Manchester United looked like 11 players who had been let out of jail.
For too long this season it has been painful to watch United, but victory over Cardiff was simply exhilarating and that is how it will have felt to the players.
The biggest change seemed to come from those who had been criticised most by Jose Mourinho. Paul Pogba made one or two loose passes early on but instead of being chastised he was encouraged.
By the end of the game, he was playing brilliant balls such as the one to Jesse Lingard that set up United’s fifth goal.
Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial were singled out by Mourinho as early as September 2016 following a defeat at Watford. Until now their performances have looked inhibited, only showing flashes of their brilliance. At Cardiff they played with freedom.
On more than one occasion this season, opposing full backs have flown foward and dragged Martial and Marcus Rashford back towards their own goal.
On Saturday, it was United’s full backs who went on the attack. At times, Ashley Young looked like he was playing centre forward.
That’s how United used to play — taking the game to their opponents. This team looked like it could have been picked by Sir Alex Ferguson in his pomp. That is to the great credit of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The teams he played in would take the lead and smell blood. This is a man who was thrown on at Nottingham Forest with United 4-1 up and left the pitch with four goals of his own.
Solskjaer will have tougher tests than Cardiff but how many times this season have United played weak opponents and struggled?
Ed Woodward must be wondering why he did not act sooner.
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