Manchester United’s Premier League play continues to put added pressure on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as they came up short on the road, 3-2, vs Leicester City.
“We came in at half-time in a good place,” Leicester City manager, Brendan Rodgers, said. “It was just about reinforcing our aggression in the game, that’s when we’re at our best, once we’re pressing well and being that aggressive, in particular the second half we were very good. That’s much more like how you’re used to seeing us play, being really aggressive, being a really difficult team to play against. We pressed well, and that takes the tempo up, allowing us to create opportunities. We created opportunities, scored four, could have had some more, our concentration levels were high. That was much more pleasing in terms of performance level.”
United did strike first with a 19th minute goal from Mason Greenwood, but it was three late foals from Söyüncü (78′ minutes), Vardy (83′ minutes), and Daka (90’+1 minutes) sealed the deal.
United lost on the road in English competition after 29-straight wins away from home.
“It’s brilliant for him, there will be plenty more from him,” Jamie Vardysaid of Patson Daka.
Daka’s late goal made him the first ever Zambian to score in the Premier League. He has scored 28 goals in his last 30 appearances in league competition across the Austrian Bundesliga and now the Premier League.
Vardy now has 6 career goals vs United. He joins Mo Salah with 7 goals in the PL golden boot race.
“I thought we started well, then we came back into the game and showed a great mentality,” Rodgers said. “In the second half, it was about reinforcing that aggression in our game, that is when we are at our best. We were excellent at creating opportunities going forward and we could have had more.”
United’s winless streak extends to three games in league play now.
“We didn’t deserve a point today,” Solskjaer said. “I wouldn’t say it was maturity, it was focus in the key moments. Two set pieces, one goal 10 seconds after we equalize, these are goals that should not happen. We weren’t good enough at second balls and 50-50s, the sort of things you need to do to win football matches. The best player was David and he conceded four goals.”
Leicester City are in Europa League action vs Spartak Moscow this week before a Premier League matchup vs Brentford the following weekend.
United match up vs Atalanta mid-week in UEFA Champions League play before a marquee matchup vs Liverpool the following Sunday.
