The clouds have cleared and the sense of impending doom that gripped Manchester United barely two weeks ago is gone.
They haven’t won three games in a row since the spring of last year and while the chant that sounded near the end was for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it’s Erik ten Hag who has seen the storm.
The win reveals as little, in the larger scheme of things, as any Premier League game can at the start of September, although it was a swap between two players in the team box as the second part told us something. Diogo Dalot had emerged from a tackle that dispelled the threat of Harvey Barnes with the look of a man whose life depended on it. He and Lisandro Martínez collided in the chest.
Jadon Sancho scored the winner at the King Power Stadium with a composed finish in a dominant first half for United
The 22-year-old has already scored twice this season and looks a much improved player under Erik ten Hag.
Fans continued their loud and vocal protests against Glazer’s ownership of the club during the 1-0 win at Leicester.
Cristiano Ronaldo made the difference when he came off the bench in the second half and went close with an acrobatic effort.
There is no universal sense of unity and harmony at the heart of United, even with their latest expensive signing, Anthony, now on the move after a £280m summer the likes of which the club has never known.
Cries of “We want out of the Glazers” echoed around the stadium five minutes into the game. Coach Steve McClaren chewed his gum maniacally as Ten Hag scribbled restlessly.
But there were signs of something different about this United: a method, a precision and an ability to ease the ball between defensive lines, which even Leicester’s fragility and uncertainty could not quite dispel.
Christian Eriksen was at the heart of the game in the early stages of the game, showing his wonderful technical ability and playing with his head up to lead United into dangerous positions, although his own shot from the inside left channel , at 10 minutes, it should be. they hit the target. And Bruno Fernandes, playing at half-back, repeatedly released Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga down the right.
Brendan Rodgers will be concerned about his side’s form after picking up just one point from their first five games.
The first goal was no surprise – United got easy possession from a loose goal-kick before Fernandes, in ample space to assess his options, headed the ball to Marcus Rashford, who slotted it home. hire Jadon Sancho. As the striker made a diagonal run to pick up the ball and move around Danny Ward to score, you wondered if Ten Hag could be the man to track down the Sancho we’ve always known lurking beneath the surface .
There were fleeting moments from Leicester in this first period – a Barnes shot that sailed over when David de Gea looked rooted to the spot – but Jamie Vardy was an isolated figure. Their boos were muffled in this once vibrant venue long before the sides headed off for the interval.
It was not a censure for Rodgers but for the risk that the owners of this club have decided to take. Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha’s program notes provided a poignant and vaguely chilling sense, before kick-off, that Leicester are a club at a critical juncture: they are unwilling to bankroll Rodgers after collective losses of £120m free for the last five years that have left them afraid. breaking UEFA’s spending rules.
It is never reassuring when an owner feels excited to claim that the club is financially “totally secure” and “safe in the hands of my family”, as the chairman did.
Anthony Elanga repeatedly exposed Leicester’s defense with drilling down the right
At least Youri Tielemans didn’t join the exodus and new £15m centre-back Wout Faes materialized before kick-off, but the pre-match light show failed to lift the general gloom.
What Rodgers said at halftime made all the difference. Leicester started the second half brighter. In fact, they began to press. James Maddison took a fine free-kick that was arcing in the first half until De Gea pounced to snatch it away. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall delivered a cross that was fractionally too hard for Barnes to buy into the space at the back of United’s six-yard box.
It certainly wasn’t electric from United’s perspective and Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival midway through the second half did enough to back up Ten Hag’s claim that he will deliver something at a club he doesn’t want to be at. .
James Maddison went closest for Leicester with a succession of free-kicks and forced an excellent save from De Gea.
There was an inscrutability about him when he came on for Sancho, but characteristic effort after he took on the centre-forward role.
He had almost found a goal-scoring opportunity for Eriksen when he laid the ball off the bounce to Rashford, who deflected it wide. He pleaded for the cross from which he launched a very narrow bicycle kick. It made a difference.
By the end, some of the old songs had returned to the noisy United contingent. “We’ll do what we want” highlighted. It won’t be as easy as that. There will be tougher tests ahead. But this is more like the Union than it seemed ancient history.
DATA OF THE MATCH
LEICESTER CITY (4-1-4-1) Ward 5.5; Justin 6, Soumare 6, Evans 7, Thomas 6.5; Ndidi 5.5; Maddison 6.5, Tielemans 6 (Iheanacho 76 6), Dewsbury-Hall 6, Barnes 6; Vardy 5.5 (Daka 87).
Subs: Soyuncu, Albrighton, Ioze, Daka, Praet, Chestnut, Iversen, Brunt
Manager: Brendan Rogers 7
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1) De Gea 6.5; Dalot 6, Varane 6, Martinez 6.5, Malaysia 6; McTominay 7, Eriksen 7.5; Elanga 6.5 (Casemiro 58), Bruno Fernandes 8, Sancho 7.5 (Ronaldo 69 7); Rashford 5.5 (Fred 87)
Subs: Lindelof, Maguire, Heaton, Van de Beek, Kovar, Garnacho
Manager: Erik has Hag 7
Referee Craig Pawson 7.5