Manchester United roll back the years in dominant display

It was at this stage last year, that tongues were wagging amongst the Old Trafford faithful and memories of the good, old halcyon days under Sir Alex Ferguson were being brought up as Manchester United reverted back to their traditional attacking style under Ole Gunnar Solsksajer and then the wheels fell off.

So, most United fans will try to temper their expectations after a brilliant week for them after a satisfying win against Manchester City before their rampant display against LASK in the Europa League. Yet, it seems Manchester United are on the rise again.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s men came into their Europa League tie with confidence after their derby win against Manchester United and against Europa League upstarts LASK, they were expected to have a comfortable day at the office and they did not disappoint with the team in sync, even though Wan-Bissaka, Matic and Martial were rested with their upcoming Premier League tie against Tottenham  Hotspurs in the back of Solskjaer’s mind. However, the ever-increasingly important Bruno Fernandes started and was at his mesmerising best, as he helped United to a 5-0 win against LASK in an empty stadium due to Coronavirus fears.

LASK had started well enough but United got their first chance of the game with some quick interplay amongst the Manchester United players leading to Dan James trying to finesse a shot into the bottom right corner. James seemed visibly frustrated as the LASK goalkeeper saved it, as his long goal drought continued.

In the meantime,  United began to dominate with the LASK press being easily bypassed and United soon had their goal after Bruno Fernandes received the ball on the half-turn and played a pass to Odion Ighalo who with a brilliant piece of skill juggled the ball, twisting the LASK defenders side to side before unleashing an unstoppable half volley into the top left corner as the Nigerian striker once again continued to impress on a rare start for him. Ighalo could have made it 2-0 before halftime as Fernandes flicked a gorgeous pass into the United strikers path with the outside of boot but contrived to hit the post.

Manchester United upped the tempo in the second-half as they sought to put this tie beyond LASK and Dan James with his first goal in a long time helped United closer to that goal as he used the run of Fernandes to allow him to have more space before burying the shot. The Welshman seemed visibly pumped after that goal and it would cap a good performance for him. Fred who has enjoyed a recent upsurge in form was also impressive against LASK with some beautiful passes from midfield carving the LASK defence.

Deep into the second-half and with Solskajer having substituted Dan James, Fernandes and Ighalo, it seemed the United boss was settling for the 2-0 win but United scored goals in the last eleven minutes to put the tie truly beyond LASK.

Once again, it was Fred after receivng a pass from Mata immediately played a through ball to the Spaniard who had continued his run, before Mata cooly finished. It was a beautiful goal, reminiscent of the times when Manchester United was dominant in the Premier League as well as in Europe Mason Greenwood grabbing United’s fourth after Tahith Chong fresh from signing a new contract released the United hotshot before Greenwood left-footed shot hit the post and went in.

Before Andreas Pereira capped off United’s win with a truly sensational goal on a day of beautiful goals for Manchester United, Pereira receiving the ball after a free-kick was quickly taken and with seconds left on the clock, shot a dead ball similar to how Cristiano Ronaldo strikes it and as the ball the suddenly dipped the LASK keeper couldn’t get a strong enough touch to keep it out.

All in all, a good days work at the office for Manchester United. No doubt their fans will be hoping that this recent good run of form will continue against Tottenham.