Manchester United put their title rivals on Red alert as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho hit the ground running with an impressive 3-1 win at Bournemouth that Jose Mourinho called a “complete performance”, because of the nature of the win and also the goal scorers.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the best with a wonderful 25-yard shot as he announced his arrival on the Premier League stage. For all the critics saying that Ibra was to old to make a difference in the Premier League, that is two goals in two goals for the 34-year-old striker.
Juan Mata, the man unceremoniously dumped by Mourinho at Chelsea, and the returning England captain Wayne Rooney added United’s other goals while £30 million defender Eric Bailly was outstanding on his Premier League debut with a commanding display which ensured they were always comfortable.
Whether United will win the league this season is something we will find out over the next 9 months, but United are box office again, and with Mourinho and Ibrahimovic they are genuine title contenders once more.
Keep in mind that United won without its £89m record signing Paul Pogba, while Bundesliga Player of the Year Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still adjusting to life in England and was a second half substitute.
United took a while to get going but once they went ahead there was no turning back. Ander Herrera launched a long ball over the top, Cherries captain Simon Francis dropped a back pass short to Artur Boruc and Mata raced in to seize on the awful mix-up.
From then on, it was one-way traffic.
United’s second came on 59 minutes when Antonio Valencia picked out Anthony Martial only for his mis-hit shot to fall to Rooney, who placed a perfect header past Boruc for his own slice of redemption after a disappointing showing at the Euros.
The best goal came when Ibrahimovic ran from deep and unleashed a stunning precision shot into the bottom corner.
Adam Smith pulled one back, but it did not take away from a very impressive win which will make the rest of the Premier League sit up and take notice.
What did you think of United’s performance and victory?
