What must decide Ruud van Nistelrooy’s best duo as Leicester City ‘addition’ revives old truth..
Talking points from Leicester City’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, looking at the performance of the team and the individual displays of Ndidi, Okoli, and El Khannouss.
It is cruelly ironic, given Leicester City’s issues at the back this season, that they were knocked out of the FA Cup because they defended a situation so well.
The freeze frame of the moment Bruno Fernandes took Manchester United’s 93rd-minute free-kick showed an almost perfect defensive line from City. Everybody stuck to the plan, with nobody rushing back too early. They caught four United players offside.
Had they dropped deep and played Maguire onside, they would have had a far better chance of challenging for the header and sending the game to extra-time. Ruud van Nistelrooy felt that was the least his team deserved.
READ MORE: Leicester City’s updated Premier League squad leaves space for transfer and adds Arsenal signing
READ MORE: Leicester City player ratings v Manchester United as trio stand out in controversial defeat.
That is debatable. Certainly, City were vastly improved on their performance against Everton, which they needed to be. They had to offer some evidence that that showing was a blip and not the norm.
Defensively, they were much better. In the first half, they pressed and moved well as a team to prevent United from reaching the most dangerous areas with any regularity. When they did have to defend their box, the positioning of the back-line was usually very good and there seemed a greater determination to keep the ball out of the net, while the midfielders rushed back and marshalled the edge of the box really well, making sure they were first to the cutbacks.
On the ball, they were decent. They were not a huge threat, but they were definitely better than United and while Bobby De Cordova-Reid bundled in his goal, the move that forced the rebound was inventive and efficient.
But, all of the above is really only true of the first hour. From then on, United dominated. If the game had gone to extra-time, it felt like there would have only been one winner. City didn’t have a shot after the 52nd minute and it felt like they barely completed any passes into United’s half after then either.
They had no answer to Alejandro Garnacho who provided nearly all of the quality in United’s display. Ruben Amorim said post-match that they had targeted James Justin with the Argentinian and City didn’t adjust.
