There were more than a few surprised expressions in Manchester on Friday night.
Not because Manchester United so smoothly pushed Southampton aside - that was to be expected as Jose Mourinho galvanises a club desperately in need of a lift - but because of the emergence of a Marouane Fellaini worthy of starting at Old Trafford.
They watched power, the breaking up of play, muscling others off the ball in midfield. It is what Mourinho apparently expected of the Belgian and the new boss made his point afterwards.
‘Fellaini was so good,’ he said.
‘The way the wingers were closing spaces inside. I’m so happy with the organisation of the team.
‘Maybe a simple phone call can make a difference to a player who was feeling he was not loved. Everyone was saying he wasn’t for me.
‘Maybe a simple phone call then, after my presentation as Manchester United manager, changed a lot. I said to him “forget everything you read. With me you don’t leave, for sure.”’
That is certainly how he has dealt with others at United.
Mourinho might prefer to address his squad in large huddles during training but has offered a collection of individuals one-on-one time - not least the England trio he travelled to see before the European Championship.
For Fellaini this is already quite the turnaround, even if it is early days. He has played as many Premier League 90 minutes in a week as he managed in the last six months under Louis van Gaal.
He has been deployed as a central, defensive midfielder but is being allowed to affect games with the ball, too.
Mourinho spoke about wanting ‘specialists’. Playing them where suits best; rocket science it is not.
For Fellaini this is already quite the turnaround, even if it is early days. He has played as many Premier League 90 minutes in a week as he managed in the last six months under Louis van Gaal.
He has been deployed as a central, defensive midfielder but is being allowed to affect games with the ball, too. Mourinho spoke about wanting ‘specialists’. Playing them where suits best; rocket science it is not'
What's inescapable, though, is that Fellaini was held up as a poster for the ordinary after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, producing disjointed performances with flying elbows.
Signing him for £28million was seen as indicative of the malaise United found themselves in under David Moyes and then Van Gaal.
Moyes sought to surround himself with people he had succeeded with at Everton - there would have been more if United had managed to lure Leighton Baines away - and Fellaini suffered as a result. He was guilty by association, although it must be pointed out he never really helped himself either.
For Fellaini this is already quite the turnaround, even if it is early days. He has played as many Premier League 90 minutes in a week as he managed in the last six months under Louis van Gaal.
It is why supporters have been shocked at how much he has influenced proceedings in the opening two games. This is a different player to the one they have watched over the last three years.
He knew his role on Friday, plugging the gaps in behind Paul Pogba when the world’s most expensive player gallivanted forward.
Fellaini will become, in effect, an enabler. Mopping up, winning his headers and duels. And that is how he is best suited. He will never be one to consistently glide beyond three players in midfield and open games up. When Mourinho talks of specialists, it is also a nod towards their limitations.
He wants athletes in midfield, physically imposing, something successful at Chelsea before in this country. Steven Davies and Oriol Romeu’s eyes will have widened when they saw him and Paul Pogba lining up before kick-off.
Van Gaal fell foul of expecting too much in an attacking sense from the 28-year-old, who did not score quite as many goals for Everton - 25 in the Premier League over five years - as is popularly believed.
Standing at 6ft 4in, he would be thrown forward in search of late goals to rescue games. Chuck it in to the big man.
It was tactically lazy and an acceptance that United had not been clever enough to find a way through, aimlessly passing side to side with the absence of purpose. A 2-0 defeat by Stoke away on Boxing Day, after which Van Gaal should really have been given his marching orders, was a case for the prosecution.
So time has been wasted with Fellaini. Here they have a destroyer who before leaving Goodison Park had been begrudgingly respected across the league. His previous two managers have been unable to find a way of making him fit into a United team, seemingly unaware Ferguson himself utilised big, strong powerful characters in key positions.
Darren Fletcher, for example, perhaps did not possess the panache immediately associated with United midfielders yet played more than 250 games for the club and was a crucial cog in lifting all there was to win.
The final word was left for Mourinho.
‘Maybe that confidence in Fellaini was unexpected,’ he said. ‘The more organised the team is, the easier it is for players to feel confident .
‘He has played well with Michael Carrick, he has played well with Ander Herrera, he has played well with Paul.’
Keeping it simple. It works.
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