Interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy has named his strongest possible squad to face Leicester City. With little thought to his fitness for this weekend's Super Sunday clash with Chelsea, Van Nistelrooy wants his first game in charge to leave a positive impression.
4 goals scored in the first half was what Man United showed. It brought extreme excitement to the fans in the stands. However, some weaknesses under Ten Hag reappeared, typically in the 2 goals the "Red Devils" received from Leicester. Overall, Man United did well even though this was only a League Cup match, more of a relief after a series of bad results in the past.
The main character of this match was Ruud van Nistelrooy. The temporary hot seat to replace Ten Hag received a lot of encouragement from the fans, right from the moment he stepped onto the Old Trafford pitch in his new position. He raised his fist high to salute the fans in the Stretford End. That action was very decisive and brought high morale.
When Ten Hag’s future was up in the air after last season’s FA Cup final, Van Nistelrooy emerged as one of the candidates to replace him. However, Ten Hag was eventually retained and Van Nistelrooy accepted a coaching role to learn the ropes. It’s unclear when Van Gol will leave Old Trafford after the Ruben Amorim news, but it’s time to enjoy the moment and get back to believing.
Back to the match, out of 95 goals scored in the Premier League, Van Gol only scored 1 goal from outside the box. Therefore, he was quite surprised by Casemiro's masterpiece from about 30m away. The Dutch strategist raised his arms to the sky in celebration. Behind him, the fans started singing "Ruud, Ruud, Ruud...".
Taking charge of his former club for the first time and seeing his players score 5 goals. This is the feeling Man United fans had when Ole Solskjaer took over as interim manager in December 2018. At that time, the "Red Devils" also scored 5 goals and won 5-1.
The first 45 minutes witnessed an explosion of emotions, spirit and especially the accuracy in the finishing moves of the home team. Casemiro, Garancho and Bruno took turns scoring. One shot from a distance to relieve pressure, the other was incredibly cool as he passed the opponent's goalkeeper and then put the ball into the net. It was not the image of Dalot missing in front of an open goal or Garnacho clumsily failing to score when facing the West Ham goalkeeper.
It has been a long time since Man United shot so many times (23), creating suffocating pressure on their opponents. It has also been a long time since the Manchester team has made such good use of their shots on target. 5 goals out of 9 shots on target is an incredible number. Fans wished that this moment had come at the beginning of the season, when the string that held Ten Hag was cut after the FA Cup final.
