Manchester United thrash hapless West Ham as Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba justify Jose Mourinho's title talk

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How do you improve on scoring just 26 goals at home in an entire season? You sign a £75million striker. Football is a simple game sometimes and in acquiring Romelu Lukaku, Manchester United may have answered the biggest question facing Jose Mourinho's side.

Too many points dropped to the likes of West Ham United scuppered United’s last Premier League campaign, which was eventually sacrificed for a triumphant tilt at the Europa League. By scoring twice here, with Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba's late strikes crowning a 4-0 victory, Lukaku not only extended his own healthy record against the Hammers but eased fears that those scoring problems will rear their head again.

Lukaku’s first, the game’s opener, was the kind of goal we have not seen enough of from Mourinho’s United. Too often last year, their attack was cumbersome. While Zlatan Ibrahimovic was an excellent dressing room role model and a match-winner on his day, he could slow United’s counters down and had a bad habit of missing good chances. Lukaku can perform just as awkwardly on occasion, but he has the lick of pace that no 35-year-old could bring to a team.

On this early evidence, United now have a focal point whose talents suit their desired style of play, one who can bring out the best of those around him. Marcus Rashford, who initiated the move for Lukaku’s first with a daring piece of direct running, was excellent in an attacking system tailored to his strengths. The nimble passing of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata also caught the eye, but the day will be remembered for Lukaku.

The Belgian and the excellent Nemanja Matic made their league debuts, but United’s other summer signing was not included in the match day squad. Victor Lindelof’s pre-season performances could be described as shaky at best, with the £31m acquisition from Benfica looking a touch daunted by the new badge on his chest. Quite how dropping him for the league opener will help with that remains to be seen.

His team-mates made a scrappy start to their new campaign and were dragged into a midfield battle of enthusiastic tackling with Slaven Bilic’s visitors. United gradually began to enjoy more and more time on the ball in the final third as the half progressed, but despite their dominance, they struggled to fashion efforts on debutant Joe Hart’s goal. Returning season ticket holders could see a familiar pattern emerging.

The best of the hosts’ few early chances came when Mata slipped in behind, inviting Hart out to block the shot. The rebound fell to the feet of Lukaku but, six yards out, he appeared to stumble over his size 13½s and the Hammers cleared their lines. Shortly after, Mata was through again following a lovely looped pass over the top by Pogba, but the Spaniard’s square ball to Lukaku, waiting at the far post, was intercepted.

The momentum was building but a breakthrough still felt some way off until just after the half-hour mark and a moment of direct running from Rashford. Picking the ball up in his own half, the teenager set off charging at a muddled bunch of retreating defenders. After a cute shimmy to his right, he played the pass that sliced through the West Ham line. Lukaku’s finish was emphatic, rebounding in off one of the uprights, and he rightly took the attention as a goal-scoring debutant, but Rashford’s quick, direct running made it.

United and Lukaku’s second followed minutes later and was a reminder of the striker’s power rather than pace. Mkhitaryan’s free-kick from the left hung high in West Ham’s box but there was only one man likely to meet it, with Lukaku’s simple header sending the ball past Hart and into the bottom-right hand corner. He could have had a third but for a timely block by Pablo Zabaleta, another ex-Manchester City debutant in Bilic’s side. Rashford came close to a deserved goal, striking the foot of the post with an effort from the left flank.

Eventually though, United’s victory was capped off with two examples of the new, fluid attacking play we can expect to see from them this season. First, with three minutes to play, substitute Martial slotted past Hart after Mkhitaryan’s quick-thinking had set him through on goal. Then, after being central to so much of United’s best play, Pogba decided to go it alone, carrying the ball forward unchallenged before angling a shot past Hart. By that point, West Ham’s heads had already dropped. They will not be the only team to leave Old Trafford bruised and well-beaten this season.