They celebrated a block!
Fighting spirit, and a fluid goal, get United over the line at Leicester
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Leicester 0, United 1
It's win-win-win. United now have more wins in their past three games than Liverpool or Chelsea have managed in five. This is the first time they've won three in a row in the league since December, when the games took place under two different managers (Carrick beating Arsenal in style, Rangnick squeezing past Palace and Norwich). After the first two games of this season, United were bottom of the class; over the past three they are second, ahead of City, Spurs and Liverpool, let alone Chelsea. The performance at Leicester was patchy, but better than at Southampton. And the result was better too. The King Power – Richard III’s own stadium – has often been a graveyard for United, from the 5-3 battering in Louis van Gaal’s time to the 4-2 in the last few weeks of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United have yet to feature in All or Nothing, Amazon’s series of behind-the-scenes documentaries, but it feels as if they’re auditioning for it. They’ve gone from delivering nothing against Brighton and Brentford to doing it all, at least in terms of points, on three tough assignments since – home to Liverpool and away to Southampton and Leicester. They seem to have given up the draw, although it could be back on Sunday against the latest team to appear in All Or Nothing, Arsenal – who let the cameras in for a season that turned out to be Fairly Middling.
This match could have gone wrong, had Leicester not spent the first half looking lost. But, as so often, one clean sheet led to another. Fighting spirit, Erik Ten Hag’s favourite thing, shone out of the back four, who celebrated one block – by Diogo Dalot – as if it was a goal, bumping each other’s chests and oozing fierce jubilation. At times their fervour spilled over: all of them bar Rafa Varane, Mr Smooth, picked up a yellow card, which was dangerous when United had no full-backs on the bench. But they all stayed on the field and got the job done.
Ten Hag, who played it just right with his subs at Southampton, was a bit too defensive here. To replace one striker with a holding midfielder may be considered a shrewd move; to replace two looks like a lack of confidence. He sent on Casemiro for Anthony Elanga, then Fred for Marcus Rashford, and still kept Scott McTominay on. How many pivots do you need? Maybe he’s planning on playing all three against Arsenal. On the plus side, he has been firm but fair with Cristiano Ronaldo, still rusty but now established as the world’s most celebrated sub. And he has handled Casemiro well, easing him in with 16 minutes at St Mary’s and 35 here. Casemiro strolled around like a good boss, back from holiday to sort out a few minor issues in the office. A start surely beckons on Sunday: against Arsenal’s fluent front four, there’s even a case for McCas.
If this was another ugly win, it was lit up by another lovely goal. And kick-started with a long ball! (From Leicester.) Danny Ward’s old-school hoof went straight to Dalot, who controlled the ball and slipped it forward to Bruno Fernandes, in acres. Fernandes turned, looked up and played a simple through ball to Rashford, who produced a through ball too, first-time and superbly cushioned. Jadon Sancho rounded the keeper (who had set all this in motion) and rolled the ball home. The move relied on vision from Dalot and Fernandes, precision from Rashford and Sancho, and swift decision-making from all four. This may have been the moment when Rashford and Sancho made it back onto Gareth Southgate’s longlist for the World Cup. Which would be a mixed blessing for United – Rashford spent most of last season reeling from the Euros – but a triumph for the two of them. When he scored against Liverpool, Rashford still didn’t look happy: his celebration was about two-third fury. But here, picking up his first assist since he set up Sancho against Southampton in February, he beamed with delight for himself and his mate.
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian and music for The Mail on Sunday. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.