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Player Ratings: Manchester United 1-2 Leicester City

Promising showings from the young forwards, and a vintage Matić performance

Manchester United v Leicester City - Premier League Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Player ratings for a rotated Manchester United side’s 2-1 loss to Leicester City.

Starters

David de Gea: 5/10

Neither goal particularly his fault. Didn’t have much to do which is actually quite shocking.

Brandon Williams: 2/10

If anyone who was still wondering why Aaron Wan-Bissaka doesn’t ever get rotated, Williams set out to show everyone the answer.

Eric Bailly: 4/10

Jamie Vardy was giving him fits early on. His lack of passing and general doing nothing-ness with the ball was another reminder why he isn’t ahead of Victor Lindelöf in the pecking order.

Axel Tuanzebe: 5/10

Axel Tuanzebe is an old school defender. Unfortunately for him he’s not playing in an old school world. If he doesn’t improve his ability on the ball it’ll be hard for him to get any more playing time than he’s gotten this season.

Alex Telles: 4/10

He won a couple of headers at the near post on set pieces which is an improvement on the rest of his campaign. He was better than he was Thursday night so he’s got that going for him.

Nemanja Matić: 7/10

Turn back the clock performance from him. He’s the reason this game was 1-1 at the half and not three or four in favor of Leicester. When he dropped between the two centerbacks to form a back three he was the only centerback who looked to pass forward and not just hoof a long ball for the 5’6 Amad to try and win.

Donny van de Beek: 4/10

It’s hard for a central midfielder to be completely irrelevant over a full match but Donny nearly pulled it off. At least he wasn’t bad, just irrelevant.

Amad Diallo: 6/10

Good job winning the ball and settling it down to get his assist. Failed to track his runner on the first goal but after that his off the ball workrate was excellent, though he allowed himself to be pinned too far back taking away his ability to be a threat going the other way.

Juan Mata: 4/10

Played the initial ball in to set up the goal. Other than he did a lot of nothing. Ran around to link play up but his passing really got away from him in this one.

Anthony Elanga: 6/10

Workrate was excellent and give him credit for constantly looking to run in behind even though United had zero players on the pitch who were looking to play that ball to him.

Mason Greenwood: 7/10

Probably United’s best player on the night. Well taken goal. As the match went on he tried to do too much himself. That’s a testament to how much he’s developed this year. Six months ago he wouldn’t have even been in a position to be trying to do too much himself, nor would he have had the confidence.

Set Piece Defense: 0/10

Still terrible. Turns out it’s not the goalkeeper. Turns out it’s not Harry Maguire. United just suck at defending set pieces. Put in a new system for defending corners next season pls.

Substitutes

Marcus Rashford: 3/10

Looked like he didn’t want to be on the pitch.

Edinson Cavani: 5/10

The only United forward who was making runs as if they were down a goal and were trying to tie it.

Bruno Fernandes: N/A

Didn’t do much. Did get a chance inside the box and fluffed it but that was not the easiest of chances.

Manager

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: 4/10

Not much he could do here. Dealing with three games in five days, he didn’t have a choice but to put out a nearly fully rotated XI. None of the fringe players would have made him have any second thoughts over the amount of playing time they’ve been getting this season.

Could definitely question the timing of the substitutions right before a set piece, though Rashford had set himself for several seconds before the ball was kicked (and it’s not like Elanga is stopping that). Given Rashford’s energy output over those 20 minutes it’s fair to question why he even bothered pulling the teenagers off at all.