Manchester United beat Huddersfield Town 3-1 on Boxing Day, giving caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer two wins from his first two matches. The man of the match today was midfielder Paul Pogba, who had been dropped for the last two Premier League matches in which Jose Mourinho was in charge.
The Frenchman scored twice inside 10 minutes of action to cinch all three points for United. Here’s video footage of his second goal.
https://twitter.com/ManUtdChannel/status/1077967155646341121
Pogba looks like a new man now as Solskjaer is just letting him play. The Norwegian has taken the shackles Mourinho had on this team off and the result is fun-to-watch, exciting football. And it’s made Pogba happy.
“Paul [Pogba] knows he can score more goals and create chances. He had a few assists last week. He’s happy now,” the man known as the baby-faced assassin during his playing days told the media after the game. Here’s an interesting statistical break down that’s worth taking note of:
Paul Pogba's first 14 PL games:
3?? goal
3?? assistsPaul Pogba's last two games:
2?? goals
2?? assistsWonder what changed? pic.twitter.com/FamIPCT5W6
— GOAL (@goal) December 26, 2018
David de Gea was called upon to wear the captain’s arm band today, and he responded with a man of the match level performance. He made a superb save in the first half (watch footage of that below), but wasn’t able to register a clean sheet unfortunately. Mathias Jorgensen was able to convert just two minutes from the end of regulation.
His scoring strike came after the United defenses made a critical defensive mistake in front of De Gea. Getting back to that De Gea save though, Solskjaer couldn’t stop raving about it.
“Dave’s save was the defining moment, one of the best saves I’ve seen. I could see it going top corner and he stretches his second arm out,” Solskajer said.
https://twitter.com/UnitedGIF/status/1077968258257637376
The next match for sixth place United will be Sunday when they host AFC Bournemouth.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.