In the final days of 2018…
We’ve got one last candidate for assist of the year.
Twelve days ago, José Mourinho was fired as manager of Manchester United.
In to replace him, Ole Gunnar Solskjær.
The boy-faced alumnus of the great ’90s and ’00s United teams.
Since he’s stepped in, they’ve won 5-1, then 3-1—bringing us to tonight.
Solskjaer in his three games in charge has pretty much confirmed what we all knew already.
1. Bailly + Lindelof are our best CBs
2. Rashford excels as a 9
3. Pogba is fucking world class
4. We DO have the players to play exciting attacking football— UTDST. (@utdstreet) December 30, 2018
Tonight, the Solskjær magic continued…
As Marcus Rashford came up with a dribble and pass as good as any in his career.
And a beautiful, free-flowing goal to start off the scoring.
Watch it again, from another angle:
Art 🖼 by @marcusrashford pic.twitter.com/Xtq9zlCY5E
— Mustafa Al-Saffar (@mussytmgf) December 30, 2018
There aren’t too many like this…
More often they’re a cross, a through ball, a lay-off pass in front of goal.
Except for sometimes.
And tonight we got one of the most sublime:
The endline-dribble assist.
Great Uncle in his late 70s watching Rashford’s assist today told me “that’s the sort of thing Bestie would’ve done.”
Ultimate compliment to Marcus Rashford right there.
— John Greig (@JohnGreig_Live) December 30, 2018
It’s an instant classic, despite how overused the term might be.
And reminiscent of one of the other great Man United assists…
10 years ago. October, 2008.
Old Trafford, a night like this one.
Berbatov to Ronaldo.
A clever, improvised move by the endline, a cut in toward goal, then the sharp ball across…
And a bit of the divine, revealing itself on a soccer field in England.
The only question is:
Where exactly did Rashford pull this one from?
That Rashford assist gets better and better the more I watch it #mufc
— Shane Higgs (@shanelthiggs) December 30, 2018
Maybe, as people are saying, José Mourinho was holding the team back.
And, well, he (or some emanation of his ego) likely was.
But still—that move, that dribble, that cross into the box…
And that electric feeling on the field.
Who knew United even had something like that in them?
Three Premier League wins in a row. It feels good to watch Manchester United again. Ole is working his magic with this squad and Pogba is on fire.
— Red Devil Bible (@RedDevilBible) December 30, 2018
So—if they really do intend to keep Solskjær only as an interim replacement…
They better rethink things.
They’re onto something here.