The second international break of the season reached its close, and United were back on the road at the weekend after four successive matches on home turf. Coming into the trip to the King Power on Saturday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side were on the back foot having won only once throughout the four aforementioned matches at Old Trafford.
Nemanja Matic came into the starting side, tasked with providing the necessary stability alongside the returning Paul Pogba. Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo also returned to the eleven in place of the injured Anthony Martial and unavailable Edinson Cavani, with Marcus Rashford on the bench for his first squad involvement of the season.
The biggest talking point was the unexpected inclusion of Harry Maguire in place of the injured Raphael Varane - resuming his commonplace partnership with Victor Lindelof - despite having trained only once (on the morning before the match) since sustaining a calf injury against Aston Villa. An early miscontrol immediately expressed his lack of sharpness, bringing his inclusion under instant scrutiny. The captain readjusted well enough in some of the early phases, but shaky moments quickly mounted. In one particular early instant, he was made to retreat in order to deny a Leicester attack catalysed by his own mishap.
The home side exploited such early openings to a large extent, with United on the back foot from the get-go. The midfield and defence were put under immense pressure in the opening exchanges, forced to concede numerous early freekicks. Leicester were out of the blocks fast, contrary to United's recently uncharacteristically lacklustre start.
The reds were majorly slow in possession, managing to engineer marginally more as the half progressed but nonetheless lacking relative quality in creation. Their opposition remained the sharper of the two sides, consequently amassing a greater amount of possession and exuding dominance.
Once again, though, a moment of magic granted United a goal and the lead. He might not be as natural on the right as through the middle, but Mason Greenwood's drives inside onto his left foot from the flank in becoming trademark. On this occasion, he completely evaded Timothy Castagne and created enough space to fire high off the far post from some distance; Kasper Schmeichel was left completely helpless - it was a stunning strike to epitomise his talent and already uniquely elite finishing ability.
It was blatant that United's lead was hardly warranted, and nothing really changed on the momentum front after the go-ahead. Leicester continued to threaten, with Ricardo Pereira coming close to providing a prompt response having almost beaten David de Gea with an intended cross which just eluded the incoming Jamie Vardy. The visiting side also provided some spells of attacking fluidity, but their level remained inferior to that of the hosts.
I mentioned that Maguire's addition in the starting team came under scrutiny very early on - that was accentuated as the half progressed. The returning centre back waited far too long to receive De Gea's pass and frankly invited Kelechi Iheanacho's press, with his lack of reaction allowing the Nigerian to steal possession. The striker then slotted the ball to Youri Tielemans, who curled with class into the far side netting above De Gea from the far corner of the box. Some argued that the Belgian intended a cross, but I'm almost certain he meant the finish. Leicester deserved a goal, and they got it. Unfortunately, the whole passage came from another basic United error.
Aside from a deflected Ronaldo effort which did trouble Schmeichel, United barely created anything clear-cut amidst their sluggish demeanour. Brendan Rodgers' approach was near enough nailed on, whereas Solskjaer's was conversely totally wrong. Leicester prolonged their effective press following the equaliser, with persistently superior endeavour to their Mancunian counterparts.
United were too steady against such high intensity provided by the Foxes, with midfield alterations hardly enhancing anything in transition or buildup - passes were still misplaced far too often. Out of possession, the reds were bypassed too easily in those areas; criminal amounts of space were left for Leicester to drive forward into on too many occasions.
It was all square heading into the second period, but there was little shift in the predominant flow of proceedings. Leicester continued their brightness, with United again displaying a lack of discipline heading into the final 45 minutes. The midfield did manage to hold their own in phases, but often found themselves isolated within a poor structure. Matic actually came close to converting a goal of the season contender himself, with a rising half volley soaring just over the bar from around 30 yards out.
The structure within the midfield was certainly undesirable, but as was the attack. When progressing forward, there was a serious display of wastefulness. Some promising counter attacks would materialise, but the end product would never suffice. There was no direction on the ball, completely contrasting the opposing organisation. There was one big opportunity mustered by United, yet neither Greenwood or Ronaldo could convert amongst a huge scrap; an offside was awarded anyway - the epitome of everything.
Around the hour mark, Rashford was introduced for his first minutes of the season at the expense of Sancho. The latter still hasn't complete a league match for United.
Back to the action, and United continually found themselves caught out in the middle; any structure from the start of the half became dissipated. De Gea was forced into action to deny Tielemans from securing a brace, pushing the ball onto the post. In subsequence, Rashford showed signs of sharpness on the break by capitalising on a defensive misjudgement - he ultimately located Ronaldo, but the Portuguese international was deemed offside.
De Gea's workload grew further as time ticked onwards. The Spaniard denied substitute Patson Daka twice with his feet, the second from close proximity following a Leicester corner. Following the save from the corner, however, a ricochet off Ayoze Perez reached Caglar Soyuncu to find the back of an empty net. Maguire was once again slow to react, also missing a header from the initial corner delivery. The away record was in jeopardy.
Leicester's attacking force was sustained contrary to United's lack of balance, but one moment from nowhere changed everything against the run of play again. A surging Lindelof ball from deep on his weaker left side picked out an incredibly-timed Rashford run, with the returnee firing clinically past Schmeichel having found himself one-on-one with the Dane. A fantastic 'welcome back' following his layoff after shoulder surgery.
What happened next was unthinkable, and completely unforgivable. Immediately from the consequent kickoff, a ball out wide wasn't at all dealt with; Castagne engineered the ball down the Leicester left side, before Perez was allowed space to find Vardy inside the box. The United defensive line sat off the striker, who sliced his effort into the top corner to beat De Gea. 15 seconds after the restart. Appalling.
It was disarray from there. The entire team was all over the place, entirely disjointed with no cohesion. Daka made sure of Leicester's three points in stoppage time, with the United defence in tatters without a fullt fit Maguire and the injured Varane. Multiple headers were missed from Tielemans' wide freekick, with Daka finding himself free of Maguire to bundle the ball home at the far post.
Four losses in seven for United, and 10 points dropped in the league - already.
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