Man United travelled to the Bet365 arena with the intention of maintaining their 100% start to the season. Mark Hughes’ boys had other plans though. The wonderfully named Choupo-Moting scored his first 2 goals for the Potters, and Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku scored for United as the two sides played out an entertaining draw. It was a well contested game, and a draw was a fair result at the end. Come this way to see what we’ve learned from Stoke’s 2-2 home draw against Man United.

Left-Back is a problem for Manchester United

Daley Blind had been used at left-back for the first 3 games of the season, and Mateo Darmian was used against Stoke on Saturday. Both Blind and Darmian are decent squad players who can be a liability to the defence when they are played as first choice. Mark Hughes was confident before the game that he had seen chinks in United’s armour that his team were prepared to exploit. Within the first 20 minutes of the game, it became clear what he was referring to. Darmian kept positioning himself centrally, which enabled Stoke City to play cross-field balls over his head into the feet of Mame Diouf on Stoke’s right flank. It was this exact movement that lead to Stoke’s first goal. United fans will be hoping Luke Shaw manages to regain match fitness and sharpness, because they are not going to be able to put up a title challenge with Blind or Darmian slotting in on the left of that defence.

Mourinho got his team selection wrong

It was a tough away fixture and Mourinho decided to use 3 central midfielders. While it looks good on paper, the midfielder he used was Ander Herrera, who was making his first start of the season. It is a little tough on Hererra, who was the club’s player of the year last season, but he should have been nowhere near the field. He lacked match fitness and sharpness (as any player playing his first game of the season would), and was woeful on Saturday. Also, playing Hererra meant Pogba was pushed up into the hole behind Lukaku, and Mkhitaryan was pushed out onto the right flank, which has been manned by Juan Mata so far. Mkhitaryan has been the creative force in this United team so far this season, and he is most effective playing centrally behind the striker. It enables him to play those deadly 5-10 yard through balls. This team is crying out for Martial and Rashford to start on either flank, with Mkhitaryan playing in the whole behind Lukaku. The way things are, United do not play with enough width, which makes it easy for other teams to defend against them.

Choupo-Moting was immense

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting stands out from the word go – a big imposing figure, with curly locks, and a wonderfully complex name.The Cameroon international who was brought in as a replacement for Marko Arnautovic had 3 largely ineffective games before the game against United. On Saturday, he scored 2 goals and was a general pain for the United defence to deal with. He ran at them with pace and power, and showed clever movement in the box to bag his well deserved goals. Stoke fans will be hoping he can keep this form up for the rest of the campaign as they look to consolidate their position in the top half of the table. His prolific record of 3 goals all season for Schalke last year gives hope, doesn’t it?

Time for Butland to be England Number 1

The two standout performers for Stoke on Saturday were Choupo-Moting and goalkeeper Jack Butland. While Choupo-Moting did the damage on the attacking third of the pitch, Butland put in a solid assured performance in the Stoke goal. He pulled off a string of successful saves to keep United at bay, and was dominant and calm figure in the box when it came to collecting crosses. Joe Hart has been pretty ordinary over the past 18 months. A unsuccessful spell at Torino, followed by a indifferent start to the season with West Ham, we aren’t sure what Hart has done right to warrant being England No 1. Jack Butland, now that he’s fit and in form, is the man most worthy of that role.

United have a wing problem

Juan Mata is not a winger, neither is Mkhitaryan. Rashford and Matial are natural strikers who can manage down the flanks thanks to their pace. When Mata/Rashford/Mkhitaryan play down the right, they prefer to cut infield. This is okay because Antonio Valencia from right back utilises the space this creates to make overlapping runs. Blind/Darmian are not mobile enough to do this down the left and Shaw who has all the attributes to perform this role has been struggling for fitness. A proper left winger would solve this issue for  United, which explains their pursuit of Ivan Perisic in the summer. The situation is going to stay the same till at least January, so Mourinho has got to find a way to make this work till then. We have suggested this once, we are going to do it again – maybe he could give Rashford and Martial a go on either flank?