Louis van Gaal spoke immediately after this damaging 5-3 Premier League defeat of "giving the game away". If you think that assessment of things detracts from the effectiveness of Leicester City's collective performance then consider that the hosts had five attempts on target and scored with all five. Nigel Pearson's side were efficient in front of goal, no doubt, but cannot be said to have enjoyed enough of the game to undo United. No, United did that to themselves.
"We created a lot of chances and made superb goals but a game lasts 90 minutes," Van Gaal said. "You have to do it over 90 minutes, not 60. It was not enough today."From individual errors to an absence of responsibility and lapses in concentration, there was little to cheer in this United display and, instead, only evidence that they cannot simply rely on all-star forwards to earn points. While the standard of attacking play was approaching sensational at times, elsewhere United were anything but. They gave away two penalties and another goal on the break. They conceded goals in clusters and every time it looked like they were about to get away from Leicester, they tripped themselves up. That is the chief question that Louis van Gaal now must solve - how to stop the self-sabotage.
David Nugent's penalty just after the hour mark went a long way towards deciding the outcome of this match and was a prime example. Had Rafael not bundled Jamie Vardy over - after the Leicester attacker himself nudged the full-back seconds earlier - then it is possible that United would have held firm, held the ball and held out for the win. That one single incident can precede a meltdown, from 3-1 up, on this scale demonstrates just how arduous a climb it will be for United to scale their former heights.
Van Gaal's men were two goals up, twice, and on both occasions they let Leicester back into the game. At 2-0, and playing as well as they were, it should have been sealed. Instead, within seconds of going two goals up, they were pegged back. And after making it 3-1 and seemingly putting the game beyond the reach of the hosts through Ander Herrera, it took one penalty kick to provoke the sort of collapse that was once unthinkable in a United side.
"You never expect that [losing 5-3] when you are 3-1 ahead," Van Gaal admitted. "Then you have to kill the game, keep possession, but we could not do that.
"And then of course we gave it away with penalties and we cannot win a game when we do that."
While there will also be debate over whether Vardy had allowed the ball to cross the line for Leonardo Ulloa's first goal, this would all distract from the fact that United were 2-0 up and cruising. Not only that but they were playing their best football of the season.
On one hand, they boasted Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria playing exceptionally and making Leicester City look like a side who had indeed just arrived from the Championship.
Di Maria's goal was appropriate for Britain's most-expensive player. It was a goal in the €76 million [£60m] class bracket. United were proving themselves to be a class above Leicester collectively, a lofty position they could not honestly say they had occupied so far under Van Gaal's reign. That is where they expect to be; too good for promoted teams and certainly for teams who have not beaten them at home since 1985.
On the other hand, they themselves were overwhelmed.
That's five games played in the league - only one win - and the promise hinted at during last weekend's 4-0 win over QPR looks a long way off now. United have dropped points in so many different ways so far this season that it seems Van Gaal and his team are incapable of heading off mistakes without experiencing them first.
There are questions of know-how and game management for United's players as being two goals up and losing is a failing of the heads as much as it is the legs.
No comments:
Post a Comment