Leicester 5-3 Manchester United: Foxes launch comeback to secure stunning victory as United surrender two-goal lead on Radamel Falcao's full debut
When you have just spent £150million in the transfer market and secured a player of the quality of Angel di Maria, then a forward who only four years ago was playing for Stocksbridge Park Steels really should not be making you look a mug.
But
Louis van Gaal will have to accept that Jamie Vardy was chief among a
spirited group of Leicester City players who embarrassed Manchester
United’s manager and a side that remains some way off the level required
to return to the summit of the English game.
Van
Gaal did his best to take comfort in the fact that he had endured such
an encounter before. At Barcelona, he said afterwards, he had once seen
his team surrender a three-goal advantage to lose 4-3.
Maybe so,
but it was the manner in which United capitulated here in this
astonishing Barclays Premier League contest that will concern their new
manager. The fact that they twice conceded a two-goal advantage. The
fact that they struggled with Leicester’s pace as much as their physical
approach and finished the game with only 10 men. The fact that Daley
Blind, having looked quite brilliant in that holding midfield role
against QPR, seemed to be drowning in a sea of blue shirts.
There
is an imbalance in United that still badly needs addressing because,
for all the talent they possess in attack, their defence remains
dangerously fragile.
Marcos
Rojo will prove himself better than this. He really struggled against
Vardy but a fine full back he nevertheless remains. However, on an
afternoon that had a distinctly South American flavour, United paid for
their failure to invest sufficiently in a back four no longer boasting
Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
Jonny
Evans and Tyler Blackett are not at that level, even if Blackett might
yet prove to be when he learns to avoid getting himself sent off. Chris
Smalling, who came on as a first-half replacement for the injured Evans,
is not of that calibre, either. In fairness, the midfield failed to
provide them with sufficient protection, with Blind looking a poor
substitute for Owen Hargreaves, never mind Roy Keane.
But
Van Gaal rightly pointed to the responsibility they had as a team to
‘kill the game’ once they were 3-1 up. He was also right to highlight
the fashion in which they lost possession in the build-up to some of
Leicester’s goals. But
if much of Van Gaal’s focus has been working on the ‘brains’ of his
players, such a brainless performance will leave him deeply worried.
The first of
two penalties they conceded was as stupid as it was unfair. Yes, Mark
Clattenburg should have blown the whistle when Vardy shoved Rafael to
the ground. But how foolish of Rafael to retaliate inside the 18-yard
box. ‘It was still only 3-2,’ Van Gaal acknowledged honestly.
Lost
in all this, of course, was the style with which United attacked in the
first half. Not least in the form of Di Maria, who delivered another
masterclass as well as a quite outrageous goal. If Wayne Rooney was
alone in having special privileges prior to this match, Van Gaal might
now concede that he needs to extend the guarantee of a first-team place
to Di Maria.
His
was United’s second goal. The first came after 13 minutes from Robin
van Persie with a deflected header after Radamel Falcao had justified
his selection ahead of Juan Mata with a brilliant left-foot cross.
Three
minutes later, a capacity crowd witnessed something magical — Di Maria
completing a delightful exchange of passes with Rooney with a chip over
the advancing Kasper Schmeichel that few players in the world would be
able to execute. Almost
as impressive, however, was the speed with which Leicester responded,
Leonardo Ulloa scoring his fourth goal in as many games 70 seconds later
when he met a Vardy cross with a thumping header that flew beyond David
de Gea.
Rojo should
have done better with Vardy and Evans and Rafael should have got closer
to Ulloa. Even so, it was a cracking finish. If
the loss of Evans to injury disrupted Van Gaal’s back four, United
managed to extend their lead after the break when Ander Herrera produced
a clever flick to divert Di Maria’s shot beyond the wrong-footed
Schmeichel.
But
within five minutes Rafael had conceded a penalty that was converted by
the impressive David Nugent and two minutes after that Leicester were
level. As
well as scoring Leicester’s fourth goal, Vardy was the creator of the
other four — even if he did nothing other than get in the way of a Dean
Hammond shot that fell to Esteban Cambiasso, who marked his home debut
by becoming the third Argentinian to score.
For United, however, it again amounted to poor defending and Rooney responded by berating his colleagues. But
worse followed in the 79th minute when a poor ball from Rojo enabled
Ritchie de Laet to win possession off Mata and send the rapidly
advancing Vardy clear with only De Gea to beat. Another
four minutes on,Val Gaal had to endure the sight of Blackett bringing
down Vardy in the penalty area. A second goal for Ulloa followed;
humiliation complete.
