MANCHESTER UNITED 3 STOKE
CITY 0
Barclays Premier League | 2 February 2016 | Old
Trafford | Attendance: 75,234 | Scorers: Lingard 14',
Martial 23', Rooney 53'
The current crop of Manchester United players
scored three goals the Busby Babes would have
been proud of as the Reds sealed an impressive
3-0 win over Stoke City.
On a night when the club remembered the Munich
Air Disaster of 1958 with various tributes, Louis van
Gaal's men - wearing black armbands - produced a
suitably exciting performance. A couple of fine
first-half finishes, from Jesse Lingard and Anthony
Martial, put United in the driving seat at the break,
before Wayne Rooney added an excellent third
soon after the restart and edged just five goals
behind Sir Bobby Charlton’s long-standing club
record.
Van Gaal made two changes to the side that beat
Derby County in the FA Cup with the fit-again
Matteo Darmian returning at right-back, in place of
Guillermo Varela, who moved to the bench, and
Michael Carrick coming in for Morgan Schneiderlin
who was also named amongst the substitutes.
Before the game, fans gathered together at Old
Trafford's Munich memorial, ahead of Saturday’s
58th anniversary, to pay their respects to the 23
people - including eight players - who perished
after the air crash on 6 February 1958. And it was
fitting that two of the club’s current Academy
graduates linked up to give United the lead after 14
minutes. Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, a nominee in
ManUtd.com’s January Player of the Month poll
and also celebrating his 19th birthday, fizzed in an
inviting cross from left and Lingard was at the back
post to head home with ease.
Just as he had done against Derby in the Cup,
Martial was causing havoc for defenders and he
thrashed a low drive into the side-netting soon
after. Another effort, straight at Jack Butland,
followed, before he finally hit the jackpot on 23
minutes with the finish for arguably United’s goal
of the season so far.
A move that started on the edge of the Reds' own
box and involved Lingard, Carrick, Darmian, Juan
Mata and Rooney ended up with a quite sublime
curling shot into the top corner from the Reds’ in-
form French striker.
Bar little pieces of possession in the opening
period, Stoke, who actually shaded the possession
stats at the break, offered little as an attacking
threat, but Mark Hughes’ men are always a danger
from set-pieces and a corner 11 minutes from the
break almost gave them a lifeline. But when the
ball dropped to Jonathan Walters six yards out he
hooked the effort over the bar.
The Reds, who looked strong as an attacking unit
throughout the first period, had a chance to grab
another before the break when Darmian made
space and crossed for the unmarked Mata, who
had popped up in some dangerous positions across
the opening 45 minutes, but his header was off
target.
HALF-TIME STATS
Possession: United 47% Stoke 53%
Shots: United 12 Stoke 6
Shots on target: United 4 Stoke 0
Corners: United 2 Stoke 3
The second half started in the same vein as the
first, with Stoke enjoying some decent possession,
but the Reds having the better openings. One of
those fell to Rooney, who fired home on 50 minutes
after a shoulder-charge with Glen Johnson, but
referee Roger East, with a very late whistle, blew
up for a foul.
The skipper would not be denied three minutes
later though after another free-flowing break
involving Mata and Martial. The former found the
latter and his cross was side-footed in from close
range by Rooney, earning him his seventh goal in
seven games in 2016 and his 244th overall for
United.
That goal effectively killed the contest with little to
report on thereafter in terms of clear-cut chances,
apart from an angled shot from substitute Memphis
Depay, but it mattered little after the impressive
work the Reds had done up to that point which
secured a deserved and welcome victory.
FULL-TIME STATS
Possession : United 47% Stoke 53%
Shots: United 15 Stoke 10
Shots on target: United 5 Stoke 0
Corners: United 2 Stoke 5
Teams
United: De Gea; Darmian, Smalling, Blind,
Borthwick-Jackson; Fellaini (Herrera 80), Carrick,
Lingard, Mata (Pereira 88), Martial (Memphis 79);
Rooney.
Subs not used: Romero, McNair, Varela,
Schneiderlin.
Booked: Darmian, Martial.
Stoke City : Butland, Johnson, Wollscheid (Bardsley
30), Muniesa, Pieters, Whelan, Afellay, Walters,
Bojan (Ireland 60), Arnautovic, Crouch.
Subs not
used: Haugaard, Odemwingie, Joselu, Diouf, Shaqiri.
Booked: Ireland.
MATCH REACTION
"I am a happy coach. When you see how we
created the goals with fantastic play building up
from the back and finishing, that’s what I like." -
Louis van Gaal
“We’re over the moon. As soon as we got the first
goal, we were confident of getting a second and
third. The early goal was massive. It settles the
fans, the manager and ourselves down." - Jesse
Lingard
" I’m really happy with the result and the three
points. We put in a really good performance. Now
we need to keep this level up." - David De Gea
REDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Anthony Martial (@AnthonyMartial) - Great result
tonight.
Morgan Schneiderlin (@SchneiderlinMo4) - Great
performance for the #flowersofmanchester.
Congratulations to Jesse, @AnthonyMartial &
@WayneRooney for the goals! #MUFC
Daley Blind (@BlindDaley) - Great result tonight,
some brilliant goals!! #MUFC
Marouane Fellaini (@Fellaini) - 3-0 strong team
performance!! #MUFC
Antonio Valencia (@anto_v25) - Congratulations to
my mates! You made a great match! #Vamos
@ManUtd @ManUtd_Es
Bastian Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) -
Amazing scenes at Old Trafford tonight. Congrats
on this strong performance, @ManUtd! #mufc
Ashley Young (@youngy18) - Good win and
performance by the boys tonight #mufc
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