Yeah, can't even say that with a straight face 😐.
Boy, WE GOT AWAY WITH THAT BIG TIME!
It was a match that reminded much of the victory over Southampton a few weeks ago as we were terrible against a relegation side and required a late winner to get us over the line.
This time, we were terrible against a relegation side and required a late winner to get us over the line.
Ruben Amorim gave new signing Patrick Dorgu his debut which was something that was a bit of a surprise to me although the rest of the team did raise an eyebrow or two.
Looking at how the team was laid out on the field, it made things even more confusing.
New LB/LWB Dorgu started as the RWB with not so good at LWB Dalot starting at LWB.
I know, didn't make sense to me either.
All this confusion was plain to see as the players appeared perplexed themselves. There was no chemistry or rhythm in that game, we created nothing going forward, the tempo was lacking and we couldn't do the basics.
So just another game from us I suppose.
But when the likes of Leicester come to Old Trafford, we have a new signing in the team and we're in need of victory, to be playing like that was unacceptable.
There was absolutely fuck all to talk about from United's perspective in that first half other than how poor we were. The Foxes were the better side and looked like they were a team that wasn't fighting relegation.
Ruud's team popped the ball off with ease and confidence and displayed a composure that we just didn't have.
All of this positive play from the visitors and not so positive play from the home side resulted in Leicester getting the deserved lead late on in the half.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid finished off a chance that produced a decent save from Onana after a strike from Wilfried Ndidi who was unmarked on the edge of the box despite United seemingly having enough bodies back.
Another poor goal to concede thanks to awful defending and was another example of just how bad we are at defending crosses. That is now 26 goals conceded from a cross out of the 50 we've let in in total.
Amorim had to do something in the second half.
He then made the change to bring Garnacho on for Dorgu which I thought was the wrong sub because Dalot couldn't have had a worse game even if he tried (which is saying something because he's been woeful this season) but we were crying for someone like Garnacho to come on.
The star boy instantly made a difference and was man of the match as soon as he stepped foot onto the field.
What he did was be direct and get the ball down the line before putting in a cross. Nice to have an actual winger do winger stuff. None of this inverted crap
United in the second period looked a lot more threatening because of this change as it also meant that Amad went to RWB which gave us something extra in attack.
The MUFC boss then made a further change on the hour mark by taking off Mainoo for Zirkzee.
He was proved right on both his substitutions as Garnacho put the cross in that led to the Zirkzee tap-in. Great play by the star boy to go down the line and play a cross. Hojlund - who had a decent game himself - tried to flick it in but that was blocked. Luckily it came to the Dutch forward and he had the simplest of finishes.
Leicester at this point looked toothless giving us more of an incentive to believe we could win.
It really was all United from that goal on but finding that late winner proved elusive as all of Garnacho, Amad, Hojlund, Bruno and Zirkzee couldn't find a way.
Then, up steps Maguire.
United get a late free-kick and after some very flat deliveries by the captain, my hopes for this one wasn't up.
Weirdly though, Bruno actually put in a great ball with Maguire getting on the end of it to score what was a simple header for him.
However, he was well offside.
WELL offside.
And so were three of four other United players.
Not sure how the linesman didn't spot that tbh. No VAR meant that the goal stood and United were through.
But in the end, do we really care? It ain't right but we'll take all the luck we can get.
The former captain linking up with the current one to give Amorim the win he was desperate for considering our very, very pathetic season.
Another performance where he wouldn't have been happy with what he saw. His players did next to nothing that would suggest that they tried to improve from the Palace defeat.
The fact that Leicester came and outplayed us for large portions of the game would've probably frustrated and angered him.
Somebody needs to keep him away from the TV!
I think he will just be a relieved man because this tournament is quite important for United, similar to last season. It could not only give us a trophy but also the European football we need for next season.
Ratings
Onana - 6
Mazraoui - 6.5
Maguire - 6.5
Yoro - 5.5
Dorgu - 6
Bruno - 5
Ugarte - 6
Dalot - 3
Amad - 5.5
Mainoo - 5
Hojlund - 5.5
Garnacho - 7 MOTM
Zirkzee - 6.5
Casemiro - 6
Ruben Amorim - 3
Final Thoughts
A very low score for the manager from me because this was the first game where I believe he was more (or at least as much) at fault as his players.
A very weird starting lineup made weirder when looking at how they were laid out on the field made me think that this one wasn't going to go well.
There was a lot of imbalance to that XI and not enough in the way of attackers. I find that Amorim is going more defensive from the start and is always having to make substitutions at halftime to change things up.
There also looks to be a bit of favoritism from him with his fellow Portuguese's Bruno and Dalot as the pair of them were the worst on the field.
Again, can't understand how he didn't play Dorgu on the left and Dalot on the right. Not sure why he didn't take Dalot off instead of the new signing as well.
A lot of what he's done in the last two games has gone wrong.
This is the first time I've gotten slightly worried with him 😬.
Let's just take the win and move forward.
Background Image: Harry Maguire scores (lucky) late winner against Leicester in FA Cup | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)