After a rocky start to the season, United have won two games in a row, in convincing fashion - a 3-0 win away to Southampton and a 7-0 demolishing of League 1 side Barnsley. So is this a turning point for the squad?
Early scare at St Mary's
United under Erik Ten Hag have been regularly accused of lacking playstyle on top of the poor performances in the last year, and it looked set to continue when Diogo Dalot brought down Dibling and gave away a penalty early in the game. However, Andre Onana read Cameron Archer's penalty and the momentum quickly shifted, with United going down the other end not long after and scoring from a corner through Matthijs De Ligt.
From that point on, the game was always in the hands of United. Marcus Rashford doubled the lead, again from a corner, and Garnacho capped off the early morning kickoff with a well constructed third goal.
Stronger than expected on the Tuesday
Ten Hag was expected to rotate quite heavily for the league cup clash against Barnsley, so it was somewhat of a surprise to see Rashford, Garnacho, Dalot and co. start the game, especially with players like Harry Amass being touted to get gametime this season. However, as one would naturally expect, United were in control, and they tore Barnsley to pieces, with braces from Eriksen, Rashford and Garnacho, plus a goal for Antony in a 7-0 win. Ten Hag likely wanted to improve the confidence of his forwards going into the next round of PL fixtures as it was something that had plagued them in previous games, and the attackers certainly flourished.
A Turning Point?
In previous games, United haven't taken opportunities, be it big chances or passing opportunities, so scoring 10 goals in 1 week is surely a big confidence boost for them. With a young squad it's easy for them to lose confidence when things don't go their way but it's also easy for them to gain it once they score. Ten Hag referenced a bottle of ketchup with regard to Marcus Rashford's scoring form and I believe similar could be said for the rest of the squad.
Zirkzee, Garnacho, Amad and Antony will certainly all benefit from getting good opportunities to attack, create and score goals.
Next up...
Manchester United go to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace at 17:30 BST (16:30 UTC) on the 21st of September. A win is expected, and Palace will want to bounce back from their dwindling form at the start of the season too.
Palace are still a quality side, with the likes of £70m rated Marc Guehi, £60m rated Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton. What's important for United is that they keep playing in the manner that they have played in the last two weeks - ruthless, but maintaining control.
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