Man United 5-2 Leicester: Ruud van Nistelrooy convincingly wins his first game as interim manager after Erik ten Hag’s sacking as Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro both net twice
Somewhere in Portugal, Ruben Amorim would have been watching events here at Old Trafford and praying that Sporting Lisbon would not stop him from becoming Manchester United manager for a while.
If this were to become much more, United could withdraw their contract offer and give the job to Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Somewhere in the Netherlands, Erik ten Hag must have been shouting at his TV wondering where some of these United players have been hiding all season.
After struggling to hit the proverbial barn door for so long before the Dutchman’s departure on Monday, United fired four goals before half-time for the first time since 2020 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on a glittering opening night for the agent. Van Nistelrooy. Ten Hag also loved the cups.
In defense of United’s players, they defeated seven players without reply in the final round at Old Trafford last month. This was also a Leicester team that made no fewer than nine changes from the team that lost to Nottingham Forest on Friday evening. If United can do the same with the Foxes in the Premier League for a week here on Sunday, it would be a different matter.
Ruud van Nistelrooy won his first game in charge of Manchester United when they put five past Leicester
Captain Bruno Fernandes scored twice and impressed in the first match since Erik ten Hag’s dismissal
Casemiro also scored twice – one a screamer – as one of Ten Hag’s signings silenced his critics
Steve Cooper’s side also scored two own goals before the break, so United weren’t having it all their own way by any means.
But this was an achievement full of freedom, enterprise and fun, the likes of which we rarely saw under Ten Hag.
Casemiro, the man who scored the last goal of the old manager’s reign at West Ham on Sunday, grabbed a few more here, including a sensational strike from 30 yards, to get things going. He looked like a reborn player. Bruno Fernandes claimed his first two of the season and Alejandro Garnacho got another.
It was exactly the kind of performance Van Nistelrooy had hoped for to at least strengthen his claims to stay under the new regime, if it did not lead to United changing their minds about Amorim. After all, this was only United’s fourth win in fourteen games this season.
The former United striker certainly looked good when he emerged dressed in all black and gave the crowd a fist bump after expressing his condolences to Ten Hag in his program notes.
“As I’m sure anyone can imagine, I write with an enormous amount of mixed emotions,” they read.
‘Erik ten Hag brought me back to Manchester United this summer and although I have only been part of the coaching staff here for a few months, I will always be grateful to him for giving me the opportunity. he’s leaving,” adding that United can be “unstoppable” if everyone pulls in the same direction.
Casemiro’s blockbuster effort in the 15th minute was certainly unstoppable. Lisandro Martinez played the ball to Garnacho and Fernandes stepped over his pass to Casemiro. The Brazilian looked up and saw that he had time to put a 30-yard crack into the top corner.
It was a ruthless performance from the Dutchman, finally scoring the chances they had missed at will in previous matches
Conor Coady provided some food for thought when he scored a goal just before half-time to make it 4-2.
All in all, it was a performance full of freedom, entrepreneurial spirit and fun, the likes of which we rarely saw under Ten Hag
Only one of Van Nistelrooy’s 150 career goals for United came outside the penalty area, so you can imagine his delight as he drove away down the touchline, fists clenched once again.
It was Casemiro’s clever pass down the touchline that deflected Diogo Dalot away from Boubakary Soumare and allowed him to cross to Garnacho who fired into the roof of the net for the second goal.
Leicester pulled one back against the player’s run when United’s reserve keeper Altay Bayindir – Van Nistelrooy’s only obvious Carabao Cup concession – punched away Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s free-kick, but no one closed down Bilal El Khannous and his low effort flew into the far post.
A United team that was poor at securing a lead under Ten Hag did not hold back. Fernandes’ free-kick on the edge of the box took a heavy deflection from James Justin on its way in, and Casemiro hit both posts with a header from Marcus Rashford’s cross before smashing home the rebound.
Leicester gave Old Trafford some food for thought at half-time after Conor Coady stroked home from close range when Casemiro’s ball struck Dalot.
But after enduring some early pressure in the second period, Fernandes latched onto a poor back pass from Caleb Okoli to lap keeper Danny Ward to score the fifth.
The United team, which had a poor lead under Ten Hag, did not budge on Wednesday
Ten Hag must have been shouting at his TV wondering where some of these United players have been hiding
Ruben Amorim hopes that Sporting Lisbon will let him off board before Van Nistelrooy becomes too comfortable
Substitute Amad Diallo was a few centimeters away with an overhead kick and at the other end Bayindir tapped Soumare’s effort against the crossbar.
But United had done more than enough to make Van Nistelrooy a happy man – even if Ten Hag might not have appreciated it. As for Amorim, you’d imagine he can’t wait for the ink to dry on that contract.