Five things we learnt from Manchester United’s embarrassing 5-3 loss against Leicester City.
Manchester United’s 5-3 defeat at the hands of Leicester was a fantastic spectacle for the neutral, but what did we learn from the match?
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Manchester United Leicester 5-3: (Vide0) Manchester United’s shock loss against Leicester City.
After looking so dominant against QPR last weekend, few people were expecting anything but a win from Manchester United against Leicester today; a loss seeming even more unlikely after Louis van Gaal’s side raced into a 2-0 lead.
A defeat is what Manchester United got however, Leicester completing a stunning 5-3 comeback to grab all three points. Here are five things we learnt from today’s game, as reported by the Mirror:
5) Leicester love the underdog tag.
With such a difficult set of opening fixtures, Leicester City were labelled likely relegation candidates right from the off.
But Nigel Pearson’s side have revelled in being underestimated, going behind in a number of their games so far before coming back with style; against some top teams too.
2-0 down before making it 2-2 against Everton, 1-1 against Arsenal, and now most most impressively 5-3 against Manchester United.
4) Manchester United don’t have a defence.
For all the money they spent over the summer, United didn’t spend in the area they really needed to; centre-back.
Despite the pair ageing and slowing down recently, Vidic and Ferdinand left a gaping hole in the Red Devil’s defence, and it has in no way been filled by Louis van Gaal.
With injuries to a couple of players already, the Manchester club are dangerously short of defenders, and while you can’t expect a huge amount too soon players like Tyler Blackett are just not of the quality van Gaal needs right now; especially when thrown in with other youngsters.
3) Louis van Gaal values attack over defence.
The Dutch manager has brought in several attacking signings already, giving him a plethora of choice going forwards.
In order to fit the likes of Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, and Angel di Maria into the team, van Gaal has to not only sacrifice something in defence, but also concede something in midfield.
Leicester looked incredibly dangerous on the counter attack, with United leaving themselves exposed on a number of occasions.
2) Leanardo Ulloa and Jamie Vardy are Premier League quality.
Three years ago Jamie Vardy was playing non-league football, while Leanardo Ulloa was brought in from Brighton this summer.
Some felt that Leicester didn’t have the strikers to compete in the top flight, but they are certainly proving them wrong.
Ulloa is second in the goalscoring chart only to Diego Costa, while Vardy put in an unbelievable performance today and was directly involved in every single goal.
1) Manchester United are great going forward.
There were certainly times in the first half when Manchester United looked like they were back to their old selves, their multi-million pound signings linking up to devastating effect.
A forward line consisting of di Maria, Rooney, van Persie, and Falcao is always going to look threatening, and with the ability those players possess it’s no surprise that United look like they could conjure a goal out of nowhere.
If van Gaal doesn’t get his defence sorted out it will all be for nothing though, with even the best strike force unable to make up for a back line that leaky.