MANCHESTER UNITED 5 LEICESTER CITY 2
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.
We left Old Trafford rather inevitably out of the League Cup, but in a wilder game than could have been foreseen. In a match that sometimes resembled a stag weekend kickabout in its openness, I went from genuinely fearing we would lose 10-1 after 40 minutes, to briefly dreaming for the first 10 minutes of the second half that if we scored the next goal to make it 4-3 then we could go on to complete a comeback for the ages. It reminded me of a game at Blackburn in the late 90s when we were 5-0 down but they ended up holding on at 5-3. As it was, despite conceding 5 goals never being anything other than alarming, we take away enough to think that the upcoming league match at the same ground may not be a foregone conclusion when we field our strongest team.
Nothing looked in our favour ahead of this match. United were always likely to have a caretaker manager bounce, especially given their reputation as ‘down tools’ prima donnas under Ten Haag. I seem to remember Van Nistelrooy scoring plenty against us, and no doubt could still have notched had he played tonight. With nothing to lose, it was no surprise to see him pick virtually a first choice side. In contrast, with the massive trip to Ipswich on Saturday, it was no surprise to see us make wholesale changes, with only Justin and Okali starting from the usual league line up. Cup games are bigger than league games for me and so I hate to see weakened sides, but on this occasion I could understand it.
Things were going well until quarter of an hour in, when Cassemiro was allowed time to curl a beauty from distance against a motionless Ward. Any hope of regrouping after an ‘out of the blue’ goal disappeared when a ball to an offside Dalot was swept in at the far post. I haven’t watched the game back to confirm whether he was offside, but it was right in front of Cooper who was booked for his livid protests. I hate VAR, but I remain convinced that linesmen go into games at big grounds with the mindset that it will hinder their careers if they don’t give every benefit of the doubt to the home team, so without it here we were screwed at 2-0. I still get worked up about when Muzzy Izzet put that penalty into the empty net here after the ref blew the whistle for him to take it while Barthez leaned on the post, and then bottled it and we missed the retake. When asked to explain himself afterwards, the ref sniggered on telly “well it’s Man United isn’t it” in an admission that would be career ending in these more serious times.
The big plus of the game was El Khannouss, who showed quick footwork and a willingness to look forward throughout, and he pulled us back into it with a fine cross-shot that went in off the post. His performance should give him the confidence boost to really make a difference to us in the league. Unfortunately, he then gave away a reckless foul in the D, which Fernandez scored via a big lucky deflection. Every engine warning light then lit up as Casemiro hit both posts with a header, and thumped in the rebound as we tried to compute the optical illusion.
The crazy half ended on a bright note as Coady swept home his first goal for us, after a free kick from Luke Thomas (a reliable and under-rated player in my view) caused chaos. This was good news for me, as an ‘any time to score’ bet on him won me enough money to cover the excessive £43 ticket price.
Our other strong performers in the half and indeed throughout were the tireless and committed Ayew, and Soumare who had his best game for us that I’d seen (I fear the exception rather than the new rule though). In contrast, McAteer looked rusty in his rare outing, while De Cordova-Reid sadly looks a terrible purchase at this point. Ditto Edouard when he came on to zero effect. However, the Skipp-Soumare axis was powerless to stop United – liberated under their temporary boss – running at speed at us.
The opening stages of the second half were terrific, as Justin was regularly released down the right, and reducing the deficit to a single goal looked realistic. Unfortunately, it did not come, and the game was put to bed when Okoli’s dreadful back pass let in Fernandez to make it 5.
An unusual 5 then followed, with Cooper making all the permitted substitutions in one swoop. It was great to see a cameo by Will Alves. Another consolation would have been justified, but their reserve keeper superbly tipped a Soumare strike onto the bar, and then got down to turn behind a Mavididi shot.
Scoring goals is not our problem – who would have thought only Walsall could post a clean sheet against us going into November. However, this is no guarantee of results when it never looks likely that we can stop the opposition scoring. Hopefully we will have learnt a lot tactically from this game.
LEICESTER: Ward 6, Justin 6, Thomas 6, Okoli 4, Coady 5, Skipp 5, Soumare 6, McAteer 3, De Cordova-Reid 3, El Khannouss 7, Ayew 7. Subs: Vestergaard, Buonanotte, Alves, Mavididi, Edouard.