Fernandes and Rashford, thick as thieves
Two great competitors sum up United's spirit as they pull off a heist
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 2, City 1
Can you pull off a robbery at your own home? This result says you can. United could hardly claim to have been the better team, and their comeback had a slice of luck – the first goal, from Bruno Fernandes, relied on the VAR taking a lenient view of whether Marcus Rashford was interfering with play. But they were by far the more clinical team, with four shots on target to City’s one (take that, Haaland!). Rashford and Fernandes had had one chance each in the first half, and both of them yelled with frustration when they failed to cash in after getting in behind the City defence – Fernandes screwing a shot wide, Rashford wasting a one-on-one with a heavy second touch. Both duly made amends, turning that frustration into gold. They have such a good rapport and it showed when they did a joint post-match interview. First Rashford came alive as he presented Fernandes with the man-of-the-match award, then the two of them began to walk off arm in arm – before Fernandes detached himself, slowed down and motioned to the crowd to give Rashford an ovation.
As well as finishing, United had the edge on spirit. City are not their usual commanding selves at the moment, whereas United are formidably united. Soon after City went ahead, BT put up a stat box showing their record when they had done so in the league over the past two and a half seasons: 42 games, 38 wins, four draws. United broke that spell because they dug deep and struck late, just as they had at Chelsea with Casemiro’s 94th-minute equaliser, and at Fulham with Alejandro Garnacho’s 93rd-minute winner. It’s a sharp contrast with last season, when they didn’t have enough spirit to make a weak gin-and-tonic. For that improvement alone, Erik ten Hag deserves immense credit.
Ten Hag paid his old boss, Pep Guardiola, a big compliment: he changed United’s shape. Ten Hag (unlike Pep) prefers to be one of those managers who say to their opposite numbers ‘This is the way we play, we’re not trying to surprise you, we just back ourselves to beat you’. Not this time, though. Antony was demoted to the bench to make room for Fred as Ten Hag opted for dutiful Brazilian diligence over fitful Brazilian brilliance. Officially a holding midfielder, Fred was actually a man-marker, sticking to Kevin De Bruyne like a piece of the chewing gum he loves. It was a throwback to the days when Jose Mourinho used to make Ander Herrera mark Eden Hazard. And it largely worked – when De Bruyne played a cross so good that even Jack Grealish could nod it in, it was Casemiro who was marking him because Fred was out on the left covering for Tyrell Malacia.
‘Who knew a goal machine could be such a problem?’ Rob Smyth wondered in a WhatsApp message afterwards. ‘Not dissimilar to United with Ruud van Nistelroy,’ he added. ‘They won the title once in five years while he was there. Either side, six out of six.’ That is, three in a row pre-Ruud, and another three straight after he left for Real Madrid. (Rob went on to acknowledge that there were other factors – ‘Veron, Arsenal’s greatest team, Rock Of Gibraltar… and the one title Ruud did win, in 2002/03, he won almost singlehandedly.’) Today another United striker equalled a record of Van Nistelrooy’s from that season: Rashford matched his feat of scoring in seven successive United games. Scoring looks easy when a striker is having a hot spell, but not so much when, half an hour earlier, he has been lying on the ground in some pain after a bang on the hip. Rashford’s new-found grit is yet another feather in Ten Hag’s cap – and his re-found marksmanship reflects well on Benni McCarthy, United’s shooting coach. According to the BBC, Rashford’s shooting accuracy in all competitions for United this season is 72 per cent, whereas Harry Kane’s for Spurs is 63 per cent. It’s getting to the point where we may have to call Rashford a goal machine too.
Garnacho is such a good impact sub. This was his seventh Premier League appearance but his first against a big team. And guess what? He played exactly the same way he does against the smaller fry – direct, exciting and fearless. He makes things happen, far more than Antony, who was sent on 27 minutes earlier (as a rather miscast centre-forward, before Rashford moved into the middle). Antony will give you a screamer every so often, but his crosses are so wayward that he has yet to register a single assist in 17 games for United. From Garnacho, you get shooting that is almost as good as Antony’s and crosses that are far better – today’s assist for Rashford was his second in only 217 minutes in the Premier League, to go with two in the Carabao against Villa. At 18, he has already mastered the art of the cameo. On Tuesday, against Charlton, Facundo Pellistri finally got on the field and (although it was against very modest opponents) he seemed more of a Garnacho, able to impose himself instantly, than an Antony. Assuming he is fit, Pellistri was unlucky not to be in the squad today.
To make the win even more satisfying, United had only half of their first-choice defence. Diogo Dalot is injured and Ten Hag is being as cautious bringing back Lisandro Martinez as he was bringing in Casemiro in the autumn. Luke Shaw shone again as a makeshift centre-back, and Malacia did just well enough at left-back. But the revelation was Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who has worked out that it’s no longer enough to be just a tentacular tackler. He not only topped the tackles table for the game, with four, but was joint top of the dribbles table (with Joao Cancelo) on three. When the score was 1-0, it was Wan-Bissaka’s mazy dribbling that got the crowd going and won United their first corner. A few minutes later, it was he who found Casemiro in enough space to play the crucial ball to Rashford that turned into an assist for Fernandes. Isn’t VAR a wonderful thing?
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian and music for The Mail on Sunday. If you’re still on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.