Manchester United vs Sunderland match report: Unhappy return for David Moyes as hosts hit their stride

The Manchester United mascot extended a hand to David Moyes as he stepped out towards the technical area which had begun to haunt him when he last stood in this place and, since it would been churlish to refuse, the Scot had to shake it.

It was the only warmth the returning manager found. No-one of a Manchester United disposition sang his name and it almost goes without saying that there was no sentiment about how eight dreadful months at the Old Trafford helm will always define him. The course of the afternoon did much to reveal why.

Until the second half, what Jose Mourinho’s United offered was rarely pretty and lacked much by way of the unexpected, while Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe was the best player on the pitch. It was one of those afternoons when Paul Pogba could not convert his marauding presence into a threat and was often left thumping his hips in frustration, in that way of his. Jesse Lingard was comparatively anonymous by the standards of a hugely impressive calendar year.

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But the assuredness of the win, with some clinical finishing, was still a foil to the timidity and anxiety of the Moyes era here, while Sunderland fell away in the second half – several times conceding possession in dangerous positions and eventually paying the price for it.

Moyes’ players had seemed to have something to offer for 45 minutes, with Defoe providing the few moments which took the breath away and ignited a bitter afternoon. The technical class the 34-year-old displayed to take down a 50-yard Pickford clearance on the full, advance and shoot over revealed why he will be such an important asset as Sunderland fight to survive. It took the best of David de Gea to leap and punch away a free kick from Patrick van Aanholt. The goalkeeper needed his feet to repel the touch Victor Anichebe applied to a clever ball that Defoe laced into his path.

There was, by comparison, a predictability about United’s build-up play - so often down the right though Antonio Valencia, who is neither the fastest nor the most accurate crossing.

But the opening goal was of a technical level Sunderland could not match as Zlatan Ibrahimovic cut inside on the left hand side of the box, navigated a ball into the path of the advancing Daley Blind who took a touch and steered it in with dead-eye accuracy, to the left of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Moyes reflected in the aftermath of how he’d planned to hold the narrow margin and take what came, though his players faded fast, with Papy Djilobodji looking considerably out of his depth as United located a higher tempo. Sunderland were regularly passing the ball straight into trouble when a catastrophic error brought the second goal. Didier Ndong was the culprit, left flat on the pitch as Pogba intercepted in his own half and found Ibrahimovic, who slotted home.

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Mourinho could also call on Mkhitaryan who added the colour to United’s attacking thrusts when he arrived for Lingard just beyond the hour. He’d been on the field seconds when he took down a Juan Mata cross and arced a shot narrowly wide. It was in the 85th minute that he provided more evidence of how significant he may be in the next five months, twisting to send an Ibrahimovic cross in with his heel after the ball arrived in the box behind him. The Armenian was at least a yard offside, though Moyes did not seem to feel bitterly aggrieved. The game had gone.

Fabio Borini pulled a goal back, lifting a ball into De Gea’s top right hand corner five yards outside the area at the death, but all was then lost. For United, it has been four straight Premier League wins with two more winnable fixtures in the next week. A league table that is still only just respectable from their point of view may soon look better.

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“Happy Christmas,” said Moyes as he arrived to discuss the afternoon and in truth he seemed glad to have escaped this Old Trafford exposition without serious embarrassment. “We are going to have to try and galvanise from within. It is not a situation I am used to but some of the players are,” he said. “I hope we can find a way.”

One vignette revealed provided symbol of what a difference the new man in the Old Trafford home dug-out makes. When the second goal had just gone in, Mourinho turned around to face United’s supporters – arms out wide, milking the applause. Moyes, hands stuffed into pockets, could hardly have missed the spectacle but he did not look. It was a gesture he was not Manchester United manager for long enough to make.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Herrera (Fellaini 84); Lingard (Mkhitaryan 62), Pogba, Mata (Martial 74); Ibrahimovic.

Substitutes: Smalling, Rashford, Romero, Darmian.

Sunderland (4-1-4-1): Pickford; Jones, Kone, Djilobodji, Van Aanholt; Larsson (Khazri 83); Anichebe, Denayer, Ndong (Love 86), Borini; Defoe.

Substitutes: Mannone, O’Shea, Asoro, Honeyman, Embleton.

Referee: M. Atkinson

Attendance: 75,325