrahimovic’s head.
It was almost a corner; and to think Rooney was denied the chance to take them for England this summer. Taking nothing away from Ibrahimovic, but it would not have required one of the world’s greatest strikers to make good on a cross like that. It was almost retro, a throwback to the days when wingers could all put in crosses, before a good ball was not one that hit the first man and went for a corner.
Even so, it still had to be converted and once it was in Ibrahimovic’s orbit, there was only one candidate for that. Pogba was lurking, but never got a look in.
Neither did Forster. Neither will many of United’s rivals unless they are prepared to hit the ground running, too.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
