Manchester United suffered a further setback in the Premier League as they drew 2-2 at home to Burnley on Tuesday.
The hosts went behind in the third minute as Ashley Barnes bundled home from close range before Steven Defour scored a sumptuous free-kick in the 36th minute.
Jesse Lingard was introduced at half-time with United trailing 2-0 and he went on to score a brace to rescue a point for Jose Mourinho‘s side.
Here are three things we learned from the encounter.
LUKAKU AND IBRAHIMOVIC FRONT PAIR DOESN’T WORK
Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic started a game together for the first time and United fans will hope that it was also the last.
Two burly front men working in tandem has never been the club’s style and for good reason. The lack of zip and mobility in attack was palpable. The Burnley defence had a rather comfortable time defending against two strikers who didn’t stretch them at all.
Normally, Lukaku does manage to run the channels and drift wide on occasion but with Ibrahimovic in the mix as well, his movement was limited. United looked far better when the Swede was replaced at the break.
Only room for one striker?
SET-PIECES A PROBLEM FOR UNITED
Some of United’s defending from set-pieces this season have been comical. Against Manchester City in particular, both goals they conceded were from set-pieces and rather more significantly, both featured errors from Lukaku.
Defending is not the Belgian’s strong suit and that was made evident again within the first few minutes of the draw with Burnley. Once more, the striker failed to clear his lines and afforded the visitors a scrappy opener early on.
While his height and physicality makes him an asset in aerial duels, perhaps he should be manning the space at the near post rather than attempting to pick up opponents attacking the ball.
Lukaku should leave the defending to his team-mates
LINGARD SHOULD START REGULARLY
Mourinho has far too many players under-performing at the moment. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is chief among them. One player who seems to keep delivering close to his best time and time again is Jesse Lingard.
The homegrown talent is not the most breath-taking player and doesn’t earn the same plaudits bestowed upon the likes of Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial for example but he’s one of the most consistent performers in the squad.
His brace rescued a point for United and perhaps it’s time he is afforded a more consistent run in the first team.
Red-hot Devil