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Manchester United came into this match at the back of a seven-game winning streak in all competitions and looked to make it eight in a row in this Premier League game. On the other hand, Burnley, after a poor start to the campaign has crawled their way back up the table putting in some decent results lately. Though United were huge favourites for the tie, Sean Dyche's men could cause an upset on their day.
United was on the front foot from the word go with Marcus Rashford coming close after just ten minutes into the game. The player who is in such excellent form was expected to put that away, but he completely mistimed his shot. Burnley's gameplan was clear from the beginning. They maintained their defensive shape and looked to play long down the line ball to Wood and Barnes up front.
However, Jones and Lindelof were equal to their task and dealt with all the aerial threats Burnley possessed in the first half. United did get a couple of half chances later on but nothing substantial to beat Tom Heaton on goal. It was goalless at the half time with both teams having everything to play for in the second 45 minutes.
United pressed for the opening goal in the second half, but against the run of the play, Burnley scored twice to make it 0-2 with just nine minutes of regular time to play. It took a late charge from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men initiated by Paul Pogba to salvage a 2-2 draw at the end. Though it ended the manager's winning run, he would take a lot of positives from the way the Red Devils fought back.
Here are the three takeaways from Man United's performance against Burnley.
#3 A disappointing day at the office for Marcus Rashford
Since Solskjaer got appointed as the interim manager of Manchester United, Rashford looked a completely different player and scored goals for fun. Marcus played in his preferred centre forward position which brought the best out of him.
However, against Burnley, he was made to play down the left with Lukaku as the striker. Though Rashford had played in that position before but looked out of sorts today, he got a great chance to open the scoring in the first half but mistimed his shot completely. Even in the second half, Pogba played a long through ball to him, which the England International could not connect properly.
It was one of those rare days when everything that he tried didn't come off.
#2 Defensive mistakes proved costly again
Manchester United are sixth in the league primarily due to their weak defence. The quality United got up front could easily score three-four goals against any opposition, but their vulnerability in defence worried Jose Mourinho at the start of the campaign and is still haunting the club under Solskjaer.
The Red Devils were able to maintain clean sheets away from home, but at Old Trafford, it's been hard to keep teams out. Burnley had a game plan today which they executed correctly helped by some defensive mistakes from the home side.
First, it was Pereira in the midfield, who lost his footing and gave away the ball near his penalty area which Barnes dispatched beautifully past David De Gea. Again, towards the fag end of the match, Wood got a clear header on goal with no United defenders near him to double Burnley's lead. If United doesn't sort their defence out, it would be hard to finish in the top four at the end of the season.
#1 Late comeback maintains the unbeaten run under Ole
United and comebacks often went hand in hand and more so in the first half of this campaign. Solskjaer's United has scored first in every game, barring today, in which they played and won all of them. However, the fans wanted to witness how the team would react once they concede first in a game under the new manager.
After a goalless first half, Burnley opened the scoring against the run of the play through Barnes after a mistake by Pereira in the midfield. Woods doubled the lead with few minutes left on the clock leaving United to pull off a memorable comeback in the last ten minutes of the match.
Pogba scored from the spot to give United fans a lifeline and then Lindelof made it 2-2 in injury time. However, time was against the home side as they couldn't create any more chance to score the winner. In the battle for the top four, it was a massive two points dropped, but Ole would take the fight back as a positive from the match.
