Jose Mourinho demanded a good performance from the under-fire Anthony Martial and he got just that from the Frenchman as Manchester United strolled to a 4-0 victory over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fourth round, with Bastian Schweinsteiger getting a rare moment of joy as well.
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After confirming their place in the final of the EFL Cup, albeit despite a defeat to Hull City, Manchester United needed to ensure their FA Cup title defence would remain on course, and it did thanks to goals from Marouane Fellaini, Chris Smalling, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Schweinsteiger, making his first start for the club in 12 months.
While not being entirely convincing, Manchester United got the opening goal just before halftime, by using that height of Fellaini's to great effect. Rooney found Schweinsteiger on the right and the German midfielder crossed perfectly for Fellaini to power a header home.
Martial, who played in a centre-forward's role, was the creator for the second, also from a cross, with Chris Smalling this time the man to head the ball into the back of the net.
The third goal was a lightning counter-attack with Mkhitaryan finding Martial in space down the right and the Frenchman finding the perfect roll back for the former to tap home from close range.
Schweinsteiger then added the icing, hooking the ball home nine minutes from time with that strike even getting Jose Mourinho to smile a little, considering the worries the midfielder has been through this season.
"He is staying and he is going on the Europa League list because we opened spaces with [Memphis] Depay and [Morgan] Schneiderlin leaving," Mourinho said of Schweinsteiger. "We don't have many players, in midfield we don't have many options, so obviously he is an option.
"Ninety minutes was probably too hard for him but it was important for him to have an impact with his volley and now I think he's happy. If he was a good professional when he was not playing, now he's having some minutes and opportunities he's going to be the same good professional.
"With so many matches and competitions, he's going to be an option."
Mourinho was happy with the manner in which Manchester United stepped up a gear in the second half after an iffy first 45 minutes.
"We deserved to win," Mourinho added. "The first half was not very good but we managed to be 1-0 in front. The goal gave us a different second half, it gave us a chance at half-time to speak with the players and make them feel the first half was not good enough.
"We spoke about changing a few things in the dynamic of the team. The guys obviously accepted it well because the second half was much better."
