Manchester United eased the pressure on head coach Ruben Amorim as his side ran out comfortable winners against newly promoted Sunderland.First-half goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Šeško were me...
Manchester United eased the pressure on head coach Ruben Amorim as his side ran out comfortable winners against newly promoted Sunderland.
First-half goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Šeško were met without reply from the visitors, seeing United climb up to ninth in the Premier League table.
As it happened
In his 50th game in charge of Manchester United, Amorim was desperate to extend his side’s impressive home record as they came up against high-flying Sunderland under the management of Regis Le Bris.
Looking to put things right after his side crumbled away at Brentford last weekend, Amorim’s side started brightly and the partnership of Bryan Mbeumo and Amad on the right flank caused headaches for Sunderland full-back Masuaku.
It wasn’t long before the home side’s dominance broke the usually resilient Sunderland side. A lovely ball in from Mbeumo found Mount who, on the half volley, managed to squeeze the ball past goalkeeper Robin Roefs.
On the subject of the dutchman, Roefs once again proved himself to be a bargain for the Black Cats. Multiple impressive saves followed, as United ramped up the pressure and tried to take the game away from Sunderland.
They eventually did just that, doubling the lead when Šeško tapped home a poorly defended throw-in to all but secure the three points inside the first half-hour.
Sunderland looked disjointed and unfamiliar in the first half. Le Bris brought off winger Simon Adingra inside the first half to replace him with centre half Dan Ballard to much surprise. As a result, with a back five, they looked more comfortable in dealing with United’s press. Amorim’s side were playing with a swagger and confidence that has seldom been seen throughout most of Amorim’s tenue at the Theatre of Dreams.
The second half produced much of the same. Sunderland felt as if it wasn’t their day when chances that fell to substitutes Eliezer Mayenda, Brian Brobbey and Chemsdine Talbi, but all failed to really challenge debutant Senne Lammens in the United goal.
Manchester United looked a completely transformed side in comparison to recent performances, Amad and Bruno Fernandes passed the Black Cats off the park, Šeško looked to have come into his own as a real presence up front and Matthijs de Light and Lenny Yoro looked assured and composed at the back. The result will ease some of the pressure on Amorim as the Portuguese manager appears to be facing make-or-break fixtures every weekend.
The result and performance will give him a bit of much needed wiggle room. Whereas Sunderland, suffering just their second defeat of the season will need to make sure they’re more effective in front of goal and cut out the needless mistakes that ultimately cost them in this game. Despite an improved second half the damage had already been done in the first. To suffer only a second league defeat of the season in early October might not be cause for too much alarm on Wearside.
In their next fixtures, Manchester United are set to travel to rivals Liverpool in their next Premier League outing, while Sunderland will host struggling Wolves at the Stadium of Light.
The lineups
Category: General Sports
