Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may lack Jose Mourinho’s stardust and silverware as a manager but there are ways he is preferable for Manchester United and Anthony Martial is the personification of a very different policy that might just pay off.
Two years ago, Mourinho wanted to sell the Frenchman. On Wednesday, Martial recorded a maiden hat-trick in United colours to take him to a career-best 19 goals this season. Similar first-half finishes were followed by a deft lob from Marcus Rashford’s pass and Martial, not physical enough to be the typical Mourinho forward, earned the match ball.
United had much else to savour. There were points this season when it seemed as though they would not even be England’s top United. Swatting aside their Sheffield counterparts puts them only two points behind Chelsea and, whether fourth or fifth place is required to secure Champions League football, a team unbeaten in 13 games look very capable of getting it. A side who have been sterile at points in the campaign now have incision and invention.
Martial brought the potency. Behind him, Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes started together for the first time – indeed, the club record buy had not begun a game since September – and contributed the creativity. On Manchester’s hottest day of the year, they sizzled.
United have excelled as a counter-attacking team under Solskjaer. The problem has come more in games when they have failed to turn possession into goals but the injection of imagination in midfield threatens to give them another dimension.
Fernandes was terrific again. He has brought ambition on the ball, the positivity to look forward and an infectiousness. He could have added another goal with an in-swinging free kick. Pogba, who had a deeper role, was also bright and inventive, particularly with a deft chipped pass for Marcus Rashford. Symbolically, each was involved in Martial’s third goal, with Rashford the supplier.
If they are getting stronger, the same cannot be said for Sheffield United. Three games into their restart, they have a solitary point and no goals. Their improbable dream of Champions League football is fading. The break came at a bad time. Both Uniteds were in fine form in March, but only one has managed to sustain it in summer.
Without their normal goalkeeper and two of their usual back three, the Blades lacked continuity and solidity. They looked still more different when their regular holding midfielder, Ollie Norwood, went off at half time. His teammates were left to chase shadows.
The game was over by then. Manchester United scored three times in seven minutes to get a rather fortunate draw at Bramall Lane in November. They struck within seven minutes in the rematch as Simon Moore, the deputy for the ineligible Dean Henderson, was beaten again. Both Moore and Phil Jagielka’s only league starts of the season have come against Manchester United and when Rashford went past the veteran defender and drilled in a low cross, Martial applied the finishing touch.
His second felt familiar, with another first-time finish from a low right-wing cross. If Aaron Wan-Bissaka can get too few assists, and if he suffers in comparison with Trent Alexander-Arnold, this was a goal he made.
The lead should have been doubled before then. Rashford has ascended to the ranks of the national heroes with his campaign to provide children from lower-income backgrounds with free meals. After succeeding off the field, he surprisingly failed on it when Martial, with an electric break, took out Moore with a pass to give Rashford an open goal. He was under pressure from Jack Robinson but it was still a surprise when he poked his effort wide.
Thereafter, Manchester United could pass the ball around with a confidence they have not always possessed. Solskjaer might have made changes earlier, with an FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday, but he did make the Premier League’s first quintuple substitution. David de Gea was not one of those coming off: he had so little to do he felt a one-man crowd.
The Premier League’s biggest ground did have an attendance of sorts as United had a fan mosaic featuring images of 40,000 spectators. On this evidence, the actual supporters have plenty to look forward to when they can return to Old Trafford.
