PEEP! PEEP! PEEEEEEEEEEEP! THAT, THEN IS VERY MUCH THAT.
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 - 0 STOKE CITY! And that's an important three points for United as they put a touch of daylight between themselves and the chasing pack behind them, while they atleast cut the difference to City to 12 points
90' The corner comes to nothing, but Matic robs Shaqiri and feeds Rashford, but the young man can only find Butland with his weak shot. TWO MINUTES TO BE ADDED ON
89' Lukaku drops deep and plays another impeccable cross into the box that Pogba looks to be getting on the end of - till Zouma nicks in and head brilliantly away.
86' OH MY! THE COMEDY! Smalling and Shaw get in each other's way as they try to handle Shaqiri's ball into Diouf. The former United man controls the ball really well, but his shot is saved well by De Gea - and he puts the rebound wide
83' OOOOO LA LA! Pogba dances his way through midfield, and plays in Valencia down the right. The Captain pulls it back into the box where Rashford tries an audacious behind-his-legs flick that is well saved by Butland
80' Pogba and Mata are doing what they will here. The two play a one-two inside Stoke's box but Mata's ball into the box is poor. Corner, which is subsequently wasted
79' Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard depart, Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini arrive. Just what Stoke needed - the pace of Rashford and the aerial unplayability of Fellaini.
78' United are toying with Stoke as the form triangle-after-triangle down their left flank. Pogba, then, gets fed up and swings in a delicious ball that Mata somehow directs goalward - where it bounces off the post!
75' United caress the ball around the park - everyone touching the ball, and it looks like something special is in the offing... but Martial's loose, lazy, touch is an anti-climax
Shaqiri's hopeless ball is cut out by Pogba, who feeds Lingard. The Englishman races at Stoke before laying it off to Martial. The Frenchman rifles it at Lukaku, who kills the ball dead - holds off Martins-Indi and Wimmer with the ease of a grown man holding toffee above small children, turns them both with absurd ease, and smashes it in at the near post.
70' Lukaku at full tilt is a scary sight. He careens into the Stoke third with three men in blue trailing him like those annoying cans behind a Hollywood honeymoon car before massively overhitting his through ball to Martial
66' WOOOF! Lukaku runs at Wimmer, two stepovers leaving the former Spurs man looking at the wrong man, before he smashes a right footed shot at goal - which Butland does well to save. Lingard volleys the rebound at goal, and Mata tucks it in, but he's a mile offside.
65' OH! MATA! OH MATA! Luke Shaw does superbly to hold off Allen and Bauer before playing the ball into the box where Lingard brilliantly holds it up - and Mata can only blaze it over from six yards!
61' OOOOOOOOH! MY!!!! Lukaku breaks at scintillating speed as he runs onto a loose Bauer pass... he draws people to him before laying it off to Lingard who in turn does the same to feed Mata - but the Spaniard's shot curls just wide.
59' OH! OH! OH! Paul Pogba feeds Martial in the box with a tremendous eye-of-the-needle pass but the Frenchman's initial effort is blocked. Martial, though, as this uncanny knack of winning the ball back in tight spaces and does so, but Butland races out to smother before he can cock his left foot
58' Martial fakes a shot, fakes it again, runs into the box, lays it off to Mata - only for the Spaniard's ball to run across the face of goal and for Pogba to win a corner. Which is horribly wasted
57' Pogba ties Crouch in a tangle with one velvety touch and the United man wins the freekick his team were looking for to escape some high Stoke pressing.
54' OH Lukaku! The Belgian tries to play a clever one-two by hitting the ball with an acrobatic high kick, but the ball ends up hitting his face. The ball bounces back up and he does ever so well to turn on a six-pence and get a superb half-volley away - but it's straight at Butland
52' Martial tries to play in Lukaku with a disguised ball into the near post, but Martins-Indi reads it well. Bauer then goes on a skedaddle down the right and Martial is forced to stop him with a shove.
51' Pogba splays another left-footed 40-yard cross-field ball, but it bounces off of Shaw. The more Pogba gets into this game, the farther it's moving from Stoke.
49' Zouma does brilliantly to shrug Lingard off the ball and move forward with it, but he then negates all of it by passing it straight to Pogba. The enigma plays an early ball in behind the defence, but Martial is beaten to it by an alert Butland. Saved Zouma's blushes did the Englishman, there
47' Joe Allen flies into a tackle as Antonio Valencia receives the ball. The Welshman ends up bouncing off the United captain as the latter looks mildly interested with the whole thing, like a rhinoceros would be if a paper aeroplane hit him
46' Lingard tries to poke a ball through to Lukaku, but he's under too much pressure from Messrs Ireland and Fletcher to get any sort of direction behind that pass.
United have barely stepped out of first gear and they lead 2-0. Tells you all you need to know about Stoke. And the quality of the two Tonys who scored for United.
46' ONE MINUTE ADDED ON. WOOOFF!! A bit of magic from Shaqiri sees him send Jones to the wrong fire before he smacks one that's destined to the far corner before De Gea, even more magically, gets his left paw to it. Superb, superb stuff allround
45' United, as is their wont, move forward immediately through Lukaku. Some more excellent work down the flank by the Belgian allows him to float the ball across to Martial - who sends his effort spiralling into the night sky
43' When in the mood, Paul Pogba can make the ball talk, can't he? He caresses the ball around Bauer and onto Martial's path as the duo race into the Stoke box, but the linesman adjudges him to have strayed offside
42' Shaw plays in Martial with a cheeky little ball down the line, and the Frenchman picks out Lukaku on the far post but its too high even for the Belgian to do something with it.
41' Mata picks out Martial who holds the ball up with some terrific play before laying it off to Lukaku, but the big Belgian's touch lets him down and Martins-Indi smashes it clear
Oh my. Oh... my.... Anthony Martial you beauty. Lukaku does immensely well on the flanks to hold up play and feed Pogba, who in turn tees up Martial. The Frenchman takes a step toward the ball and thumps the ball into the far corner. Beautiful.
SHARE
