Mourinho's weakest link exposed: 5 things we learned from Man Utd 2-0 Leicester

In a tense evening of football at Old Trafford, Manchester United showed why they are the Premier League pace setters this season, beating Leicester 2-0.

Despite their incredible dominance for the entirety of the game, and missing a penalty, both United goals came late in the second half and were scored by substitutes as Jose Mourinho used his full matchday squad to turn the game his way. What did we learn?

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1. United at the shooting range

Obviously you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, but United took this advice to the extreme against Leicester. When confronted by the mass ranks of Leicester defenders, the Red Devils were consistently happy to let fly from distance in an attempt to force something special.

It seemed an almost concerted effort, especially on the part of Paul Pogba, to make Leicester pay for collapsing so deep into their own area. A sensible strategy if you have the range shooting skills to pull it off; after all the goalkeeper could spill it and who knows what a deflection could do.

United let fly 10 times from outside the area, with an incredible eight of those coming in the first half alone. They were mostly off target (only twice was Schmeichel forced into a save) but they set the tone and kept Leicester defenders on their toes.

2. Daley Blind is United’s weak link

Manchester United are desperate for Luke Shaw to be fit again. Sure, Mourinho has made no comments and likely won’t, but just watching the games makes it clear that United are crying out for an athletic left-back with the pace and dynamism to force the issue on the left.

When Anthony Martial cuts inside (which is most of the time) it opens up the overlap. And while Blind is certainly game to make forward runs, when it comes to actually delivering with the ball he’s a dithering mess who rarely if ever gets the weighting right.

Time and again Blind would kill United’s attacks with a poor cross. As he waits for Shaw to regain fitness it must have crossed Mourinho’s mind on more than one occasion to enter the transfer market and sign someone. After all, given his thorny relationship with Luke Shaw, it would be bad for United if they had to rely on Daley Blind in an important game where they needed an attacking left-back.

3. Harry Maguire is a colossus

When Leicester miraculously won the Premier League title, they did so off the back of their incredible defence. Sure Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy took the headlines, but had Wes Morgan and Robert Huth not been a rock solid defensive duo then they wouldn’t have won anything.

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Morgan and Huth have since turned to jelly, but the Foxes have recruited their successor and superior in the form of 24-year-old Harry Maguire. The young Englishman cost just £12m initially (£17m potentially) and after a rough baptism against Arsenal, he’s found his feet.

Sure, United scored twice, but neither goal was truly his fault and were it not for his incredible and repeated interventions then Leicester would have been on the end of a hammering. Maguire won 5/10 headers, made one block, four interceptions and 10 clearances; he was immense.

It was telling that on United’s first goal, Pogba had to specifically make a decoy run to drag Maguire well away from the ball before the Red Devils could actually score. If he keeps playing like this (and there’s no reason to suggest he wouldn’t) then Harry Maguire won’t be at Leicester for long.

4. “Marvellous Marcus” takes his turn in the spotlight

For the first two games of the season, Marcus Rashford was the starting left-winger while Anthony Martial came off the bench. In those games, Martial scored two and set-up one while Rashford had just one assist. Unsurprisingly, much of the glory went to Martial, but this was misguided.

Yes, Martial was amazing, but part of the reason he was such an effective sub was that Rashford had spent over an hour running the opponents ragged. Martial came on against tired opponents and went to town. And, with all the hype, he got the start against Leicester.

Much like Rashford previously, Martial was running Leicester defenders ragged, stretching them with excellent runs and dynamic dribbles. But he could get no joy in terms of goals or assists. Then Rashford came on and less than five minutes later: bang, goal.

Rashford’s freshness vs. tired defenders left him sharp enough to connect enough with Mkhitaryan’s corner to beat Kasper Schmeichel and give United a crucial lead. Now he will take his turn in the spotlight, but what is now clear is that United’s left-wing double-act is key to their success.

5. Manchester United still need a right-winger

Jose Mourinho asked for four signings this summer: a centre-back, a defensive midfielder, a striker, and a winger. Ed Woodward got him three of those but United appear to have whiffed on the winger. Mourinho groused, but since the club started the season in blistering form, people moved on.

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Except this game, the club’s first test against a really defensive side, showed why Mourinho was right to pursue that winger. While United have a superb little double-act going on in left-wing, with Martial and Rashford both proving excellent options out there as both starter and sub, the right-flank is bare.

Juan Mata has started all three games thus far and sure, when you’re dominating weak opponents that’s fine. But against a strong defensive outfit like Leicester it’s clear that United need more dynamic penetration. Too often Mata would drift central only to do nothing whilst Paul Pogba flanked out to cover him. And that’s just a waste of Pogba’s talents not to mention making it easier on your opponents.

There’s just under a week left of the transfer window, and if United truly want to dominate the season against all manner of opponents (instead of just beating up on weaklings) then they must get themselves back into the market and sign a right-winger.

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