As the building blocks of one managerial tenure are carefully laid in place, those of another perhaps begin to come apart. Manchester United are up to the nosebleed territory of fifth – a height barely thinkable at the beginning of last week – after this 1-0 victory over bottom-of-the-league Leicester City, courtesy of an excellent first-half team goal finished off by Jadon Sancho. The only comfort to Brendan Rodgers will be that his opponents for the evening were in a similar position until recently.
It is difficult to escape the sense that whereas one of these clubs is at the beginning of their journey, the other is in danger of reaching an end. It is not since his time with Swansea City that Rodgers has lost four consecutive Premier League games. Expectations were not as great back then, and even if he can point to a lack of investment in the summer market, with the last-minute £15m acquisition of Wout Faes the only significant arrival, results are desperately needed.
Perhaps most worryingly of all for Leicester, United did not have to be particularly good to take all three points, or even rely on the players rushed in since losing their opening games of the campaign. Erik ten Hag’s third successive win was comfortable for the most part, with even Leicester’s brief attempts at a second half surge dealt with and contained. All three victories have come by a single goal. There is work to do. But the trajectory is unmistakably upward.
While Rodgers welcomed the returning James Maddison and Wilfried Ndidi, Ten Hag named the same line-up for the third consecutive game, with still no starting place for Cristiano Ronaldo or Harry Maguire, and still no full debut for new signing Casemiro. The chances of €100m arrival Antony coming straight into Sunday’s side to face Arsenal appear slim, on that basis. But having eventually landed a set-up that isn’t broken, the United manager is in no mood to fix it.
You can see why. What followed was the most authoritative half of football under Ten Hag so far. That might not be saying much, and may still be some way off his ideal vision of pressing, possessing and playing out from the back, but the effects of his coaching are beginning to tell. Every department looks better than in that bloodletting at Brentford last month, whether that be the organisation at the back, the balance in the middle or the link-up play up front.
There was no finer example of that than the goal. Diogo Dalot sprung a counterattack directly from a long kick downfield by Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward, playing Bruno Fernandes in space down the right touchline. Fernandes picked out an unmarked Marcus Rashford inside, whose deft pass in behind slipped Sancho through one-on-one. Caressing the ball with his right foot, he rounded the onrushing Ward and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Even if Leicester’s slack positioning had practically invited United to come forward, it was a slick goal. United were equal to everything coming the other way too, with Raphael Varane impressively marshalling their defensive line. When Lisandro Martinez was momentarily caught up field in possession and Leicester broke away, Varane’s interception stopped a dangerous through ball getting to Jamie Vardy. Pot-shots from range were all that Leicester could muster before the break.
A response was to be expected. Whatever the problems at the King Power, they are a better side than their first-half display suggested and David de Gea was tested for the first time by a Maddison free-kick that had to be clawed out of the top right-hand corner. In keeping with Ten Hag’s post-Brentford changes, the United goalkeeper had been kicking long most of the night, but that approach was contributing to control being slowly surrendered. Casemiro was introduced shortly before the hour mark to try and wrestle it back.
Gradually, they did. At times, they even seemed to be enjoying defending a lead. Dalot’s reaction to winning a goal kick – roaring, then embracing Martinez – was evidence of the fighting spirit that Ten Hag has consistently asked for and is beginning to deliver. Even Ronaldo was busy in his cameo off the bench, teeing up Rashford for a late, skewed shot wide. This win was the work of a team make slow, steady progress. Rodgers, meanwhile, will fear Leicester are only going backwards.
