David Moyes has bemoaned his side’s slow start as Sunderland slipped to a third straight Premier League defeat.
A sluggish match sparked to life when Victor Anichebe turned well inside the box only to be hauled to the ground as his strike was kept out by Sergio Romero.
Seconds later a bolt from the blue from Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired United into a lead before the Black Cats’ afternoon took another turn for the worst when Seb Larsson was dismissed for a foul on Ander Herrera with 43 minutes played.
United raced out the traps following the midway interval and doubled their advantage through Henrikh Mkhitaryan who found the bottom corner with a sumptuous strike.
Sunderland fought tirelessly but Marcus Rashford rounded off United’s display with a third in the closing stages to inflict more frustration on the Black Cats.
Speaking post-match, Moyes delivered an honest verdict.
“It is very disappointing that we have not taken anything from the game,” he said.
“There were some mitigating circumstances for it as well and because of that we lost. I don’t want to shout about that (decision to send Seb off) but things didn’t go for us today.
“We had gone a goal down which from my point of view was a poor goal to concede. We didn’t get tight enough when Ibrahimovic cut inside and because of that we were chasing it.
“I didn’t think we had started the game too well,” he continued.
“We had stood off Manchester United too much and didn’t get close to them but we began to grow into the game and we had moments when we looked a bit better.
“Victor had an opportunity and on another day it could’ve been a penalty.”
