Once again, Manchester United left the field to what sounded like boos. In fact the noise was “Ruuuud”, the familiar fan tribute to Ruud van Nistelrooy, the revered former striker who has been placed in interim charge following the sacking of Erik ten Hag and who stood arms raised in front of the Stretford End after the final whistle.
In his playing career Van Nistelrooy was all about goals – 150 for United in just 219 games for them – and if there is one mantra he took into this tie it was an old United one. One he knows all about. One that has been a familiar complaint aimed at every manager who has followed Sir Alex Ferguson: attack, attack, attack.
United attacked here – scoring five goals – as they progressed into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in a flood of relief even though they must now visit Tottenham Hotspur in the last eight.
That was an emphatic big tick as they looked far more positive, far more threatening albeit against a weak Leicester City with greater priorities this campaign. Such as survival.
But there was also a big cross. A big failure and a familiar one at that with United looking like they could concede at any time and amid the feel-good factor brought back by the change of manager with Ten Hag’s dismissal – an inevitability as the pressure is released – there was a sobering reality.
United must improve defensivelyUnited will have to play far better than this if they are to defeat Chelsea on Sunday and get their Premier League season back on track.
In truth, Ruben Amorim cannot arrive at Old Trafford quickly enough although it now appears the Sporting head coach will remain with the Portuguese club until the international break.
That may change, and United are still in negotiations, but if not then Van Nistelrooy will have three more matches in the dug-out and will have to work on making this team far more coherent. But at least he will believe he is respecting a tradition and a demand for goals.
Later he talked about having a slice of luck – luck that had deserted Ten Hag with United missing buckets of chances – but fortune favours the brave and they were far more positive.
United have been here before post-Ferguson – and Ferguson was in attendance in the directors’ box – with another famed former attacker in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and there was a similar vibe to this encounter as to his first in charge when United again scored five goals, in beating Cardiff City 5-1, in 2018 following Jose Mourinho’s sacking.
Flying Solskjaer start a salutory lessonSolskjaer went on to win his first five games, the first United manager to do so since Sir Matt Busby, and the club got caught up in the groundswell of demands for him to get the job – which then happened. They have already not fallen into that same trap having moved so swiftly for Amorim but there must be deep frustration that they may have to wait.
Obviously, we searched for clues as to what effect Van Nistelrooy could have had but after just one training session, and a walk through on the morning of this game, he simply did not have time beyond trying to harness the inevitably improved mood.
Certain players, most noticeably Bruno Fernandes, who scored twice, his first goals of the season, appeared liberated. But Joshua Zirkzee? Discuss. Van Nistelrooy tried him in three different positions; none of them worked.
This must also be viewed through the prism of Leicester manager Steve Cooper making 10 changes from the team that lost last Friday against Nottingham Forest and who appeared like what they were: a second-string thrown together.
And yet they caused United problems, and analysis of both their goals will centre on defensive errors, sloppy individual mistakes that smelt of the same old, same old and will be a key issue that Amorim – and more immediately Van Nistelrooy – must address.
How, also, can United score five goals at home, and threaten to score even more, and yet still give the aura of a team not fully in control?
At no point did they dominate and consistently subdue Leicester who always sniffed they would have a way back. And this is a team 15th in the table. But, hang on, United are only 14th themselves which shows the extent of their plight.
It was one of those performances, for example, from Casemiro who also scored two goals – one quite exceptional one – and yet was at fault for Leicester’s second and did not dominate the midfield the way he and Manuel Ugarte surely had to against Oliver Skipp and Boubakary Soumare.
Ugarte has previously played under Amorim at Sporting, is 23 and is a £50 million new arrival so will have a future. Casemiro? At 32 that appears less of a certainty, but as he struck a 30-yard shot that dipped deliciously to clip the crossbar on its way in then it looked like an emphatic yes.
Especially when he reacted sharply to score again as he followed up when his header hit the post. But then he was badly at fault as he got in Matthijs de Ligt’s way with a free-kick rebounding off Diogo Dalot to let Conor Coady side-foot in.
Even earlier Altay Bayindir – in goal with Andre Onana not in the squad – punched weakly, allowing Bilal El Khannouss to beat him.
Before that Alejandro Garnacho had thrashed in Dalot’s cross and Fernandes had scored his first with a deflected free-kick, but United never really took over. Not even when Fernandes was gifted a second as he ran on to an under-hit back pass by Caleb Okoli.
To illustrate that Bayindir had to superbly tip Soumare’s shot on to the crossbar. The goals were back for United and Van Nistelrooy had his day – and may get others – but they need their new head coach. And fast.