The former United striker succeeded boss Jose Mourinho, who was sacked in midweek, and got his first win courtesy of a performance that will encourage United fans as some of their more marginalised talent came to the fore in a performance full of attacking intent. Marcus Rashford's stunning free-kick, a deflected effort from Ander Herrera and a fabulous team goal by Anthony Martial effectively won the contest before half-time for a United side inspired by the recalled Paul Pogba, who had a hand in all three first-half goals. Victor Camarasa's penalty briefly gave Cardiff hope as they reduced the arrears to 2-1, but Jesse Lingard won and scored a contentious second-half penalty and then rounded Neil Etheridge to tap into an empty net at the death to make the result safe. It is the first time United have scored five goals in a Premier League game since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson's last game in charge - a 5-5 draw with West Brom in May 2013.
The number of English players starting Premier League games has reached record lows over the past two weekends. Only 53 players - less than a quarter of all starters beginning games for top-flight clubs in Premier League game week 14 - were eligible to represent England, down from 55 last weekend. Bournemouth were the Premier League club to name the most English players in their starting side, with seven. But Chelsea and Newcastle did not name a single English player in their XIs. Data from analysts Gracenote shows the previous record low was 58 in four different match rounds during the 2015-16 season. England boss Gareth Southgate says it is "a big concern" "There's a lot of investment in academies and young players and there needs to be opportunity and jobs for them," said Southgate, who added that last year the average number of English starters was 33%. "It's a concern for the clubs as well, everyone is very mindful of the y...
Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has thanked former boss Jose Mourinho for helping him "improve as a person". Mourinho was sacked on Tuesday after two and a half years as Red Devils manager, with reports his relationship with Pogba was problematic. Pogba was part of the United side that won the League Cup and Europa League during Mourinho's first season. "We won trophies with Jose and I want to thank him for that," he said. "He makes me improve, as a person as well, and that's it. That's the past, I want to thank him for that. I'm sure that is the same for all the players and now we are looking forward to the next game." The 25-year-old France international was speaking after United's 5-1 victory over Cardiff in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first match as interim manager. That took them sixth in the Premier League, eight points adrift of the top four. They finished second last season - albeit 19 points adr...
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