Manchester United laid down an early marker as they blitzed Swansea City 4-0 in their second Premier League game at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
After thumping West Ham by four goals on the opening weekend, Jose Mourinho’s men were always favourites to beat a team that had let their star man, Gylfi Sigurdsson, go earlier in the week.
However, Paul Clement’s side didn’t make it easy for them for large swathes of the tie. The Swans, in a 3-5-2 system, defended deep and in numbers and while United had plenty of possession, as half-time approached, they didn’t have much to show for it.
Eric Bailly had other ideas as he forced the ball over the line after Paul Pobga’s header off a corner had cannoned off the crossbar and was bouncing on the goal line. The Ivorian centre-back, who was having an impressive outing as it is, toe-poked the ball over the line to nab his first goal in a United jersey seconds before the interval.
Swansea, who had given as good as they got in the first-half, going close to opening the scoring via Andre Ayew’s cross-shot that came off the woodwork early on, seemed deflated as the second period began.
Jose Mourinho had opted for the same lineup that crushed the Hammers last week and the Red Devils started the second half as they had the first, on the front foot, but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.
After last season had seen them endure plenty of frustrating outings, drawing close games as they were unable to finish off teams, United amped the pressure but the hosts soaked it all up as they sought to hit their illustrious opponents on the counter.
Sensing a change was required, Mourinho sent on Marouane Fellaini and Anthony Martial for Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford with 15 minutes remaining.
The Portuguese tactician would have been happy with one goal, which would effectively have sealed the result but even he could not have predicted what would unfold next.
Romelu Lukaku, who had scored a brace against West Ham, added another to his tally in the 80th minute after good work from Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
As Swansea slumped their shoulders in resignation, they were forced to pick the ball from their net within two minutes again.
Pogba then scored his second goal of the season, sending a delightful dink over Lukasz Fabianski after Mkhitaryan had slipped him in. Martial would ensure last week’s scoreline was repeated with a typical winger’s goal two minutes later.
Eight goals in just two games cannot be overstated and while it is still early in the season, United look like the team to beat and will almost certainly be top of the league after the weekend’s action is completed.
They next face Leicester City at home on August 26 while Swansea will be seeking to avoid an upset when they travel to MK Dons in their League Cup tie on Tuesday night.