Manchester United’s trip to the King Power Stadium to play Leicester City this afternoon was a huge game for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. After a run of just two wins from the previous six matches, United needed a result to prove Solskjaer is the man who can steer the club back on the right path. He did not get it as his players flopped to a 4-2 defeat against Leicester and the team’s 29-game unbeaten away run in the Premier League went up in smoke.
The two-week international break may have refreshed things for other teams, but it was a familiar story for United, who came undone yet again.
United splashed the cash to sign Jadon Sancho and committed to pay the huge wages of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer transfer window.
But, after a match like this, the question has to be asked: what is the point, if things at the other end of the pitch are going to continue in a similar vein?
While they did sign Raphael Varane to strengthen the centre of their defence, United’s priorities clearly lay at the other end of the pitch.
Sancho was brought in to address the problem right-wing position as Daniel James was offloaded to Leeds United.
Ronaldo was then signed up in a pure piece of opportunism. The 36-year-old was not part of some grand plan. He simply became available – and looked to be on the way of United’s rivals – so they pounced.
Their transfer activity doesn’t scream of coherent planning – and their performances since have echoed that sense.
The result against Leicester means Manchester United have now kept just one clean sheet in their last 19 games.
Their barren run stretches all the way back to a 0-0 draw against Leeds on April 25. The only clean sheet since then came in 1-0 win over Wolves at the end of August.
That is an utterly abysmal record for any side, let alone one which, presumably, has ambitions of winning the Premier League.
And guess what? It could be about to get worse.
After their trip to the King Power, United now face unbeaten Liverpool at Old Trafford, a trip to Tottenham and a Manchester derby against City.
The evidence from Leicester suggests they might well struggle, especially given Champions League ties against Atalanta bookend those fixtures.
United went ahead thanks to a thunderbolt strike from Mason Greenwood, who collected Bruno Fernandes’ square pass before cutting inside and smashing a brilliant shot past Kasper Schmeichel into the top corner.
But United soon shot themselves in the foot. Kelechi Iheanacho stole the ball off Harry Maguire – whose selection after injury was supposed to be positive – and set up Youri Tielemans to curl a beauty into the top corner.
United huffed and puffed from thereon in, but in truth Leicester were always the better side.
It took a David de Gea wonder save to keep out another effort from Tielemans, who tore United’s midfield two of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba apart.
However, the United keeper couldn’t prevent what had begun to feel like the inevitable. He kept out Patson Daka’s effort with his foot, but the ball ricocheted, past the static Maguire, to Caglar Soyuncu, who blasted into an empty net for 2-1.