Man Utd 2* Foxes 1 (*includes goal by officials to ensure progress)
Post Match Analysis by Graham Tracey
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation.
Like most Leicester fans, it was a fairly straightforward decision to boycott this game, much as I love the FA Cup. £52 a ticket, on the back of two heavy defeats at Old Trafford in the last 3 months, and a kick-off to once again suit TV not actual fans, meant that only around a thousand of our fans made the trip. Given the finale to the game, I wonder how they will ever come to terms with the price they paid to be there.
As everyone knows, we were comfortably taking the game into extra-time (naturally I still favour replays after 90 minutes), when the crowd appealed for a ridiculous handball shout against Justin, which the ref awarded on their behalf. A deep cross was swung over, which Hermansen chose not to come for (as Stolarczyk would have), and Slabhead headed home at the far post. My immediate reaction was (even allowing for our defensive quality) “how could that be so easy?”, when replays showed Maguire was one of either 4 or 5 offside players clearly offside directly in front of the linesman. With no VAR, we were promptly eliminated faster than a Squid Game contender – always one of the most galling moments of the season in any circumstances.
While the media prattled on about whether VAR should apply across all rounds at top flight grounds, for me the debacle had nothing to do with technology. It feels ridiculous to say that this could have been human error, the position was so absurdly visible. For me, there are only 3 possible and equally depressing explanations. 1) The linesman thought it was offside but forgot there was no VAR to double check, and so kept his flag down. 2) (Most likely) He knew it was offside, but seeing the celebrations decided “Everyone’s going home happy and I haven’t got the bottle to be the guy who bursts that bubble”. 3) He knew it was offside but thought “it won’t do my career any harm if I ensure a big club’s season doesn’t end in February”. Whatever the reason, it would be nice to think that this official is placed on a very long period of re-training. If anyone is in any doubt about the ethics of the decision, can you imagine Leicester being awarded an injury time winner with half the team offside? Even if we had scored a legitimate goal at that stage it would probably have been ruled out.
I don’t see this as sour grapes, just the reality of football going back decades. Anyway, for objectivity, let’s consider what the chances would have been had the game gone to extra time and maybe penalties. On the one hand, we were on the back foot for the second half. Garnacho gave United an extra dimension on the left wing and looked like creating a chance every time he got the ball. It also looked highly unlikely that we would ever score a second, unless El Khannouss could have conjured a 25 yarder on the odd time we got that close to their goal again. With Vardy not in the squad, it felt crazy by RVN not to put the 16 year old Evans on the bench, leaving us to play without a genuine striker once the as always anonymous Daka couldn’t last the course.
On the other hand, United were astonishingly poor. Like, the sort of level some teams were at the King Power in the Championship last season level of poor. The game was there for the taking, desperately weak though our squad is for the top flight. They often looked to play backwards, and it was by far the most time this season that I have seen our midfield allowed on the ball.
The big pluses from the night were the successful return of Ndidi and a strong performance from Okoli. They both added much needed physical presence. In particular, if we continue to pair Faes and Vestergaard, picking the rest of the team is just shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic, given the hours of advance warning they would need to swerve an iceberg. With Coady clearly unhappy here given his desire to leave on deadline day, giving Okoli a starting run makes sense. Ndidi likewise added stature in midfield, although of course the necessary pairing of him and Soumare leaves us short of creativity elsewhere. In these circumstances, playing De Cordova Reid felt counter-productive. At least someone like Mavididi (or even giving us a look at 15 year old Monga) would have given United something to think about defensively.
We grew into the first half, emboldened by United’s passivity. The goal came shortly before the break, El Khannouss beating his man to pull back for Ndidi, whose shot was parried to DCR to adjust instinctively to nod home. A second half onslaught was not forthcoming, although we looked a bit exposed on the wings. Thomas was withdrawn in favour of Coulibaly, who did slightly better. The only moment of genuine period came when Faes deflected a dink over the keeper, only for Okoli to superbly hook it onto the bar and safety.
Anger at the officials was at least a different emotion to anger at the team after the Everton shambles (and other surrenders this season), but there feels little to look forward to over the rest of the season. Roll on summer.
FOXES: Hermansen 4, Justin 5, Thomas 5, Okoli 7, Faes 6, Ndidi 7, Soumare 6, Ayew 6, De Cordova Reid 5, El Khannouss 6, Daka 4. Subs: Coulibaby, Winks, McAteer, Buonanotte.