I almost wrote Man Utd 7-0 BARCELONA!
I'm telling my kids that's what happened 🤣.
But Erik ten Hag's side did trounce League One outfit Barnsley in the third round of the Carabao Cup. Screw Champions League nights, this is where it's at 🙌.
This victory and performance was exactly what the doctor ordered and continues to build upon our good performance and result from Saturday.
United did start the game off a little slow and sluggish but that was to be expected when the manager made eight changes to the starting lineup and many of them were for bench players, players who haven't played that much or in Collyer's case, a youngster.
Once the home side got in the groove though, there really was no stopping them.
Erik ten Hag chose to start his adopted son Marcus Rashford as striker which perhaps wasn't too surprising as he's done it before and considering the opponent, it probably should've been expected.
That decision proved to be correct as just 15 minutes in, he scores a very good goal after a great big switch by Garnacho to get the Doctor in. A superb first touch was followed by dragging the ball inside the defender before he placed it in the top corner to give United the lead.
MUFC continued their pressure as 20 minutes later, they were awarded a penalty after Antony was brought down by Barnsley's 'keeper.
To everyone's surprise, the Brazilian himself stepped up to take it. A powerful shot to his right saw the ball end up in the back of the net despite the goalkeeper diving the right way.
This was something great to see from United to give Antony the spot kick and help boost his confidence. Really great team spirit which is something that we like to see.
That goal did Antony the world of good as his performance went up a level as his confidence grew.
The third goal all but sealed the deal as Rashford tried to burst through a couple of Barnsley defenders before the ball found it's way to Garnacho who made it three.
All three forwards on the score-sheet.
The second half continued in the same dominant fashion for United as the first as Garnacho made it 4-0 not long after the restart thanks to a breakaway that saw the 20-year-old have half the pitch to himself.
Rashford then scored his brace on the hour after a poor giveaway by Barnsley in the final third.
Two players on hat-tricks.
The game then went into a a bit of a lull period before it started to pick up again with 15 minutes to go. During this time, Erik ten Hag made some changes to keep the fitness levels up of some of his players as well as give rest to others. The manager making good on his word on the importance of rotation.
Bruno Fernandes, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee all came on for Manuel Ugarte, Diogo Dalot and Marcus Rashford. Very good changes by the manager.
Late on, Christian Eriksen decided to get in on the act and score a pair of his own both of which were assisted by Bruno.
That ended the scoring and ended a very good evening for Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman will be very happy with his side's professional display and building from that positive win at Southampton.
He needs his team to build consistency and that's what he got today. There was also a continuation of United not giving away too many chances, keeping good possession of the ball, using it well and creating good opportunities. The biggest thing that would make him happy though, was the efficiency his players showed in attack.
The Red Devils are the side to have missed the most big chances in the league (12) which would've been a worry for the manager but for this specific game, those worries were quenched thanks to United's ruthlessness up front.
ten Hag will be quite impressed with some of the performances with a lot of his players as well. Antony got a goal and was in the game a lot which will boost his confidence; Rashford got 2 goals and was involved with a lot of the goals and boost his confidence too; Garnacho continued his good form as he now has 3 goals and 2 assists in two games; Ugarte put in a solid performance in his first start; Casemiro looked to be himself again; and Toby Collyer got some valuable minutes that will help him moving forward even if he was out of position.
MUFC also kept their foot on the pedal which is also something that we haven't seen very often recently. The home side's relentlessness to go and grab more goals will be pleasing to ten Hag as most of the time, they will let up and allow opposition's back into the game.
This was United's biggest win under ten Hag and due to multiple good performances, he will have that selection headache he was talking about, which is something he wanted.
There were no injuries as well which would be a massive positive too. An all round great night and precisely what we were all looking for.
Ratings:
Bayindir - 6
Dalot - 7
Maguire - 6
Evans - 6
Collyer - 6
Casemiro - 7
Ugarte - 7
Antony - 7.5
Eriksen - 7.5
Garnacho - 8 MOTM
Rashford - 7.5
Bruno - 7
Mazraoui - 6.5
Zirkzee - 6.5
De Ligt - 6
Erik ten Hag - 7.5
Final Thoughts
Let's not get carried away with this one. It was only Barnsley (with all due respect) and there will be tougher tasks ahead.
Nonetheless, we can only beat what's in front of us and it was the how we went about our business that was the most interesting thing to see.
We got exactly what we wanted in that it was utter dominance with a lot of goals, something that we don't often see from this United side.
The boost everyone will get from a win like this is another aspect to be happy about. Two back-to-back good performances and results shows signs of consistency but it needs to be sustained over a longer period. Palace on Saturday is the true test and a win like this will make us feel a lot more confident heading to Selhurst Park.
I know people will say it's only Barnsley but if we played bad and/or lost, they would laugh at us for that, and if we didn't smack them up, people will say that we couldn't even smash a League One team.
We're never going to win so we might as well just screw them all and focus on ourselves.
GGMU.
Background Image: Marcus Rashford celebrates against Barnsley | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)