A win that was so immensely satisfying not just because United played superbly, particularly in the second half, or that United came from behind to win, but mostly due to the satisfaction of having won following the gross injustice of that disallowed first half goal.
The benchmark had been set earlier when Rashford was elbowed in the face in the penalty area but the ref waved play on. In the later incident, the ref saw the coming together of McTominay and Son in the build up to United’s ‘goal’ and saw nothing wrong and allowed play to carry on! But then he himself changed his own decision. In the build-up, Son attempted to pull back McTominay and the Scot was only fending Son off. McTominay was not then booked for his ‘foul’ (it would have been his second yellow). Suffice to say that while the Professional Game Match Officials Board justified the ref’s decision, all three Sky pundits, Roy Keane, Micah Richards and Jamie Redknapp agreed that the goal should have stood. Nonetheless justice was served and United got the three points they so richly deserved. Well done to the Boss for his criticism of the talented Son for his play acting in this part. The player certainly went down a notch or two in my esteem.
My Man of the Match was Paul Pogba. While he struggled to impose himself in the first-half, albeit he did conjure one incredible pass through to Cavani for the disallowed goal, in the second half Pogba took off and was just an imperious force that no one could get near, providing at the end the assist to Greenwood whom closed the match.
Manchester United are now unbeaten in each of their last 23 Premier League away games (W15 D8) – only Arsenal between April 2003-September 2004 (27 games) have registered longer such away runs in English top-flight history.
Following Leicester’s loss earlier in the day, the Reds have moved nine points ahead of the Foxes in second place and look sure to finish the season in the top four. This season United have now won 28 points after failing behind. We now look forward to the return match against Granada on Thursday. The latter had a good match this weekend , bouncing back by winning away at Real Valladolid.
Article contributed by Contributor Kenneth. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.