Match Statistics: Leicester City 3-1 Manchester United
As the fourth official’s board was lifted 64 minutes after Manchester United’s clash with Leicester City, there was an element of surprise that went along with it.
It is not that United were making four replacements at once.
Ole Gunnar Solaskar’s much-changed side had a pathetic performance in their FA Cup quarter-finals, and it was clear that cavalry was needed to put things in the right way and try.
No, the surprise was that Fred survived Solszer’s coil of his early playing XI.
Dean Henderson was called into action to save Jamie Vardy from the Brazilian King Power Stadium with his initial error in failing to throw from Aaron Van-Bissaca.
This set the tone, and after two more instances of Fred giving the ball away in midfield, his most serious mistake was made.
Under pressure and facing his goal, when he controlled a pass by Harry Maguire on the edge of United’s penalty area, the 28-year-old was only able to stamp through the inch-inch ball into Kelly Eichinach’s path, as did That he saw was the ball to get back to Henderson.
The in-form Leicester forward made no mistake with his finish, and although United went level at half-time after Donny van de Beek’s delightful dummy, Paul Pogba was allowed to set up Mason Greenwood to equalize , had died.
Should have encouraged Solskjaer’s team At half-time there is news that they will play not Chelsea or Manchester City, but Southampton in the semi-finals, should they win.
But instead it was the other side that put the Saints past nine in recent times, which emerged galvanized for the second period, with Brendan Rodgers’ team deserving their final 3–1 victory.
“We didn’t spark it tonight – but it makes sense,” explained Solskjaer BBC Sport. “It just caught up with us, all sports and travel.
“Thursday night was a big night in Milan and took a lot of us physically. We didn’t have the extra zip, authority and confidence today.”
The Zip and Authority may have disappeared, but it was Fred – one of the six players who debuted earlier in the week against AC Milan at the San Siro – who stood out as the combined weak link.
It was a performance coming from the former Shekhar Donetsk man, with his performance in the first half on Thursday being particularly bad after he improved after the break.
The inconsistency continues to plague a player he bought for £ 52.5 million ($ 70m) nearly three years ago, and it was one of his worst outings in a game that United could not lose.
He and Nemanja Matic were bossed in Middlefield by their opposite numbers Wilfred Nadidi and Yuri Tielemans, and it was the latter that gave Leicester an early lead in the second half.
The Belgian international found both Fred and Viktor Lindelof guilty for building a nest in the lower part of their lower back, before failing to engage the tielemen.
United can only aspire to make such an impact in the attack for their own deep-lying midfield. Instead, they generally rely almost entirely on Bruno Fernandes to claim that they originate from the central regions, and it was no surprise that he was one of a quartet of players whom the game spent its final 25 minutes on. Had entered
Fernandes, arriving alongside compatriots Luke Shaw, Edinson Cavani and Scott McTommen, gave United more thrust, but it was Fred’s another error that eventually sealed his elimination.
The Red Devils tried to launch a counterattack, in which they protected Leicester.
Just a minute after that, Ihencho was running away with a free kick heading to the back post. A tie over without a domestic trophy and United’s race now extend to four years, preventing an unexpected collapse from City in the Premier League.
“I have done again what the changes required to do,” Solaskar insisted that he defended his team’s selection for such a significant change.
And yet it was a player who had started 13 of United’s last 15 matches that let his manager down.
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