Manchester United won against Wigan Athletic 4-0 in their fourth round match of the FA Cup. The scoreline would make anyone feel that United would have had a comfortable victory. But it was anything but that.
Manchester United were made to work hard for their victory, at least in the first half. United looked out of sorts in the first half as they lacked any sort of penetration. This was mainly because how Warren Joyce had set up his side. Warren, who was associated United until quite recently made his team press the ball from the very onset of the match. Wigan played some wonderful one-touch football in the midfield as they looked the more attacking side for the first quarter of the game. United were only playing sideways passes and every attack they attempted, fizzled out in the final third. And it looked as if Waren Joyce had ticked all the boxes which required to pull off another upset this weekend.
But that all changed when United got their first goal right before the stroke of half time. The goal came through Fellaini’s header after he was found by a wonderful cross by Schweinsteiger. That pretty much broke Wigan hearts and the momentum swung United’s way in the second half. United went on to score another 3 goals in the second half.
United’s bench strength looks good:
Mourinho decided to shuffle around with his squad a bit in order to give players some game time. Luke Shaw, Martial Fosu-Mensah all got starts. Bastian Schweinsteiger also made his first start of the season for the Red Devils. And all these players put in a great shift. Luke Shaw made some great runs through the left-hand side and put in some good crosses. Martial, who is under a bit of pressure to perform, played good quality football and capped it up with two assists. But the most stellar performance came from Schweinsteiger who controlled the midfield quite superbly and make some great forward passes. He also scored a goal while brought smiles to his face and all his teammates. This was a great moment for him as he has been missing from first team action for most of the season.
Warren Joyce almost pulled off a master stroke:
Warren Joyce had been associated with United for almost a decade before leaving the club in November of 2016. He came back to Old Trafford with his Wigan side and almost managed an upset. He had prepared his side brilliantly and knew exactly where to punch United so that it hurt them the most. His team kept on pressing United whenever they didn’t have possession and that pushed the home side into making a lot of errors. Wigan were happy to let United play in their own half and frustrate them. But ultimately his team could not carry out the plan and lost the match. He did what teams have been doing to United recently, stop their midfield from functioning. And suddenly Mourinho’s team look a totally different side.
Mourinho will definitely bring back his regular first team players when they face Hull City during the week. But he will feel a lot more relaxed knowing that his bench is in good shape and they can perform whenever called upon.
