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Mourinho begin on a winning start with United

By Daily Sports on July 17, 2016

At this stage of pre-season it is less about what Jose Mourinho can do for these Manchester United players and more about what they can do for Jose Mourinho. Form and fitness are more important than collective performances and in that respect this 2-0 success against Wigan Athletic was a decent afternoon's work for the Special One and his squad, which is still without its Euro 2016 participants.

New signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave a good account of himself, linking up well with his front-running colleagues and supplying plenty of ammunition for good measure. He could not however find the target when presented with his best opportunity to score. Mkhitaryan proved himself to be an excellent finisher at Borussia Dortmund and will score plenty for United too.

The United fans who made the short trip to Wigan will have been pleased to have seen Luke Shaw play 45 minutes for the first time in 10 months. He broke his leg last winter against PSV in the Champions League and had a gentle run out in the first half here.

Andreas Pereira was one of those snatched the chance to impress from the moment he was introduced at half time. The young Belgo-Brazilian asked for the ball and attempted to run United through midfield in the second half. He also found himself on the end of a blocked Ander Herrera shot and smashed a drive past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Wigan goal. That was United's second - they were never threatened by Gary Caldwell's side - and enough to put the game beyond the hosts.

Just prior to that it was Will Keane putting United ahead after Juan Mata capitalised on a Jaaskelainen error to square the ball for his second-half strike partner.

Mata was jettisoned once by Mourinho so far in his career after the two clashed at Chelsea and found himself on the bench from the get-go here. He will have to do plenty to convince the new boss of his worth at Old Trafford but got off to a decent start.

Less encouraging was the performance of Memphis Depay. Like Mata, he is very much playing for his future at Old Trafford but could find little momentum in his first outing of the summer. He did not excel one on one against his marker Ryan Taylor and wasted a good first-half opportunity to stab United ahead following a great Mkhitaryan cross.

Herrera is another one of those who could find themselves on the way out of the club depending on Mourinho's impression of them but he played with plenty of aggression and purpose. He sought the initiative in the midfield, pushing United forward whenever he could, and set about the Wigan opposition with relish.

Jesse Lingard, too, played the first half like it was a league game. There was little "pre season" in the way the FA Cup-winning goalscorer conducted himself; at full pace and with purpose. He was unlucky not to score with a blocked effort after a clever Mkhitaryan pass.

New signing Eric Bailly survived the half-time cull along with Daley Blind and Herrera and was solid in his defending. If United are going to have a lot of the ball though he will have to brush up on his distribution.

•Culled from goal.com. Photo shows Jose Mourinho

Source Daily Sports

Posted July 17, 2016