The Red Devils marched into the KCOM Stadium with one purpose in mind: achieve victory. Although their victory was not easily achieved, they ultimately persevered and earned the three points with an extra time game winner scored by the young and talented Marcus Rashford. United dominated open play. They not only controlled possession, but also limited Hull City’s shots on goal to just four while generating 14 shots of their own. The away win will be essential to United’s title prospects, especially achieved in this smash-and-grab fashion.
Manager Jose Mourino selected the same squad that started against Southampton in the previous week. David De Gea started another match in goal, hoping to garner his second clean sheet of the 2016/17 season. Juan Mata earned another start, but there is speculation it could change with the performances that Henrikh Mkhitaryan has turned in. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hoped to become the first Red Devils player to score a goal in each of his first three English Premier League matches. Ultimately, he fell short of his mark, but remained an offensive threat throughout the match.
Despite their few chances, Hull did generate two chances with particular venom that do not even register as shots on target, but were truly frightening to United supporters. Robert Snodgrass curled a shot narrowly wide of the upper right corner that completely flat-footed David De Gea, who understood a dive was futile. Later in the first half, Hull’s left back Andrew Robertson placed a dangerous cross on the back post, which was expertly defended by Luke Shaw. A deflection on Tom Huddlestone shot, also almost netted Hull the go-ahead goal, however, it went wide of the net for their only corner kick of the game.
Marcus Rashford was substituted for Juan Mata in the 71st minute and made an instant impact with a delightful dribble and attempt on goal, which required every inch of the outstretched Hull goalkeeper to keep the ball from arriving on target. Rashford would later make good on his chance with a close tap-in goal on an assist from Wayne Rooney. Rooney’s dribble truly set up the goal. He shed his defender and beat him for pace to the touchline upon which he picked up his head and picked out a perfectly weighted pass to the goal-crashing Rashford, who tidied the chance up. Mourinho’s pragmatism was on wonderful display as he wasted no time to celebrate, but instead prepared his third substitution Chris Smalling with instructions to maintain the result in the 92nd minute of the match.
United are perfect through the first three matches of the season, entering the national break with a lot of confidence and the fewest goals conceded thus far. Henrikh Mkhitaryan had a wonderful display of talent, despite not netting a goal or providing an assist (you can expect him to start very soon). It will be interesting to see how the transfer period ends as United hope to move Bastian Schweinsteiger before the window closes. United will be focused intently on their next match once the international break finishes. They will play heated rivals and noisy neighbors, Manchester City, in a Manchester Derby hosted at Old Trafford. It’s a critical fixture in this young season as the teams are tied on 9 points, while City holds the advantage in goal differential. Tune into NBC Sports Network at 7:30AM for match coverage.