Jose Mourinho’s men have had a flying start to the season but their biggest test so far arguably was supposed to come against Stoke City and as expected, it did. A resilient Stoke City with compact defence allowed United to have large fragments of the ball but defended well. An opening goal from Choupo Moting saw United react instantly to it and the equaliser came from Pogba. United took the advantage in the second half but Choupo Moting struck again with a header from a corner to help his team secure a draw. Here is how United are rated:-
GK: David De Gea – 7.5/10
Unlucky honestly to concede two goals and both of them were situations where the defence let him down badly. Reacted stunningly in the second half to keep Jese from scoring and did match Shaqiri’s efforts with his hands.
RB: Antonio Valencia – 5.5/10
Nothing brilliant and much more subdued from the right today.
CB: Eric Bailly – 6.5/10
His ball control and firm reactions are a delight to watch at times. The only major error would be not tracking Choupo Moting for Stoke’s opener. Fared considerably well otherwise.
CB: Phil Jones – 6/10
Severely at fault for Stoke’s equaliser and he was mediocre today. Struggled as Stoke targeted the right region.
LB: Matteo Darmian – 4.5/10
He was getting pummeled down the right and didn’t contribute anything significant to the attack. Disappointing.
CDM: Nemanja Matic – 6.5/10
Put in the effort again and prowled around always to get the ball back for United. Tidy and effective.
CM: Ander Herrera – 5/10
Too monotonous and predictable while moving forward to supplement the attack. Added a bit of strength to the midfield but could have done way better.
CM: Paul Pogba – 5.5/10
His consistency is a little bit of a shocker at times. Got the opening goal as it fell kindly for him but since then it was a very slow performance and he wasted a few basic through ball chances too.
LF: Marcus Rashford – 5/10
Didn’t look like his day today. Both Cameron and Pieters did an excellent job on him and he was substituted in the second half.
RF: Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 5.5/10
Probably the only one who looked like a threat, surging forward at times and trying to make it work. Played a beautiful ball to let in Lukaku for his second. He is going to be vital for United this year.
ST: Romelu Lukaku – 6/10
Disappointing delivery from United didn’t even help his cause but when he got the ball from Mkhitaryan he scored and took the chance. Should improve on his finishing during crunch moments since he blew a splendid chance from Martial’s cross.
Substitutes:-
RF: Juan Mata – 5/10
Came on with twenty minutes left and couldn’t penetrate Stoke like he wanted to.
LF: Anthony Martial – 5/10
Came on the same time as Mata and he could not help with changing the result. Jogged and passed around and the day ended.
Jesse Lingard – 5/10
Hardly got a solid chance to do something different.
