Premier League side Manchester United isn't having the most brilliant first season under Jose Mourinho. Five places out of the top spot in the Premiership is not where the club and its supporters envisioned themselves to be when they bought Paul Pogba from Juventus for £89m.
Besides Pogba, other key United signings are underperforming: Zlatan Ibrahimovic was timid at times in front of the goal and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was not a regular fixture in the Red Devils' starting XI. Some players and pundits have already ruled the side out of the title race.
However, Manchester United's most recent victory clearly reminds people to not rule Mourinho's boys out just yet. United smashed West Ham United out of the EFL Cup to the tune of 4-1. Ibra and Mkhitaryan had heavy involvement in the drubbing Manchester handed to the Hammers.
The tall Swedish striker opened fire early in the match with a well-placed strike just after two minutes of play. Mkhitaryan set the goal perfectly with a nice backheel pass, and Zlatan managed to push the ball past West Ham keeper Adrian to score the first goal.
Dimitri Payet and Ashley Fletcher managed to even the score with a goal that David De Gea wasn't able to push away. The scoring continued in the second half when the former Borussia Dortmund No10 provided another nice pass for Anthony Martial to finish. Both Martial and Ibrahimovic managed to score once more to seal West Ham's elimination from the tournament.
Jose Mourinho told the Guardian that he is very happy with the result: "I think we are in the right direction, we played very well and that makes me happy. One of the things I proposed to myself was to come to a club like Manchester United and play the kind of football that people want. It's Man U tradition."
United will play Everton next in the Premiership. ESPN reports that they will be without captain Wayne Rooney due to the accumulation of yellow cards. The former Everton player is one goal away from beating Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time United scoring record of 249 goals.
Should United win this match, they will edge closer to the Champions League spots the team feels they deserve. It will be a steep climb, but Mourinho has more than enough talent in his bench to make it possible.
