Wigan - Jose Mourinho's first game as manager of Manchester United
ended in a short trip and comfortable 2-0 victory over newly-promoted
Championship side Wigan Athletic at their DW Stadium on Saturday.
Goals
early in the second half from Will Keane and Andreas Pereira secured
victory for United who parted company with former manager Louis van Gaal
after winning the FA Cup on their last competitive outing two months
ago.
It was a weakened United line-up at the disposal of their new
manager given that 14 players who represented their countries in the
European Championships and Copa America this summer were unavailable and
have yet to return to training.
Nevertheless, it is a sign of the
strength in depth that Mourinho will have at his call this season that
the starting line-up he selected still boasted summer signings Eric
Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, bought for a total of nearly £60 million,
and England left-back Luke Shaw, returning after 10 months out of
action with a broken leg.
The game, arranged at short notice to give Mournho extra competition
prior to his team leaving for a tour of China on Tuesday, was
predictably low-key.
But it still represented a winning start to
his reign as United manager as the 5,500 United supporters in attendance
welcomed him by chanting his name within the opening minute.
The victory will doubtless have pleased their manager even if the opening goal was a gift from veteran Wigan goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen who made an appalling clearance directly to Juan Mata who squared for Keane to convert after 48 minutes.
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