Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial come to the rescue for Manchester United

It looked as if United were going to add a European humiliation to Ten Hag’s “reality check” in last weekend’s Manchester derby as they trailed the Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia, who had won only one of their past 26 games in Europe, excluding qualifiers.

This is a team who sit fourth in the Cypriot First Division and were so poor for the opening half an hour at the GSP Stadium that they struggled to get over the halfway line. United could not have wished for more amenable opponents to put Sunday’s hammering behind them and David de Gea was a mere spectator until he had to pick the ball out of his net in the 34th minute.

Quality off the bench from Rashford and Martial salvaged the three points but with the opposition so inferior it was put to Ten Hag that this display was just as concerning as the one at the Etihad.

“No. No,” the United manager said. “I think it was a bad ten minutes after we conceded the goal and it’s not easy against an opponent so compact to create chances and we created a lot of chances. We dealt with the setback, came back and that’s a positive from a mentality area but you can’t compare this with the game on Sunday.”

The main starting point for not comparing the game with Sunday’s is the quality of the opposition. When Karim Ansarifard gave the hosts a shock lead, at a time when United had already had nine shots on goal, it was the first attempt on goal they had managed. And it came from United’s mistakes.

Tyrell Malacia was caught in possession after a poor first touch and Bruno set off on a 50-yard run before playing a perfect ball to Ansarifard, who chipped De Gea to give the hosts a surprise lead. It was a goal that was reminiscent of a similarly shambolic one United conceded from a corner in the Champions League against Istanbul Basaksehir two years ago. Malacia and Jadon Sancho, who were culpable for the goal, were hooked at halftime.

Up until Omonia’s goal United had provided the expectant crowd of over 22,000 with the sort of quality you would expect from a Premier League side battling against playing a team who sit fourth in the Cypriot First Division and had lost both of their Europa League group games coming into this match.

Both Neil Lennon, who took over as manager in March, and Brandon Barker, who signed in the summer from Reading, had spoken about the quality of the Cypriot league and how they had been shocked at the level. But if this was an advert for their First Division, it is unlikely they will be getting any new fans off the back of it.

United had started confidently, passing the ball around with a slickness they did not manage at the Etihad. Cristiano Ronaldo was back in the starting XI and, in search of a personal milestone of his 700th career goal, he was lively.

The Portuguese was thwarted by Fabiano in the Omonia goal with just over five minutes on the clock as he got on the end of a well-worked move involving Christian Eriksen and Antony. That would set the tone for him for the night. His free kick was over the bar, he was denied by the post in the second half and he was centimetres away from a tap-in just before the final whistle.

He may not have wanted to play in this competition but given his standing in the squad at present this is his best chance of getting goals; although he will have to wait until next time to try to hit that illustrious 700 mark.

“Thankfully for us Cristiano didn’t have his shooting boots on today,” Lennon joked afterwards. He wasn’t the only one. United lacked quality and cutting edge in the final third, while they were also denied by the woodwork and the strong hands of Fabiano.

That was until Ten Hag turned to his bench. Rashford curled in a wonderful strike eight minutes after the break. The celebrations from the England international were muted – being back on level terms against a team of this quality there was no need for jubilation.

From then on the winner became inevitable. There had been an air of nervousness in the 10 minutes after United conceded until the half time whistle, they were coming out second best in duels and the hosts had gained a confidence they had been lacking since kick off. But that evaporated in the second half. Martial, fresh off the back of scoring two goals as a substitute in the derby, put United ahead with his first touches of the game. Rashford backheeled the ball to Martial, who cut inside and fired a shot into the bottom corner, making it three goals and an assist in three appearances this season.

Rashford scored United’s third from a tap-in after Ronaldo’s low cross. The Omonia substitute Nikolas Panagiotou provided an immediate response when he fired past De Gea for the hosts’ second but Ten Hag’s side held out.

If there were lessons to be learnt after Sunday’s 6-3 defeat then there will also be lessons to be learnt from this victory. It was another fairly poor display from United, who should have had the capability to dispatch this side with ease.

– The Times

Originally published as Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial come to the rescue for Manchester United