Norwich City 1-3 Manchester United: Four Things We Learned

Manchester United have done it! They have won an away Premier League match for the first time in eight months, as they beat Norwich City at Carrow Road 3-1. Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial all score to beat the newly-promoted side, who only managed to slip one in late on when the winner was settled, through Onel Hernandez’s goal.

It was a much better performance from Man United this time around, compared to the Thursday’s match in Belgrade. Here are the things we learned

Man United Start A Run With Their Best Half Of The Season

Man United have won their second successive away match this week, after not winning away from home in all competitions since early March against PSG in Champions League. But this short run of winning streak could soon turn out to be a bigger one, as United will play another two matches away from home – Chelsea in League Cup and Bournemouth in the league.

This strong performance against Daniel Farke’s side should be a good building block for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players. It should improve drastically their mood and give them some much needed breathing space.

Man United not only won the match, but they played probably their best half of football this season. The Devils had a 2-0 lead at half-time, have squandered two penalties which did not come back to bite them and there were neat, pacey sequences of play, which is something that has not been happening very often recently.

Wan-Bissaka Shines

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was one of the two right-backs that had a good performance on the night, the other one being Norwich’s Max Aarons.

Wan-Bissaka was incredible in defensive department, something that is known to be his big thing. He made 11 successful tackles, which is more than any other Premier League player has managed to win in a single game this season.

Tim Krul Gets His Moment

Norwich City were never going to remain unbeaten with so little chances created and so many good shots allowed. But still, Tim Krul managed to get his moment. Or should we say moments, as he managed to save both penalties he faced, first the Marcus Rashford’s one and then the one from Anthony Martial.

If it were not for him, Norwich would have been completely battered and his display even reminded many of his famous game for the Netherlands at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was in that match that he was brought in in the last minute of the extra-time in a quarter-final match against Costa Rica.

His coach back then was Loius Van Gaal, who made that decision, with Krul then going to become a hero with two penalty saves.

Fred Controls Midfield

And finally, we have seen a strong performance from the Brazilian. Fred has been a very good presence in United’s team on the night. He was doing his work with the ball at his feet, nicely spraying it around the pitch and mixing up between short passes and long balls.

He also made seven recoveries of the ball in this match, which is not something we have seen often to that extent. He did well alongside Scott McTominay, as they neutralized Moritz Leitner and Kenny McLean throughout.

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