Manchester United scored four second-half goals to record a superb 5-2 win against Galatasary in Sweden on Saturday, their most convincing result of pre-season.

Zlatan Ibrahmiovic opened the scoring, before two goals from the Turks pegged United back before the break. However, they came alive in the second half, Wayne Rooney bagging a brace before goals from Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata sealed the win. 

Zlatan Time has begun

What a sensational start it was for Ibrahimovic, and a great early start from United, Antonio Valencia, surging down the right and puts in a delicious cross and Zlatan comes up with his trademark acrobatic volley to show united fans in Gothenburg a taste of things to come from him.

Zlatan came up with the goals in a spectacular fashion once again (Source:independent.co.uk)               

 Set-pieces still a problem

United had settled into the game well initially and were looking comfortable and composed on the ball, but a set-piece situation came up for United to defend and they failed to deal with it. Wesley Sneijder, Galatasaray's danger-man whipped a great delivery into the box and Gummus was there to head the ball in unmarked, poor defending from United. 

The lack of tracking was apparent as Galatasaray took the lead with another goal in the first half, Bruma with a fantastic solo effort which was almost similar to a Phillipe Coutinho-esque goal, but really, Ander Herrera, should've done much better than he did to stop the Portuguese and it was 2-1 by half time and the Turks looking the much better team going into the break.

Second half the real United stepped up

Jose Mourinho made five changes at half-time, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard on. Ibrahimovic, Morgan Schneiderlin. Herrera, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial off.

The second half was when United made their quality count, and the turnaround began in the 55th minutem when another great cross from Valencia found Rooney in the middle and he put it past Muslera to equalise at 2-2. It was a good spell of possessiongand good intensity straight from the start in the second half for United.

The third goal came soon enough, when three minutes later, Rashford's brilliant run past the defence and towards the goalkeeper drew a penalty for United and Rooney did the job this time on the spot, cooly slotting it past Muslera to make it 3-2.

When the third goal was in, it was just a matter of finding space for United before the fourth came in and Fellaini did just that. Valencia, who had a brilliant game assisting from the full-back position, overlapping and making those driving runs down the line, put a high cross in for Fellaini, who put a looping header from the far post past Muslera and just like that it was 4-2.

Mata showing he can matter

The pick of the bunch probably was a team goal that Juan Mata started, brilliantly skipping past Aurelien Chedjou and giving it to Carrick, who put an accurate pass in back to the Spaniard and he finished with the deftest of touches and made it 5-2. This showed that he wants to stay and fight for his place in the starting eleven, he won't be going so easily and it looks increasingly likely that the captain, Wayne Rooney, will need to up his game if he is to start week in and week out.

It's safe to say that the attacking quality is there for all to see and it will be a delight to see all these players combine in the upcoming season, Ibrahimovic led the line well, Rooney boosted his confidence with two goals, a great game from Valencia as he had a huge influence down the right hand side with his variety of crosses giving United the goals and Juan Mata making a case for his place in the team and giving Jose a team-selection headache that he'd love to have. After the match, the manager said that he was "happy with the intensity, happy with the way they played" and also added that he was "happy" with the mistakes made, as they can now be worked on during Training sessions.

It's clear that set-piece defending still needs to improve for United and when dropping back, they have to make sure that they win the ball back quick and close the gaps quicker, which is something Jose will surely work on before the Community Shield clash with Leicester City

All in all, a good performance, a great result, entertainment for the fans from the likes of Rashford and Memphis Depay and lots of optimism going into the new season for Manchester United fans.

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About the author
Ninad Barbadikar
Editor for the Brighton and Hove Albion Office. Contributor to VAVEL UK since July 2016.