MANCHESTER — It was one of the strangest scenes of a strange season Manchester Unitedmoments after sealing 5-2 Carabao Cup win against leicester city In the first game at Old Trafford following the dismissal of manager Eric ten Hag, the players showed a display of respect before leaving the field.
Interim head coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy was already back in the dressing room, having taken a brief change to applaud the fans and celebrate the win with a closed fist before heading into the players’ tunnel.
But despite being in 14th place In Premier League And yet another manager paid the price for his failure to perform, with the players ensuring they applauded every second as they saluted on all four sides of the stadium.
Perhaps they were desperate to get some praise and enjoy a rare moment of success this season. It doesn’t matter that it was a comfortable win against a half-strength Leicester team – any win will do for United these days.
“Suddenly luck was on our side,” Van Nistelrooy said. “That made today a great day.”
But as United wait for Ruben Amorim Sporting CP Coach to confirm his departure from the Portuguese champions to replace Ten Hag – United are negotiating a deal with Sporting to secure his release After triggering his €10 million release clause – Van Nistelrooy and the players contributed to painting a picture of normalcy following Ten Hague’s exit.
This is usually the story when a manager is fired. The team gets an immediate bounce and boost of morale which is enough to secure a much-needed win, but often this proves to be an illusion. The failures that led to the previous manager’s dismissal soon return and the new manager immediately discovers that the job they went into was vacated only because the players had played frequently enough. Did not perform.
This is the bitter truth of Manchester United right now. In fact, it has been much the same since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 after leading them to 13 Premier League titles in 20 years.
He became Van Nistelrooy ninth The manager who has been in charge of team selection at United since Ferguson stepped down is a sobering figure. Ten Hag was the fifth permanent manager to lose his job at United following Ferguson’s exit, with Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ralph Rangnick all taking charge temporarily before Van Nistelrooy’s tenure in the hot-seat.
It could be just one game for Van Nistelrooy if United are able to seal the signing of Amorim before the home match chelsea on Sunday, but the possibility that the former psv eindhoven Sources told ESPN that “patience” will be required before talks with Sporting reach any conclusion, with the coach still at the helm this weekend.
But at least Van Nistelrooy got the win – only United’s fifth win this season. Ten Hag’s disappointing record this campaign was the reason for his dismissal, but even though his tactics and selections became increasingly unpredictable, there is no doubt that many of his players performed extremely poorly and contributed to him losing his job.
However, don’t be fooled into believing that this win is proof that United are ready to bounce back.
Yes, casemiro Gave his best performance of the season, scoring twice and assisting another, and became captain bruno fernandes Was also impressive.
But Leicester’s two goals, from Bilal Al Khanous And Connor CodyUnited’s defensive problems were once again exposed and there were several other moments when Steve Cooper’s team created chances and could have scored more goals. those two chances jordan ayu easily ejected Victor Lindelof And manuel ugarte Van Nistelrooy will be worried, and Amorim will be worried when he sees a replay of this game.
This is an unbalanced United team, but its players are certainly capable of much better performances.
They could also continue their revival with a win against Chelsea at the weekend, but if, or when, Amorim takes charge, he would be wise to be wary of relying on this group of players on a consistent basis. He didn’t do the same for Ten Hag and the evidence from 90 minutes against Leicester is not enough to suggest that Van Nistelrooy has found a missing ingredient.
There was no major change in the team and there was no tampering in the strategy. These were the same players and formations that had delivered so many poor results and performances for Ten Hag, so it would need much more than that to convince anyone that United are suddenly ready to surge up the table now that Ten Hag left. Is.
Amorim would know this. He would watch United’s games, study the data and find out which players could survive in the new system, and which players were past their use-by date.
But at least United won. Casemiro will be happy with his two goals, as will Fernandes who scored two Alejandro Garnacho Netting United’s other.
However, this game did not paint a clear picture of United’s position, and it had nothing to do with the fog that descended over Old Trafford on Wednesday.