Manchester United continued their run of good results against Burton Albion in EFL Cup on Wednesday evening. Current holders of the competition won 4-1 at Old Trafford in a dominating fashion.
Goal-scorers for Jose Mourinho’s team were Marcus Rashford with a brace, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard. Lloyd Dyer scored the only goal for the visitors in the stoppage time.
Manchester United showed they were a far better side while resting some of the senior players. Nemanja Matic was one of the players not featuring in match-day squad, while Romelu Lukaku was on the bench. However, this match gave us more insight into Man United as the Red Devils cruised to the round of 16.
Manchester United Take EFL Cup Seriously
This stance was to be expected from Manchester United before the match against Burton. It was only confirmed by Mourinho’s starting XI and quality of players on the pitch. Juan Mata, Rashford, Martial and Herrera all started for the Reds. Include Michael Carrick and Daley Blind into the equation and you will notice a still strong side.
The team performance was great throughout. Just quarter of an hour into the match Manchester United had a 2-0 lead. Players were making sure the job is done and they duly finished it off. All of this shows United are not prepared to toy with their reputation. Eventual defending of the trophy would be a great boost for this team. However, the road to that is still long.
Next opponent will be Swansea City and Manchester United will travel to Wales in a week commencing on 23 October.
Victor Lindelof Still Far From Expected Levels
Mourinho talked several times about slowly introducing Victor Lindelof to English football. He had done something similar last year with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Armenian international may not have had the best season of his career but it was good platform for the new one. He is delivering now and is an important part of the team.
That is the plan for Lindelof as well. However, Swedish centre-back did not seem very assured of himself, letting Burton players to run in behind couple of times. Twenty minutes into the match, he let a Burton player get in a very good chance. Still, Lindelof did not have as much playing time and he will need game time in order to get accustomed to English football.
Rashford Is Showing Ability, Not Just Talent
We all know Marcus Rashford is a very talented Manchester United player. He has been showcasing it in previous 18 months and we certainly hope he will continue. Yet, this is not just talent we are talking about. We should be pointing this out as pure ability.
Rashford may still be a very young player, but that does not mean everything he does should be noted as ‘talent’. The Englishman has obvious ability and it will only increase with time. His presence around Burton Albion’s box was threatening and his off-the ball movements were very good. He was direct and confident, something he has been showing since his Manchester United debut.
However, this was not just the potential he has to grow into an incredible player. Rashford already is a very good footballer and we should appreciate that.
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