Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge. Fenerbahce were certainly obliging opponents for a team that did not want to overexert themselves and the home crowd could even afford Robin van Persie a standing ovation after the late reminder of his scoring prowess.
Mourinho’s
team scored all their goals between the 31st and 48th minutes, starting with a
penalty apiece for Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial, and either side of that
period they did not really have to extend themselves too greatly. Pogba went on
to score a sumptuous second goal, possibly his finest moment yet in United’s
colours, and the home side were entitled to ease up after Jesse Lingard
completed that four-goal blitz. Had they not been so restrained, there was
always the sense they could add more against a side who have won only two of
their opening seven league matches in Turkey this season.
Instead, the
most heartwarming moment of the night came six minutes from the end when Van
Persie turned in a left-wing cross before raising his arm to take in the
crowd’s acclaim. Van Persie had been serenaded throughout the night and it is
also worth noting the way the crowd showed their appreciation for Wayne Rooney,
starting for the first time in five matches.
Rooney’s
appearance revived memories of happier times for the England captain and that
exhilarating night, in September 2004, when he made his United debut against
the same opposition, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-2 win. Twelve years on, this
was a more sedate performance from the club’s longest-serving player, and
something has clearly changed given that this season Mourinho announced Rooney,
Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic would share penalty-taking duties.
Pogba got his
turn after Simon Kjaer bundled over Juan Mata and the world’s most expensive
footballer aimed a precise finish into the corner. Yet it was Martial who
picked up the ball three minutes later despite the crowd chanting Rooney’s
name. Martial had been brought down by Sener Ozbayrakli as he surged into the
penalty area. The forward aimed for the same side as Pogba and Rooney, needing
three goals to move alongside Sir Bobby Charlton as United’s all-time record
scorer, was not given the opportunity to pull one closer to the target of 249.
Rooney, one
imagines, might be more perturbed by the suspicion his appearance indicates he
will be back on the bench at Stamford Bridge and Ibrahimovic will return to the
starting lineup. Rooney was, however, prominently involved during that
15-minute spell at the end of the first half when United put themselves in a
commanding position they were never likely to relinquish.
The defending
for the two penalties was certainly poor, to say the least, but Pogba’s second
goal was a beauty. Rooney started the move on the right, clipping the ball
infield where Lingard’s flick gave Pogba the chance to take aim. Striding
towards the ball, he went for the top corner and scored with a lovely, arcing
finish from just outside the penalty area.
Mourinho had
made seven changes from the goalless draw against Liverpool three nights
earlier but it was still a surprise, perhaps, that Pogba started the match, and
likewise that Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling were not rested, given Sunday’s
fixture.
It was the
front of his team where Mourinho shifted everything around, with Martial and
Lingard operating on the flanks and Mata patrolling the space behind Rooney.
Mourinho
started heading to the tunnel for half-time as soon as United’s third goal went
in and when the team came back out Smalling had been replaced by Marcos Rojo,
with Chelsea plainly in mind. The night had turned into a damage-limitation
exercise for Dick Advocaat’s team and there was a telling moment five minutes
into the second half when Luke Shaw came to take a throw-in near the technical
area and received a hug from his manager.
By that stage
Lingard had finished another neat passing exchange involving Pogba and Rooney
with a crisp 25-yard drive. Lingard struck his shot with a mix of power and
precision and those were the moments when it was tempting to wonder what must
have been going through Sam Allardyce’s mind.
Allardyce was
attending his first match since his unceremonious departure as England manager.
He was beside Sir Alex Ferguson and a few seats away from David Gill, one of
the Football Association executives who appointed him, watching a performance
in which all of United’s English players – Michael Carrick included – helped
demonstrate the home side’s superiority.
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