Manchester United 5-2 Leicester City (Casemiro 15′, 39′, Garnacho 28′, Fernandes 36′, 59′ | El Kannouss 33′, Coady 45’+3)
OLD TRAFFORD — No rush, Senhor Amorim, Ruud’s got this. Four goals in one half for the first time since 2022, and before the break too.
Yes, there were moments of uncertainty, and two defensive errors that gifted Leicester their goals, but for one night at least, Old Trafford felt properly alive again.
Van Nistelrooy entered to the sound of his own name, responded with a fisted salute and embraced the mascot.
Having dispensed with the tracksuit in favour of casual slacks, roll-neck and crombie, he looked the cool cat hipster Erik ten Hag never was, or could ever be.
He hoped for possession and goals, to shiver the timbers in a way United did when he was banging them in. And just like that the seas parted. However long it takes to negotiate a settlement with Sporting Lisbon for Ruben Amorim, Van Nistelrooy wanted it known that he will give it his all. Just as importantly, he discovered the players are equally disposed.
It had been, he said, a strange 48 hours since Ten Hag was ushered out, his absence filling the space more than his presence, which is often the way of things in separations.
Van Nistelrooy spoke to the players about what it means to represent this club, to play in front of these fans, and hoped a reminder of the privilege might elicit the right response.
Joshua Zirkzee started up front, Altay Bayindir was given a rare crack in goal, and Manuel Ugarte was handed another opportunity to get up to speed. There was very little to distinguish the early experience from an evening with Ten Hag until Casemiro curled in the first, an absolute peach.
One of the many failings under Ten Hag was United’s inability to find the net early in games. Casemiro was dancing beneath the scoreboard after just 15 minutes. He had no right to pick out the top corner from such a range, but did, demonstrating the role of caprice in changes of script.
What a rocket from @Casemiro!
#MUFC || #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/OfIvc1elEX
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 31, 2024
Alejandro Garnacho missed twice in the opening eight minutes at West Ham on Sunday, both score-able. Here he filled the net with venom from a Diogo Dalot pass to put United two up inside half an hour.
Leicester would bag one themselves shortly afterwards, a decent strike from Bilal El Khannouss, but the blow did not feel lethal in the way setbacks did under Ten Hag.
United simply went again and within six minutes had added two more. Who needs Amorim? Van Nistelrooy’s fist was pumping like it was 2004. The players were high on big Ruud energy and though they conceded a soft second on the stroke of half time, Bruno Fernandes made it five on the hour with a goal straight out of the playground, dribbling the keeper, teasing the defence with a second feint and blasting in on the goalline.
Van Nistelrooy could be gone by the weekend should United and Sporting negotiate a speedy transition for Amorim. But the urgency eased a little on a night that felt like a tribute to a United great, a nascent coach who felt honoured to lead out his team at Old Trafford, if only once.
Apart from the reprieve, the result brought from the deepening cycle of doom under Ten Hag, there was the material gain of a place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, a thread almost lost in a sacking sensation that has obliterated all else.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/kVc7Nej
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