What happened to Manchester United over the weekend? By Adelani Ogunrinade.
And we all thought the sacking of David Moyes was the solution to Manchester United’s problems.
When Manchester United defeated Queens Park Rangers a fortnight ago, there were reasons to believe that the red devil’s might be getting back to winning ways but this weekend, newly promoted side Leicester City made us think again.
At the beginning of the first half, United’s expensively assembled team took the lead at the King Power Stadium when a lovely cross from Falcao set up Robin van Persie for the opening goal. Mercurial argentine winger, Angel Di Maria quickly doubled the lead with a jaw-dropping chip over Leicester city goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel.
The cracks then started to show when Manchester United’s leaky defence conceded a header to José Ulloa just one minute later. The game was 2-1 to Louis Van Gaal’s side by half-time. When Ander Herrera scored with a crafty back heel in the 57th minute, United looked to be coasting to their second successive league victory.
Very few would have predicted the drama that followed within a 21-minute span.The match was turned on its head Jamie Vardy went down in the penalty area in the 62nd minute after a scrap with defender Rafael. Referee Mark Clattenburg immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Leicester City’s David Nugent converted from the spot to make it 3-2. Two minutes later, Esteban Cambiasso ran on to a deflected Dean Hammond shot to score the equalizer.
With the game locked at 3-3, united manager Louis van Gaal introduced Spanish international Juan Mata and it was the skilful midfielder’s error that ended up costing United the game. Mata was dispossessed by Ritchie De Laet, setting up a Leicester counter-attack. De Laet found Vardy clear and he scored to give the Foxes the lead. Things went from bad to worse in a matter of minutes for United as Leicester went up 5-3 after Tyler Blackett was given a straight red card for fouling Vardy in the box. Leonardo Ulloa stepped up to score his second goal of the game in the 83rd minute.
When one thinks of Manchester United, apart from the legacy of Sir Alex Ferguson, the dramatic Ole gunner Solskjaer goal in the Champions League final and a hard fought 5-3 win against Tottenham in the 2001 comes to mind. Those were the days, Manchester United players had a never say die spirit. This mentality won treble winning side of 1999 many trophies. The likes of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Andy cole and Dwight Yorke were all winners and hungry competitors.
So what is wrong with this great club nowadays?
On Saturday, the united lacked character and got easily bullied. After the controversial penalty that saw Leicester the lead in the match-it was disappointing to see the response of Louis Van Gaal’s team to set back.Manunited made it so easy for Leicester to attack and gave the ball away too easily. There was not enough defensive cover for the likes of Evans, Rojo, Tyler Blackett and Rafael who are still trying to adapt to the new Van Gaal system. The big problem is that they have quality players upfront but not a system that suits them well.
To United’s defence, referee Mark Clattenburg had an awful game. All the controversial decisions were in Leicester’s favour. The Rafael tussle with Jamie Vardy should not have ended up as a penalty. Ritchie De Laet thought he was in a rugby match and played rough. How he did not get a red card for one of his dangerous tackles is unbelievable. This was the Foxes first win against the Red devils in 16 years. The winning mentality Sir Alex instilled in his players needs to be installed in this new crop of players to bring back the glory days.
By Adelani Ogunrinade.