Two Points Dropped
It was an irritating point to gain. On the surface of it, it is not such a bad point to gain, away to a good team like Leicester City. However, the way the game unfolded, it has to be seen as two points dropped. That assessment has nothing to do with any supposed title charge.
Wasteful Rashford
From the first minute of the match, I had a bad premonition
that we might drop points here. Marcus Rashford’s miss in the first minute led
to the development of that feeling. Rashford did score our first goal and it
was a well-taken goal off the tiptoe assist of Bruno Fernandes. He had the
chance to restore our lead but I would credit Kasper Schmeichel for a great
one-handed save to keep him out. However, we have seen this happen too often
now with Rashford. He is just not clinical enough.
Annoying Goals To Concede
At the other end, there was hardly anything in terms of
clearcut chances created or shots on our goal but yet Leicester scored with
their only two shots on goal. That statistic led to more annoyance at dropping
two points. For the first goal we conceded, Scott McTominay left Harvey Barnes
too much room to get his shot off. In the lead up to that goal, Bruno Fernandes
lost the ball in our half trying to nutmeg Wilfred Ndidi. Despite that, we
should have blocked the shot before it came in. If not McTominay, Eric Bailly
should have come out to block instead.
After leading 2-1, it was obvious that Leicester was going
to pile on the pressure to equalise. I was not convinced we could hang on
though and my fears were compounded when Jamie Vardy bundled home the
equaliser. We can consider ourselves unlucky because Vardy’s shot hit Axel
Tuanzebe on the way to the goal. But we should have defended much better on the
cross. Ayoze Perez got the wrong side of Luke Shaw to put in a cross
unchallenged and Bailly and Harry Maguire were not sharp enough to close Vardy
down.
A Lot To Improve
This has to be seen as two points dropped. The words “title
challenge” should never be discussed with this United team that keeps going one
step forward and two steps back. The mental strength to withstand pressure and the
focus to defending better is not always there. We see it but not often enough
which brings me to the often-repeated observation that frustrates me the most;
our inconsistency. If we are to be serious of doing better than last season and
winning at least a trophy, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer must start Edinson Cavani more
often. Anthony Martial and Rashford are not always clinical in front of goal.
You just get a sense that somewhere, Solksjaer doesn’t trust any of his new
signings or they were signings he didn’t want to make which is why all three
don’t start as often.
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