Mata was pleased to put a smile back on United fans’ faces and hopes similar successes are to follow the 4-1 win at Old Trafford.
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City’s victory was the flawless riposte to the Spaniard’s old rival Jose Mourinho, who earlier saw his remodelled Manchester United sparkle without the dropped Wayne Rooney, thumping Premier League champions Leicester City 4-1.
The Spanish playmaker impressed throughout as United bounced back from consecutive Premier League losses to Manchester City and Watford.
Rooney was left on the bench for the start, but came on after 83 minutes for youngster Marcus Rashford.
Of Pogba, and what appears to be a promising partnership with Herrera, Mourinho was content by what he saw but nothing more.
Mourinho is still figuring out his team and he’s right that he will have to rotate players, so it would be foolish to make much of Rooney missing out on one match.
Juan Mata, who stepped into Rooney’s number 10 role, was among the scorers, but United manager Mourinho is adamant his axed star remains an important member of the team and is not sulking about the decision to leave him out. I don’t want to say anything else. “The kids too were really fast and aggressive, attacking the spaces”.
“I can only start 11 and until somebody tells me there is a change in that I can only start with 11”. “He is my man and I trust him completely”.
Mourinho, who himself has been subjected to criticism after United slumped to three successive defeats last week – his worst run since 2002 – would not, unlike his predecessor Louis van Gaal, guarantee Rooney a starting place.
“I have to analyse this unusual match because we start very well”, Ranieri said.
Without Rooney and Marouane Fellaini, United were rampant in the first half and went into half-time with a 4-0 lead. “His United won and that’s normal, he’s happy”.
Mata scored the only United goal that did not come from a corner against Leicester as he finished off a well-worked move with a fine strike.
The Korean striker has now scored four times in three games to equal his tally for the whole of last season.
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“Today we had intensity, movement, good dynamic, defensively we were very strong against a team that is easy to analyse but hard to cope with”.
