We really need to talk about Eric Bailly's superb assist for Marcus Rashford vs Melbourne

Manchester United maintained their perfect pre-season record with a 4-1 over Melbourne Victory on Friday, giving Erik ten Hag his second win from as many games.

United followed on from a rather surprising, pre-season opening 4-0 victory over Liverpool in Singapore on Tuesday by kicking off the Australian leg of their tour with an equally convincing result.

Ten Hag again used two mostly different sides in each half of the game, giving the likes of Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage a chance to shine in the second half as they did against Liverpool three days earlier.

It wasn’t entirely plain sailing from the first whistle, as the Red Devils fell behind after just five minutes when Melbourne winger Chris Ikonomidis fired his side ahead on the counter attack.

Two quickfire goals from Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial turned the game on its head on the cusp of half-time, though, before a resilient Melbourne shut up shop once more after the break, with a compact low block.

The hosts were happy to cede possession, which allowed United‘s second half XI to mount waves of attacks and show off what they had picked up so far under the tutelage of the new manager. It was a solid showing from Melbourne, but United’s advances and fatigue setting in ultimately saw them weaken as the game grew on.

Marcus Rashford was introduced for the second half having started the game on the bench, and it was his strike after 78 minutes that reopened the floodgates as he made it 3-1, before an own-goal forced by Tahith Chong added a fourth in the closing moments of the game.

It was another impressive performance for the Red Devils, who were without both David de Gea and Raphael Varane, as they continue to prepare for a 2022/23 campaign which must