Wayne Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton's record and scored the 250th goal of his Manchester United career in the dying embers of the match to save the visitors from dropping all three points against Stoke City. Juan Mata's own goal in the 19th minute meant the hosts took the lead and they preserved it until the half-time despite United making 12 attempts on goal.
The second half was no different as the visitors kept on the pressure but were not able to break down the Stoke defence. Mourinho brought on Rashford, Rooney and Lingard in the second half in hope of an equaliser, and possibly a winner. But it wasn’t until the 94th minute when Rooney curled in a freekick that the Portuguese manager might have breathed a sigh of relief.
Here are five talking points from the match.
#1 Arnautovic and Pieters combine brilliantly on left flank
While United took time getting into their own at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke were at it from the word go. Marko Arnautovic and Erik Pieters worked brilliantly in tandem and created all sorts of problems for Antonio Valencia and Juan Mata who were guarding that flank.
It didn’t come as a big surprise that the eventual goal came from the Arnautovic-Pieters combination as the former’s cut back saw the Dutchman slashing hard on the ball. Ultimately, the ball struck Mata, who had a forgettable match, and managed to sneak in from De Gea’s near post.
#2 United’s unbeaten run continues but at what cost
The visitors extended their unbeaten run to 17 matches in all competitions with this draw. However, like Mourinho made it clear in his pre-match conference a day earlier, “I don’t care about the unbeaten run... But we’re not going to Stoke to defend our very nice unbeaten run.”
The United fans all over the word will certainly be rallying the sentiments of their manager. While remaining unbeaten for an extended period of time is a great achievement, winning matches is all that matters. With Liverpool losing to Swansea earlier, and City and Tottenham playing each other later in the day, United had a great opportunity to close the gap on their top-four rivals.
However, failure to convert gilt-edged chances meant that the visitors had to do with the solitary point.
#3 Mark Hughes spot on with his tactics in second half
The former United player, who now manages Stoke, knew very well that it would be hard to contain a United side with the likes of Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba in their ranks. He made sure that the midfield is crowded to deny United a clear chance on goal.
Hughes got bodies behind the ball and made it difficult for United to find space behind them. Because of this Mourinho was forced to make substitutions early on in the second half, which brings us to our next talking point...
#4 Mourinho’s subs save the day
With Stokes making it hard for United to break down the defence through aerial balls, the Portuguese decided to take off Fellaini and bring in Marcus Rashford. The youngster had an instant impact on the game as his searing pace down the left wing caused all sorts of problem for ex-Liverpool Glen Johnson.
Rashford’s inclusion gave United’s attacks another dimension and they started making inroads into the Stoke 18-yard box more often than they did in the entire second half. Rooney and Lingard were brought in next, in places of Mata and Mkhitaryan respectively. While the chances came in hard and fast after that, it was the man from Everton who saved United’s day.
#5 Captain. Leader. Legend!
With Rooney on the pitch, Mourinho changed the formation and United started playing a 4-4-2, with the Englishman and Ibrahimovic upfront. Both Herrera and Pogba ventured even further in the opposition box which made life difficult for Stoke’s defenders.
With just about a minute to go in the match, Rashford cut in from the left but was fouled by Joe Allen, another ex-Liverpool. Rooney stepped up to take the freekick and many would have expected him to play the ball in the box and allow Zlatan, Pogba et al to make use of their aerial prowess and get United the equaliser.
Also Read: Twitter celebrates as Wayne Rooney breaks two records with free-kick goal
However, the captain went for the goal and Lee Grant was unable to save the shot, thus making Rooney the all-time record goalscorer for Manchester United, along with being the highest goalscorer for England. Moreover, he surpassed Alan Shearer to become the all-time leading away goalscorer in Premier League history.
