As it looks like Ruud van Nistelrooy will be manager for a little longer than expected, it would be a good idea to see where there were some differences to his first performance compared to his predecessor Erik ten Hag.
I wasn't completely sure about whether I was going to do this or not but us Ruud will be here for the next three games, it could give us an indication of what we can expect from his teams.
1. Targeting Martinez
This isn't something that is new to van Nistelrooy as it was happening before he took interim charge.
Lisandro Martinez at left-back just isn't it. We can see that he is out of sorts and oppositions look to take advantage of him. That makes sense given the fact that he isn't a LB.
But it is definitely an area to be concerned about because, particularly in the second half, Leicester were looking to target the centre-back-turned-left-back as several of their attacks came down that flank causing United a lot of problems.
Without a recognized left-back, it was understandable that something different needed to be done. Martinez in that position isn't completely alien as he has done a decent enough job there before but against better opposition, it will hurt us.
I'm sure that Mazraoui will be back for Chelsea but it shows that if he is out, left-back is a massive issue.
This also meant that Lindelof and De Ligt weren't on the same wavelength as the centre-backs and often appeared quite shaky. Martinez and De Ligt are a lot more settled.
2. Joshua Zirkzee
He was unimpressive again.
He is a new player and still young at 23 but nothing in his performances suggest a player who looks to be able to play for United.
Compared to his first few games, Zirkzee looks to be one devoid of a lot of confidence. His football basics have gone out the window and was one of a couple of players who just didn't seem on it last night.
We look a lot better with Hojlund up top.
People could point out that the Dane also had a very slow start to life at Old Trafford but what I felt with Hojlund was that he made us feel more confident that he could make some sort of a difference. I don't get that with Zirkzee.
I thought that getting an assist against West Ham will get the Dutch forward's confidence up but it didn't look to be the case.
Ruud even kept him on when he brought on Hojlund to see what it would look like with the two of them on the field together. Zirkzee played a little deeper with Bruno going out wide once Garnacho was substituted.
Erik ten Hag also did this in his final game although I think that was more throwing the kitchen sink at things in the hopes that his side could salvage something in what would prove to be his last game.
This change didn't work either.
He has to start improving because with a new manager coming in, he won't want to not impress him. Zirkzee will want to be in the team as often as possible.
3. Ugarte + Casemiro
This isn't a pairing we've seen too often this season mainly because Casemiro has been shite and rightfully dropped, Eriksen has been superb and cannot be dropped, and ten Hag didn't use Ugarte.
So seeing them start as the midfield pivot was a little surprising even more so when they are both CDMs playing at home to Leicester in the Carabao Cup.
You don't see that too often.
Not seeing Eriksen in the team as well was a shock as like I said, he has been one of our best players this season. The Dane wasn't even in the squad. Hopefully that was more because of a night off rather than an injury scare.
Ugarte and Casemiro weren't too bad but weren't anything amazing although Casemiro put in his best performance of the season by far scoring 2 goals (one of which was a purler) and made some great defensive actions too.
But for certain games and opponents, this could be a pairing we could use. Chelsea on Sunday is a good example. The Blues are quite powerful in midfield and do look to be on the front foot a lot which would mean that we may want to be a little more defensively solid. Ugarte and Casemiro could work for this match.
Interesting we saw this from Ruud but not ten Hag.
4. Substitutions
This was one thing that I must commend Ruud on.
I was really happy with the subs that he made and the timing of them. I know that it was easy for him considering the score was 5-2 once he started to make the changes but even still, with ten Hag, too often he would make substitutions that would confuse us as well as make them too late.
On the hour mark, Ruud, took off Rashford and Martinez for Amad - whom it was a surprise to not see him start - and Mazraoui. Pretty straight forward changes but we weren't getting this under the previous manager.
10 minutes later, he takes off De Ligt and Garnacho for Evans and Hojlund. He also gave some minutes to youngster Wheatley when he came on for Zirkzee towards the end of the match.
These substitutions were great. Right time, right changes and all those players got good game time while also getting a rest.
Simple.
Not sure why ten Hag couldn't do this.
5. New manager bounce
You knew it was coming.
I know he isn't exactly a new manager because he's been there for a few months nor is Ruud the actual manager as he is interim at the moment, but just seeing Erik ten Hag go seems to have given these players a new lease on life.
Suddenly, we were playing well, there was a lot of energy for most of the game, we created chances and actually took them. There were smiles on players' faces and when looking at Casemiro, he was on another level.
This is why I can't get excited with this team. This is why I can't trust them. This is something we've seen many times before where the players play like prime 08 United and make it seem as if it was the manager who was the problem.
Why couldn't they just try this hard with ten Hag? If they did, then it would've been clearer to see that perhaps it was all on the manager. Like this, it just comes across as dubious.
If they are able to carry on like this for a couple of years, then I will say that it isn't a new manager bounce. That is the only way I'll start to trust them.
Let's see what happens on Sunday.
Background Image: Man Utd beat Leicester 5-2 in the Carabao Cup round of 16 | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)