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Goals Scored: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting 43', 64'; Marcus Rashford 46', Romelu Lukaku 57'
Chupo-Moting opened the scoring after some brilliant Stoke City counter-attacking led by Darren Fletcher and Mame Biram Diouf before Manchester United equalised just a couple of minutes later through a Paul Pogba header (from a Nemanja Matic flick on in a corner) bounced off Rashford's head and into the goal. Romelu Lukaku then put United ahead by putting the ball past the goalie in his second attempt whilst one-on-one before Chupo Moting scored his second by ghosting in at the far post during a Stoke corner.
Here's what we learned from an entertaining affair at the bet365 Stadium:
#5. International break affects Manchester United's momentum; individual errors cost them three points
The international break couldn't have come at a worse time for Manchester United, and so it proved as the Red Devils struggled to find the kind of form that had seen them smash in 10 and concede 0 in their first three matches of the season.
Mourinho confirmed that he shared this line of thinking by saying: “It was a difficult match for different reasons. My players, after the international break, are not the same. They weren’t performing at their normal level but we were in the game, we fought hard and we were closer to winning than losing."
In fact, even when talking about the Phil Jones mistake that allowed Eric Chupo-Moting a free header for the Stoke equaliser, he said after stating that Jones has been great for United and that he doesn't need him [Mourinho] to talk about the mistake - "Mistakes are part of the game, he's playing well for us, he's probably tired [after] two consecutive matches with the national team..."
Phil Jones mistake wasn't an isolated one. His partner Eric Bailly was culpable for not tracking the same nemesis' run as Chupo-Moting ran into the box to score the game's opener while Matteo Darmian, Antonio Valencia (with his rather poor crossing), Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku all made silly individual mistakes at different points in the game to break up United's flow.
P.S. Individual mistakes may have marred United's game but one moment of quality stood out in sharp relief: Let's close the book on save of the season already shall we?
#4. Darren Fletcher and Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting are a testament to Stoke's sensible approach in this transfer market
Stoke City have spent the past few windows spending large sums of money gets various shades of over-the-hill, forgotten, slightly-mad, or promising playmakers - and Giannelli Imbula - but this season has seen them go down the bargain route, and it may just prove a wise move.
This year they got Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting and Darren Fletcher on free transfers from Schalke 04 and West Bromwich Albion respectively while they also landed Kurt Zouma and I-have-a-point-to-prove Jese Rodriguez on loan deals from Chelsea and PSG respectively.
Zouma has added pace and power to the backline and showed it off well today - his defensive organisation and discipline along with that of another new arrival Kevin Wimmer's was integral in Stoke pulling off the high-line they played for large parts of the game.
Jese has added guile and slick movement up top - opening spaces that previously never seemed to exist when the Potters move forward - and although he was unlucky not to score (unlucky that the Goalkeeper he faced was David De Gea)
But the stars of the show today were Fletcher and Chupo-Moting. While the Scotsman patrolled central midfield with calm authority, making important defensive interceptions before moving forward to make critical offensive passes; the Cameroonian was in scintillating form running United's back line ragged - his pace, movement, and directness causing all sorts of problems - just like it had for Arsenal in the second week.
These new arrivals have lent an air of substance to a Stoke City side that sometimes forgets about it - the Potters should be in for a good season this time around.
#3. Lukaku shows his good side... and the ugly one
150 goals in 322 appearances; and he's just 24. Romelu Lukaku is an absolute beast of a player whose pace, movement and scoring prowess are making Manchester United's attack a much more potent force than they were over the past few seasons.
His movement today was brilliant - it's not just his endless running, but also the intelligence of those runs that stood out - and he did, of course, make his way onto the scoresheet to make it 4 goals in 4 for his new club.
The two stand out moments he was involved in, though, showcased the great contrasts that he is often capable of.
The Good:
For the goal - movement, and timing of the run to stay onside; alertness to ensure he got to the rebound and tucked it away
For the missed chance - simply sublime movement in the box to leave his markers staring at thin air behind him; he really doesn't get enough credit for what he does off the ball.
The Ugly:
For the goal - the fact that he fluffed his first effort
For the missed chance - the fact that he missed. United have brought him in precisely so as to finish off so-called "smaller" teams with more ruthlessness and that wasn't on show today.
The Fact:
The positives outweigh the negatives massively, though, and Lukaku really does look like the real deal when it comes to being the man that could bring back the glory days to Old Trafford.
#2. The Potters are making "Can he do it on a cold, windy day in Stoke?" real again
When anyone wants to revert to the well-worn cliche that the English Premier League is the toughest footballing competition on the planet, they usually revert to the same ol' question - "Can he do it on a cold, windy day in Stoke?" - a reputation that comes from the tough, no-nonsense outfit of air-battle dominating behemoths that Tony Pulis would send out week-in week-out to terrify the likes of Arsenal and company.
For a while last season, and indeed over the past couple of seasons, that has been slipping away - a mix of the confusion Mark Hughes' tactics often brings with it and a slip in quality of the football on show in Stoke-on-Trent.
As Manchester United found out yesterday - and Arsenal have already found out - that reputation may be coming back with a vengeance. The new-look Stoke appear tough, durable, and ready to muck it out in defence while in attack they look like a real threat with genuine quality up-top.
Yesterday, they exploited United's one greatest weakness - defending the flanks - to perfection and constricted the game well enough in midfield to keep their far superior opponents generally quiet.
Keep this up, and walking away with a point from the bet365 - while not making the name of the stadium any less ridiculous - will start looking like quite the achievement.
#1. Henrikh Mkhitaryan needs to play centrally, or not at all
It was Mkhitaryan's 6th assist of the season - and what a beaut of a pass it was to Lukaku, watch it here:
- but the thing is that for large parts of the match, the Armenian wizard remained anonymous and largely on the periphery. The infrequent bouts of influence he exerted generally stemmed from his tendency to float inward into more central areas - leaving large unattended gaps on the right wing.
While it's easy to blame Mourinho for including Ander Herrera and breaking up a winning combination - Herrera was brought in for the specific purpose of beefing up the midfield against tough, big, opposition... and thus the switch to 4-3-3 from 4-2-3-1.
Thing with that, though, is that Mkhitaryan's disappearing act made it look like a bad ploy - as rusty as Herrera was, he wasn't as bad as some are making him out to be; and the system would have worked better, undoubtedly, if a more natural wide man played in the Armenian's stead (even Mata has more positional discipline than him)
If United are to play Mkhitaryan - he's been excellent, never doubt that - then they should stick to a 4-2-3-1 with him in the middle of the attacking midfield 3, or they should drop him and play either one of Mata or Martial if they are to revert to a 4-3-3.
It may sound a touch too harsh, but in the end, the system must win out.
P.S. Please let's have more of this, Anthony Martial:
