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Manchester United beat Bournemouth 4-1 to register their third successive win under newly appointed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. United now have 35 points from 20 matches and are only 3 points behind the 5th placed Arsenal.
United led 3-1 at the half-time as Paul Pogba scored a couple of goals and Marcus Rashford added a third late in the first half. Ake reduced the deficit just before the half-time, but Romelu Lukaku scored in the second half to give United an emphatic win.
Manchester United looked a vibrant team again and could have scored more goals. They have now scored 12 goals in three matches under Solskjaer and resembled the United sides of the 1990s and 2000s under Sir Alex Ferguson. The legendary manager watched from the stands as his former club treated their supporters with yet another goal-fest.
We would now look at the three talking points from the match.
#1 Pogba again made good use of the attacking freedom
Paul Pogba has played as a central attacking midfielder since Solskjaer took charge as the likes of Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera did the defensive duties. The freedom given to him has done wonders for the team as they have looked far more lethal in attack.
He ran from near the halfway line to meet Rashford’s cross inside the Bournemouth penalty box while scoring his first goal. He also outjumped the Bournemouth defenders inside the box to meet Herrera’s cross with his head for his second goal.
Paul Pogna now has 24 goals from 111 matches for Manchester United. He has also been able to score four goals in his last three matches and seems to be a completely different player under the new coach.
#2 United’s defensive midfielders gave a commanding performance
Both Matic and Herrera were outstanding against Bournemouth as they dictated terms in the midfield. Matic played as a de-facto 3rd centre-back at times and also passed the ball very well.
Ander Herrera was excellent with his distribution and fell back to the United penalty box pretty often to thwart Bournemouth attacks. Both Matic and Herrera also defended very well from the set-pieces and won the aerial battles with the Bournemouth forwards repeatedly.
Pogba’s second goal came from Herrera’s wonderful cross and the latter frequently went near the opposition penalty box to deliver such balls.
Manchester United have struggled to find a proper midfield combination throughout the season but seemed to have finally got it with each of Matic, Herrera, and Paul Pogba.
#3 Rashford had a very good game
Rashford's continuous improvement as a player should also appease the United faithful very much. He worked very hard against Bournemouth and often moved to the flanks to collect balls and create moves from there.
He has to be given the majority of the credit for the first goal scored by Pogba as he collected the ball on the right flank and dribbled past a couple of Bournemouth defenders to deliver a perfect cross to Pogba.
Rashford scored a goal himself in the 45th minute of the match to take his tally to six goals from 23 matches this season. He looks like a complete centre-forward for United now and has begun to combine very well with Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
He could have scored another goal, but his shot from just outside the box deflected off a Bournemouth defender and went wide.
