Ruud van Nistelrooy has a reputation for delivering goals at Old Trafford and he lived up to that in his first game as Manchester United interim boss.
The shackles were off and the big guns were back firing as United began the post-Erik ten Hag era with a bang.
The tone was set pre-match. Van Nistelrooy promised United would “get the crowd going” and did his best to help from the sidelines, revving up the stadium as he emerged from the tunnel, perhaps hoping to replicate another former striker turned interim.
Just as in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge, United scored five goals, a feat they managed just once under Ten Hag, as they marched past Leicester into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. A weight, it seemed, was lifted. For now, anyway.
Goals had often been hard to come by in the Ten Hag era. After his sacking on Monday a stat went viral revealing United’s shocking goal difference under the Dutchman. Man City topped the list on +134, Liverpool had +85, while United sat way back on +11.
This was no post-Jose Mourinho liberation, but it certainly felt different. The pressure was off.
Most notably against Leicester, it was the experienced players who stood up. Captain Bruno Fernandes, previously without a goal all season, and Casemiro, often overlooked by the previous manager, scored twice at Old Trafford, delivering the spectacular moments of the night.
Had it not been for Casemiro’s worldie of a strike from distance, United were at risk of slipping back into the sloppy habits of the past few months. It was the rocket up the backside they all needed to wake up and spark into life after a sombre start to proceedings.
Once United got going Fernandes seemed to get his mojo back. He was back in the thick of things, looking for goal, creating chances and being a constant nuisance. What he is good at.
The skipper ranked second for touches (78) and chances created (4) while registering more passes into the final third than anyone else on the pitch (25). Out of possession, Fernandes won the ball back in the final third (3) more than the rest of United’s starters combined.
On paper, the system was largely a continuation of what we saw under Ten Hag, but there was a sense of freedom. That seems to suit Fernandes.
It could have been a different story had his free-kick not deflected off James Justin for his first goal. Fernandes’ effort looked like it would have otherwise been comfortably saved by Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward. It was the luck he needed.
This just felt like United’s night. Casemiro’s second goal bounced off both posts before falling perfectly to him. Leicester were convinced Garnacho was offside for his strike. And it just so happened that this time VAR was not in use.
‘Where was this good fortune before?’, Ten Hag is probably asking somewhere, watching from afar.
Van Nistelrooy acknowledged as much after the game, too. “We scored some great goals; the first one was a beauty from Casemiro. But I have to say that we had some luck as well.
“Five goals but against West Ham, Fenerbahce and Brentford we created so much more bigger chances. All of a sudden we had some luck on our side, that made it a great day.”
The response to Ten Hag’s sacking, while inevitable, raises a pressing question: is this what it takes to get these players playing?
A cycle has been established over the past 10 years, since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down, of out-of-form players suddenly producing once they feel they are fighting for their futures.
Five permanent managers have been seeking this kind of reaction only to see it when the next man walks through the door and they have already been tossed on the scrapheap.
Sacking Ten Hag felt like the only solution to curb United’s miserable start to the season. Fourteenth in the Premier League table after nine games is plainly not good enough. It does not answer all their problems, though.
The thrashing of Leicester is the result of a team responding to a shock. Nothing more. Ruben Amorim, the man expected to replace Ten Hag, still has it all to do. This is the impossible job.
