And the defeat wasn't the worst thing
United's visit to Leicester started to go wrong the minute they decided how to get there
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Leicester 4, United 2
The worst thing wasn’t the defeat. Or even the defending. It was the flight. Because the M6 southbound was closed, the squad flew from Manchester to Leicester. The rest of us, if we hear the motorway is closed, find another one – in this case, the M1. You can’t get on a plane to go 100 milesat a time when climate awareness has reached the point where even the Queen is going green. Somebody should have pointed that out (maybe they did). The flight, apparently, took ten minutes – and so did the two soft goals that sank United. Instant karma strikes again.
Two centre-backs were facing their old team. Jonny Evans, just back from injury, was calm and authoritative, showing why his manager says that Leicester always play better when he’s there. Harry Maguire, also just back from injury, had a shocker. The way he dawdled before playing the ball, and losing it to Kelechi Iheanacho, and seeing Youri Tielemans place his chip in the corner – that was the decision-making of a man well out of form, never mind fitness. Rushing him back might have made some sense if he’d been playing the way he did at the Euros, but he hasn’t been anywhere near that level this season. And by sending him out there after only a day’s full training, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was showing no faith in Eric Bailly, who may well be the best fourth-string centre-back in the league.
It was United’s first defeat in 30 league games on the road, yet it was also their third defeat to Leicester this year. Brendan Rodgers used to be Solskjaer’s bunny, but now the bob is on the other tail. The second of those three defeats, in the weird week at the end of last season when United played three games, can be forgotten and forgiven. But they seemed to have learnt nothing from the first one, the 3-1 in the Cup, when Youri Tielemans bossed the midfield and Nemanja Matic was easily bypassed. Here, with Fred unavailable, United needed a double pivot called McMat. And they could have switched to that as a plan B by replacing Jadon Sancho with Scott McTominay – but, as so often with Solskjaer, plan B never turned up.
Two weeks ago, some people were arguing that Cristiano Ronaldo should never be rested. Now the question is edging closer to whether he should be dropped. Leicester beat United because they pressed better, and Ronaldo was more at fault in that department than anyone else. On a day like this, he’s the poor man’s Cavani. Still, at least we can see that United didn’t flop against Everton because they left out Ronaldo and Paul Pogba. They flopped because they’ve lost their way as a team: in seven games they’ve now had that draw, four defeats and two streaky wins. Last time they played Liverpool straight after Leicester, in the spring, the scoreline doubled from one game to the next. On that basis, Liverpool may get eight this weekend.
There were three bright spots for United. One was David de Gea, supreme again – the save that tipped Tielemans’ shot against the post was one of his very best. The others were the two goals, both beautifully struck. Mason Greenwood scored for the first time in six games, and more importantly for the first time with Ronaldo alongside him, by hitting a worldie, in off the far post when he was barely even in a dangerous position. And Marcus Rashford scored on his return from shoulder surgery, running onto Victor Lindelof’s left-footed long ball with all the aplomb he didn’t muster in the Euros final. It took Rashford 17 minutes to find the net, something that Sancho has yet to manage after 502 minutes in a United shirt. Greenwood and Rashford are the future: they should both play against Liverpool, with Edinson Cavani, if fit, in between. Then we’ll at least see some pressing that isn’t depressing.