Manchester United have just emerged victorious 2-1 at AFC Bournemouth, and thus handed the Cherries their first loss at Vitality Stadium this season. All the scoring for United came via their young, talented and sometimes overlooked forward duo of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Rashford netted the game winner two minutes into extra time, giving this one the feel of an old “Fergie Time” kind of triumph. Let’s take a look at how people are reacting to this one, as well some news and notes, nuggets and tidbits.
FT: Bournemouth 1-2 Man Utd
Marcus Rashford strikes in injury time as Mourinho's men take all three points back to Old Trafford. pic.twitter.com/C0MbYj0KLa
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 3, 2018
United started very slow, but rallied back and ended up with all three points, and looked very good (in how they were dressed, not in the overall form today) in their special edition pink road shirts, which pay tribute to the Manchester Evening News. Callum Wilson opened the scoring for the Cherries in 11′, with Martial equalizing in the 35′.
Here’s an interesting statistical comparison- what Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Lionel Messi had produced in their club careers by age 21.
Goals & Assists in Club Football at 21:
Messi
42?? & 21??Rashford
35?? & 18??Ronaldo
25?? & 26??Directly involved in more goals than Ronaldo at 21! ? pic.twitter.com/qnPAWrnsVD
— Football Factly (@FootballFactly) November 3, 2018
Martial has five goals in his last five Premier League games, continuing the form that earned him the October Player of the Month award. The Frenchman took a beautiful pass from Alexis Sanchez and fired it home past Asmir Begovic. Sanchez looked a lot better than he typically has this season, starting up top and in the middle.
Perhaps this is a better slot for him, and this position placement might finally get him going and living up to his prodigious price tag, maybe?
Five games, five goals. @AnthonyMartial steps up again ? pic.twitter.com/GEg9jwtJ2n
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 3, 2018
Finally, one player who had a miserable experience today was midfielder Nemanja Matic.
Social media users really had at him on Twitter too. Here is just a small, but very opinionated sample.
A deflated ball could roll past Matic on the basis of these first 25 minutes. Way off the pace. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) November 3, 2018
I swear Matic could be in a wheelchair and Mourinho would still roll him out there. #MUFC #BORMUN
— Andrew Southwick (@RedBeardedRed) November 3, 2018
Amazing how Fred can have a bad 8 minutes after half time and get subbed and Matic can have a bad 8 months and play every game
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) November 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/PeoplesPerson_/status/1058737898944675841
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 Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.