Five things learned as Manchester United defeat Reading 3-1 (FA Cup)

Manchester United advanced into the fifth round of the FA Cup after a 3-1 victory over Reading at Old Trafford.

With the fixture coming on the back of Manchester United‘s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, there was only one change in the XI; Harry Maguire in for Lisandro Martinez.

Immediately, Erik ten Hag‘s men looked to dominate the game, with Antony and Eriksen both off to fast starts. United thought they had the deadlock broken in the 35th minute with Marcus Rashford turning home from close range, however the goal was ruled out for an offside in the build up.

Eventually, it was Casemiro who found the opening goal via a lovely chipped finish to give United the lead, before minutes later rocketing home a wonderful low goal just minutes later to double the advantage around the 60 minute mark.

Fred took United’s lead to three with a brilliant heel-flick finish, before Reading got one back though a corner involving sloppy defending.

1) Erik ten Hag is taking the FA Cup seriously

One hour ahead of kick-off, the line-ups revealed that Erik ten Hag was fielding an incredibly strong XI, with every player bar the defensive line considered a first XI player for Erik ten Hag.

“I don’t know why we shouldn’t (take the FA Cup seriously),” Ten Hag said to MUTV ahead of kick-off. “We want to win every game, so you play a good team, you play a strong selection.”

It is clear that Ten Hag is targeting the FA Cup as a serious chance of winning a trophy alongside the potential Carabao Cup final in February, assuming United do not blow their 3-0 lead during the semi-final second leg.

2) Wout Weghorst loves to press

One reason that Cristiano Ronaldo was not favoured by Erik ten Hag, it is speculated, was his lack of intensive pressure on the opposition defenders.

Wout Weghorst, brought in on a six-month loan after the terminations of Ronaldo’s contract, is the exact opposite. It has been made clear in the opening four games of his stint at the club that he is a machine for pressing, often initiating the entire defensive sequence with his moves.

This will no doubt be favoured by Ten Hag as the season progresses.

3) The offside rules still aren’t clear

Rashford’s goal in the first half was ruled out due to Weghorst being offside in the build-up… however if you look at other decisions, this one does not make any sense.

During the incident in question, the ball was not being played to Weghorst – the only reason he received the ball was because of a huge deflection off the Reading defender, where the ball changed direction completely.

It could be argued that Weghorst was interfering in play as he eventually assisted the goal, however this would be hard to prove considering that the ball wasn’t intended to him in the slightest and only dropped to him by chance.

4) Casemiro is the best around

Casemiro showed against Reading that he can pretty much do anything he wants to on a football field.

Scoring twice, his first was a lovely chipped finish over the goalkeeper after a wonderful pass from Antony – a goal that any striker would be proud to score.

His second was a thing of beauty. Having had Fred lay the ball off for him around 25 yards out, he whacked the ball first time with a thunderous low shot into the bottom right hand corner to score his second of the night just minutes after the first. He’s just so good.

5) United need to work on their defensive organisation

Granted, none of the starting back four are currently considered in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI, however as the Dutchman has mentioned many times that he plans to utilise his squad to the maximum.

For Reading’s consolation goal, it came from a corner. Amadou Mbengue, who scored the goal, was completely free on the edge of the six-yard box – a place in the area which should be swarming with defenders during a corner.

The lapse in concentration, luckily, was not costly as the game was all but decided by that point, but Erik ten Hag will not be happy with the way it was conceded; it is an error that in a different situation could have costed United much more.