Mourinho starts with United victory
José Mourinho’s first Premier League game as Man U boss ended in a comfortable victory away to Bournemouth on Sunday.
|||London – José Mourinho’s first Premier League game as manager of Manchester United ended in a comfortable victory away to Bournemouth on Sunday.
Juan Mata scored the first league goal of the new era in the 40th minute following an error by Bournemouth's captain Simon Francis and Wayne Rooney added a second just before the hour.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who headed the winning goal in last weekend's Community Shield game against champions Leicester City, then marked his league debut by scoring with a low drive from 25 metres.
United, without world record signing Paul Pogba, who was suspended, were denied a clean sheet soon afterwards when defender Adam Smith beat David de Gea.
Pogba was suspended for one game because of yellow cards he accumulated at the end of last season with previous club Juventus.
But Ivorian defender Eric Bailly made his Premier League debut and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was introduced for the last quarter of an hour as the first Armenian to appear in the cosmopolitan league.
Ibrahimovic, in contrast to the 89 million pound Pogba, cost no fee and was able to maintain his reputation for scoring in a first game in a new league.
"The first objective is to win," he told Sky Sports.
"The second, if I can, is to score. But if I score it's a bonus.
"It was a difficult game. The first half we weren't 100 per cent but second half became easier, there was more space."
Rooney said the combination of "four great signings" including Ibrahimovic, plus a new manager, would mean "lots of excitement" for United fans, many of whom had been critical of what they perceived as uninspiring football under Mourinho's predecessor Louis van Gaal.
Dismissed by Chelsea last December, Mourinho took over after the Dutchman was sacked at the end of his second season despite winning the FA Cup in his final game.
"I am very happy," Mourinho said. "Bournemouth always start with great intensity but we kept our control. We weren't surprised and then we started playing."
– Reuters