- Ten Hag was sacked earlier this week, two days before the Carabao Cup fixture
- The Red Devils put on a show at Old Trafford under their new interim manager
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Somewhere in Portugal, Ruben Amorim would have been following events at Old Trafford and praying Sporting Lisbon don’t delay him from becoming Manchester United manager a moment longer.
Much more of this and United could withdraw their contract offer and give the job to Ruud van Nistelrooy instead.
Somewhere in Holland, Erik ten Hag will have been screaming at his TV and wondering just where some of these United players have been hiding all season.
Having struggled to hit the proverbial barn door for so long before the Dutchman’s departure on Monday, United fired four goals before half-time for the first time since 2020 to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on a rousing opening night for caretaker boss Van Nistelrooy. Talk about a Ruud awakening.
In the defence of United’s players, they smashed seven past Barnsley without reply in the last round at Old Trafford last month.
This was also a Leicester team showing no fewer than nine changes from the one that lost to Nottingham Forest on Friday night. If United can do the same to the Foxes in the Premier League back here a week on Sunday, it will be a different matter.
Steve Cooper’s side also scored two goals of their own before the interval, so United didn’t have it all their own way by any means.
But this was performance bursting with freedom and enterprise and enjoyment, the like we rarely saw under Ten Hag.
Casemiro, the man who scored the last goal of the old manager’s reign at West Ham on Sunday, grabbed another couple here including a sensational strike from 30 yards to get things going. He looked like a player reborn. Bruno Fernandes claimed his first two of the season and Alejandro Garnacho got another.
It was just the kind of performance Van Nistelrooy would have been hoping for to at least press his claims for staying on under the new regime if not to make United change their minds over Amorim altogether. After all, this was only United’s fourth win in 14 games this season.
The former United striker certainly looked the part as he emerged dressed all in black and gave a fist pump to the crowd, having offered his sympathies to Ten Hag in his programme notes.
‘As I am sure everyone can imagine, I am writing with a huge amount of mixed emotions,’ they read.
‘Erik ten Hag brought me back to Manchester United in the summer and, while I have only been part of the coaching staff here for a few months, I will always be grateful to him for giving me the opportunity, and I am saddened to see him leave,’ adding that United can be ‘unstoppable’ if everyone is pulling in the same direction.
There was certainly no stopping Casemiro’s blockbuster effort in the 15th minute. Lisandro Martinez played the ball to Garnacho and Fernandes stepped over his pass to Casemiro. The Brazilian looked up and saw he had time to line up a 30-yard cracker into the top corner.
Only one of Van Nistelrooy’s 150 career goals for United came outside the box, so you can imagine his delight as he wheeled away on the touchline, fists clenched again.
It was Casemiro’s clever pass down the touchline that sent Diogo Dalot away from Boubakary Soumare and allowed him to cross for Garnacho to fire into the roof of the net for the second goal.
Leicester pulled one back against the run of player when United’s reserve keeper Altay Bayindir – the one obvious concession to the Carabao Cup made by Van Nistelrooy – punched away Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s free kick but was beaten by Bilal El Khannous low effort which flew in off the far post.
A United team that were horrible at protecting leads under Ten Hag didn’t flinch. Fernandes’ free kick on the edge of the box took a heavy deflection off James Justin on its way in, and Casemiro hit both posts with a header from Marcus Rashford’s cross before he smashed in the rebound.
Leicester gave Old Trafford some food for thought at half-time after Conor Coady stroked home from close-range when Casemiro’s clearance hit Dalot.
But after weathering some early pressure in the second period, Fernandes seized on a poor back-pass from Caleb Okoli to round keeper Danny Ward and score the fifth.
Substitute Amad Diallo was inches away with an overhead kick, Bayindir touched Soumare’s effort against the bar at the other end, and Fernandes volleyed a hat-trick chance over.
But United had done more than enough to make Van Nistelrooy a happy man – even if Ten Hag might not have appreciated it. As for Amorim, you would imagine he can’t wait for the ink to dry on that contract.
