Swansea vs Man United

While also secretly supporting Swansea, I'm starting the road of becoming less biased as that won't get me anywhere in football journalism. Here is the first Premier League game that I'm doing a match report on, and it certainly won't be the last.

On a sunny day at the Liberty it was a rampaging Manchester United side that left the swans gasping for air as three quickfire goals ended all hope for Swansea.

It was a very bright start to the game at the Liberty. When Bailly tried to find row Z, and it wasn't the last time either, he smashed it against Ayew only for him to miss hit a cross, hitting the bar in the process. Around 5 minutes later Mata then whipped in a dangerous freekick to which Phil Jones of all people shouldered it onto the bar with Swans keeper Fabianski scrambling. A sign of things to come? Nope.

As a matter of fact up until the 30th minute, it was constant United pressure, but yet they created very little with all the possession with Swansea defending very well. United received a scare however, when a booked Pogba went in late on a tackle only to get a talking to from the referee.

Overall the half was so dull that Swans defender Alfie Mawson had to head Rashford through on goal to give the fans some action, only for Rashford to try and chip a fully standing Fabianski making it easy for Pole. It was clear to see why United had the 4th worst conversion rate out of the Premier League last season converting 9.14% of their chances.

To be honest the only true highlights of the half so far were the cameraman being knocked out of the way by the onrushing linesman, only to see him complain later on, and Eric Bailly achieving his dream of smashing the ball out of the stadium only for the Swansea fans to chant "We want our ball back".

So after Bailly achieved his life's ambition, I doubt he would've cared too much when he stuck the ball into the Swansea net from the corner after a powerful Pogba header was expertly saved by Fabianski onto the bar, only for the incoming Ivorian to prod home.

Anyway, the second half is underway and unfortunately, it's just like the first half. United pressure, only nothing to show for it. Forcing Swansea to hit hopeful punts up the pitch to a poor Tammy Abraham which 99% of the time, didn't work. However, the 1% did see Swansea create a very decent opportunity after a slightly overhit cross by Olsson, Abraham leapt as high as he could, but he put it just over the bar. The defending is there to be questioned though as Abraham had acres of space with not a red shirt near him.

After a dull game of football, it needed some sort of spark, someone to take the game by the scruff of it's neck. Step up Anthony Martial...

After his arrival, the goals came flooding in. After a little scrap between a couple of United and Swansea players, Mkhitaryan managed to find some space and feed a ball into Lukaku who, like every good striker, took his time, and placed it into the far corner. 2-0 Manchester United. Minutes after, Mkhitaryan was again involved placing an inch perfect ball through to the overlapping Pogba who, like Lukaku, remained calm and simply dinked it over the onrushing Fabianski. 3-0 Manchester United. Then as Swansea stormed forward in numbers leaving them vulnerable to the counter attack, they lost the ball. Pogba darted forward, found Martial who still had lots to do, and after some dazzling close control, cut inside, and placed it once again, into the far corner. 4-0 Manchester United.

And then came full time. Even though I think we all wished for a game like the last ten minutes, it was still a poor showing from the Swans but an excellent showing from United who, despite playing poorer teams, have really made a statement in the league and they are looking like early contenders.

MOTM: Paul Pogba

After a scintillating display, Paul Pogba for me was the best player on the pitch. Involved in 90% of United's attacks, a goal and an assist was the icing on the cake after a top performance that left the Swans wondering what hit them.