Manchester United vs Valencia: Marcus Rashford impresses despite latest uninspiring display

United were held to a goalless draw at Old Trafford

Manchester United were held at home to a 0-0 draw by Valencia in the Champions League as Jose Mourinho’s slump in his third season continued.

On the back of a 3-1 defeat against West Ham, United struggled to create scoring chances and remained fragile at the back, which was acknowledged by the fans who booed at full-time.

Here’s five things we learned from Old Trafford

1. Rashford impresses as Sanchez shows glimmers of hope

From the start, Marcus Rashford looked like he had a point to prove and tried much harder than any other player in red at Old Trafford. On the back of scoring a consolation goal at the London Stadium at the weekend, he was the one willing to run in behind, come short and work hard for his side against Valencia.

The England forward had a couple of efforts at goal in the first half but nothing quite came off and he did not have the reward he deserved for his efforts. However, the same cannot be said for Sanchez, who had another game for United which makes you question whether he was a worthwhile investment.

There were flashes of quality, and his ambition was particularly impressive when United were lacking attacking intent, but you just feel there is so much more to come. He remains a shadow of the player that was producing quality for Arsenal 12 months ago, and this was summed up in the 72nd minute when he had a chance in front of goal and took a hesitant touch instead of putting his foot through the ball and, presumably, scoring.

Alexis Sanchez struggled to find an end product (Reuters) (REUTERS)

2. Manchester United legends feel time is up for Mourinho

The expression on Gary Neville and David Beckham’s faces summed it up. Each time the television cameras cut away to the former players, they looked very concerned with what they were seeing, especially Neville.

There was not much more affection for the United boss in the BT Sport studio either. Paul Scholes led the attack on Mourinho and he was shocked that he kept his job after an ‘embarrassing’ performance at West Ham. “I’m actually slightly surprised he survived after Saturday, the performance was so bad,” he told BT Sport.

3. Valencia lack cutting edge

For all of Manchester United’s shortcomings, it is worth praising Valencia for the way the knocked the ball around in the middle of the pitch as they made their way towards goal. What was less impressive was their execution in the final third.

On several occasions they got into dangerous areas but were unable to test David de Gea, who only faced one shot on target.

Chelsea loanee Michy Batshuayi had the Spanish side’s best chance when he volleyed over from close range.

Valencia should really have won but their forwards fired blanks (Reuters) (REUTERS)

4. Where are the leaders?

Of course this is not a new observation, but once again it was apparent that there was no leadership at the back. Once Valencia had worked the ball past Nemanja Matic and Marouane Fellaini, and this happened a lot, they were causing United some real problems as they snuck behind the back line with ease.

The problems came down United’s left-hand side and Antonio Valencia and Eric Bailly were often gracious in the amount of time and space they offered to Batshuayi and his teammates.

Antonio Valencia was second best in his battles (Getty Images)

5. Manchester United show they can play with tempo, albeit briefly.

Mourinho only made three changes to the side which laboured to a 3-1 defeat against West Ham at the weekend but United looked like a completely different team at Old Trafford.

At the London Stadium there was an absence of urgency, tempo and even enthusiasm; but against Valencia, there was a completely different attitude. Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez set the speed early and began by pressing high and forced Valencia into mistakes.

It set the tone and put the Spanish side on the back foot and allowed United to push them back and free up space for Pogba, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia in deeper areas. One criticism of Mourinho’s time at United has been the slow build-up play, however there was a completely different feel to his team and the fans in the stadium showed they loved it by responding with chants of ‘Mourinho’s red and white army’. Although this lasted only 10 minutes and normal turgid service resumed afterwards.