Manchester United Fan View: Mourinho's nod to vintage Fergie in a late comeback

A dramatic late turnaround – after bold attacking substitutions had produced a siege of the Middlesbrough penalty area – on Sir Alex Ferguson’s birthday of all days. New year’s eve was quite a day at Old Trafford.

It was initially highly unnerving watching so many attempts on goal go begging, followed by Middlesbrough scoring with their first shot on target. However, then Juan Mata came on for Marouane Fellaini and the intensity level rose a notch.

Then came the big one: Marcus Rashford on for Chris Smalling. There were now as many attackers on the pitch as you would reasonably think possible, throwing the kitchen sink at it as it were.

It was reminiscent of many a game from the Ferguson era whereby the team were chasing goals, all the strikers were on the pitch and the opposing team were dead on their feet desperately trying to keep the tide at bay. Jose Mourinho noted the significance of this in his post-match comments:

“The fans remember Sir Alex not just for his birthday but the kind of performance we had. I think it was a great tribute,” he continued. “It was a great tribute. The fans are loving the way we try to play football. They love the players’ attitude.

“I don’t they would kill me for playing two against two at the back [after he sent Rashford on] and then losing 2-0 because it is related to how they see football too.”

The last ten minutes were electric, with Anthony Martial best embodying the definition of a livewire. He completed seven take-ons, which was as many as the entire Middlesbrough side managed combined and he made Callum Chambers look like a statue in quicksand in the process.

It is now six consecutive wins now across all competitions for Manchester United’s men but this worrying habit of needing 30 shots on goal to score needs to be put to bed. It was highly prominent a couple of months ago, when as of the 1st November 2016, the team had scored with just one of their last 91 shots. (Opta)

The goalless display against Burnley was the nadir of this trend and while the nature of this victory was exciting, the fans certainly would not mind the odd game killed off early on. Variety is the spice of life.