Manchester United 1 Stoke City 1
Manchester United: Martial (69')
Stoke City: Allen (82')
Man of the Match: Lee Grant (Stoke City)
MANCHESTER // Echoes of Alex Ferguson's reign remain around Old Trafford, and not merely the stand that bears the great manager's time. There was one of the Scot's former players on the touchline, in Stoke City manager Mark Hughes, and, when Paul Pogba headed against the bar in the 89th minute, there seemed the prospect of Fergie Time.
But instead of a late winner, Manchester United suffered a damaging draw and Jose Mourinho revived another of Ferguson's traditions: the diversionary tactic. United's wastefulness afforded Stoke an opening and a moment of poor goalkeeping allowed the league's basement side to equalise.
Nevertheless, the Portuguese pronounced this a better display than the 4-1 thrashing of champions Leicester City.
More from the Premier League:
• Richard Jolly on Chelsea: A case of mistaken identity despite victory over Hull City
• Predictions: Chelsea bounce back; Tottenham v Manchester City to be a close one
• Talking points: West Ham need to climb the table to have any hope of keeping Payet
“I think this was our best performance,” Mourinho said. “From minute one, everything was beautiful.”
That ignored a distinctly ugly challenge by Ander Herrera on the Stoke scorer Joe Allen, which could have earned the Spaniard a red card, and a rather scrappy leveller which nonetheless contained a beauty for a winless Stoke side.
Mourinho felt a sense of injustice. “We should have a fat result,” he said. “It should be 5-0 or 6-0. Then by magic they crossed the halfway line, they scored a goal which is very unfair for us.”
It was a slight at a Stoke team he deemed overly defensive, though Hughes noted that Pogba has a propensity to leave space behind him — “sometimes talented players just want to go forwards and not backwards” — and the intelligent Allen exploited it. It amounted to a triumph of a midfielder who was a flagship summer signing; just not Pogba.
“Joe was immense again,” Hughes said. “Sometimes you don’t understand how good a player is until you work with him every day.”
An infrequent scorer, Allen has struck twice in as many games as a No 10, pouncing when David De Gea spilt Glen Johnson’s shot and Jonathan Walters struck the crossbar with a rebound.
Walters was the third substitute to make a telling effect. United led thanks to two. Theirs was a goal that, like Anthony Martial’s first for United against Liverpool 13 months earlier, brought back memories of Thierry Henry. The injection of pace on the left flank, the capacity to curl a shot into the far corner: both were hallmarks of Arsenal’s record scorer. Three minutes after his introduction, 10 United games without a goal, Martial’s goal was both quick and a long time coming. It was his first strike for Mourinho. “Amazing goal,” the Portuguese said.
After Martial started a move, the ball came back to him via Wayne Rooney as he was tackled by Geoff Cameron. The dropped captain appears to have acquired a new role, that of the superb-sub who fashions goals accidentally. It is chaos theory, Rooney style. He retains the ability to get into good positions, if not to do precisely what he intends there.
Others showed more craft, but insufficient accuracy. Pogba was particularly profligate. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jesse Lingard were thwarted by Lee Grant, the 33-year-old goalkeeper borrowed from Derby County and making just his second top-flight appearance.
“Match-defining saves,” Hughes said. “But that is what he is paid to do.”
And United, by failing to defeat Stoke, did not accomplish what they are rewarded so handsomely to achieve.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
