By Dave Marshal
27 year old Manchester United midfielder, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has earned the rave reviews of his manager following his eye catching display in the 4-1 decimation of West Ham on Wednesday night. The Armenian was making only his third start for the club since his £26.3m move in the summer from Dortmund, and was at his creative best, laying on two assists and delivering the sort of performance that made United sign him in the first place. His clever flick in the build up to the first goal was pure brilliance, and the calmness he showed in picking out Martial in the second half was good, and his manager has words of encouragement to the Armenian.
Mourinho, who served a touchline ban for the game said, according to the DailyStar who quoted Sky Sports after the game. “I’m so happy because today was against a Premier League team with Premier League qualities with Premier League characteristics“. That showed clearly his evolution. Against Feyenoord we could think, ‘OK it is a different profile of football’ but today was against a proper and typical Premier League team and Micky could perform this way. So I’m really happy.” he added.
Mkhitaryan has struggled to adapt to the fast pace of English football and was unbelievably atrocious in his first start for the club: a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City in the derby back in September. He was hauled off at halftime but against Feyenoord last week in the Europa League was very good, meaning he is finally settling at The Theatre of Dreams. This vote of confidence by his manager means he is slowly getting closer to establishing himself as a valuable first team player.
Mkhitaryan assisted two goals against Slaven Bilic’s men, and when substituted for Marcus Rashford late on, he got a well deserved ovation from the Manchester United supporters. Mourinho is surely in a selection dilemma ahead of the trip to Everton this weekend as the Armenia captain is nearing his best form.
