Manchester United miss Paul Pogba and Phil Jones inadvertently shows his importance as Huddersfield stun
Huddersfield caused the shock of the season so far on Saturday afternoon at the John Smith Stadium when they beat Manchester United for the first time since 1952.
Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre scored the goals in the first half as Jose Mourinho’s side crashed to their first defeat of the season which means they are winless in their last two Premier League games.
Substitute Marcus Rashford pulled one back for United when he latched onto Romelu Lukaku’s fine cross but it was the most they deserved on the day.
Here’s five things we learned from United’s dire display as Huddersfield impressed…
No luck for Jones
This season Mourinho had put his faith in Phil Jones and the former Blackburn defender had not disappointed but it was him who was left disappointed after he picked up yet another injury. Jones’ United career has been blighted with injuries – both long and short term – but it looked like he was on his way to his best before limping off with a hip injury.
If it was bad luck for Jones, it was even worse for United though as his departure meant summer signing Victor Lindelof came on. And he was disastrous. At fault for the two goals that immediately followed Jones’ injury, his absence was really felt.
Unless Jones can return quickly, United will be throwing money at clubs for their prize defenders in January in an attempt to avoid playing Lindelof.
United looked rattled throughout
In the same way Manchester City seem to just put their foot down and slide into another gear, United seem to just be stalling. United never settled at the John Smith’s stadium and there seemed like something bad was forthcoming when Anthony Martial just starting kicking Huddersfield players like it was going out of fashion as his frustrations grew.
As a result Mourinho told the winger not to tackle when tracking back while Ashley Young, who was playing behind Martial, was screaming the opposite. Confusion reigned and with it came the concession of goals to ruin David De Gea’s shot at a Premier League record. A clean sheet on Saturday would have been his eighth in United’s first nine games, something no club has ever done.
Martial was unsurprisingly and deservedly dragged off at half-time with Rashford taking his place.
Come back, Pogba!
Mourinho will be incessantly refreshing Paul Pogba’s Instagram feed hoping for more videos of his fitness progress after a hamstring injury such is the hole he’s left in United’s midfield. Who would have thought an £89m player would have been missed so much?
Jesse Lingard, playing in Pogba’s role, was screaming at Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic for service but there was just no creativity, no control and Huddersfield took advantage. Aside from that intelligence they were also missing the Frenchman’s swagger.
Every player seemed isolated and that worked perfectly for Huddersfield who hunted them down and snatched two well-taken first-half goals.
United could learn from Huddersfield
For all the fight and desire United lacked, in the first half especially, Huddersfield had it in abundance. They had a bright start to the season but have trailed off in recent weeks leading many to predict a one-sided game at the John Smith’s. But David Wagner and his players had other ideas.
They did not give United an opportunity to settle and were nipping at their heels from the first blow of the whistle. Credit, too, must be given to Aaron Mooy for following up Tom Ince’s shot which De Gea saved. It was that level of commitment to each other which United would have done well to follow.
Mourinho has never won when falling 2-0 behind in a game and, honestly, there was rarely any danger of that changing on Saturday, even after Rashford’s goal.
Is this United’s ‘blip’?
Pep Guardiola spoke on Friday of how he was expecting Manchester City to have a “blip” soon, as they did last season, and he was looking forward to seeing how his side reacted to it. Well, it seems as though United are well and truly about to find out how they will react.
Since the international break, where Marouane Fellaini picked up an injury to further destabilise the midfield, United have looked a shadow of their selves from the first seven games of the season. They looked limp and clueless in attack against Liverpool and were the same against Huddersfield, although you can add defensively inept as well.
And it’s not about to get any easier, with last season’s runners-up Tottenham up next before a trip to Stamford Bridge to face last season’s champions. Time for Mourinho to earn his money.
