Leicester had conceded almost three goals a game on average prior to this game, and the numbers weren’t to become any brighter for the Foxes, throughout a humiliating 6-1 scoreline in the favour of Manchester United’s U21s at Leigh Sports Village.
Reds on the front foot from the off
United already handed out warning signs after a handful of minutes, getting past Leicester’s five-man back line a couple of times early on, with RoShaun Williams picking out Timothy Fosu-Mensa at the first attempt, but the latter completely miskicked it into the stands.
On the second opportunity, it was Goss who hesitated to finish, with Leicester escaping through a corner. That was the path to another corner, which Goss knocked accurately on the head of Nick Powell, who evaded the Foxes’ three centre-back to head it powerfully home.
Four minutes later, Willock had wandered out wide left, spotted Redmond on the edge of the box, and the latter rocketed it into the bottom corner to extend United’s lead! In the wake of this, Leicester tweaked their formation and reverted to four men at the back, with Jack Barmny at left back(!).
United could actually been 4-0 up within 20 minutes played, as Nick Powell got a few efforts from close range on the trot, but Henry in the Leicester net denied him on both occasions.
No menace offered by guests
The away side didn’t have much to display in the first half, and except a couple of corner kicks in around the 30-minute mark, which were headed away by Nick Powell and punched into safety by Sam Johnstone respectively, they barely provided any menace at all.
As the game was approaching the break, Josh Harrop advanced towards the box without being put under any sort of pressure, before aiming for the scoresheet. Henry might have been caught a little bit by surprise, and was only able to parry it into the feet of James Weir, who made short process and put United 3-0 up from close range.
Weir actually could’ve been doubling his tally only a matter of seconds after, when Fosu-Mensah picked him out in the box, but the initial finish was blocked, and the second fluked wide of the post.
The final chance of the half fell against United, by a former United man, as Jack Barmby pulled the trigger from the edge of the box. Fortunately, Johnstone was able to get his gloves on the ball, to only hand Leicester a corner.
The players had barely returned to the pitch for the final 45 minutes before Nick Powell went down with an injury. For a few minutes, a change looked inevitable, and Ashley Fletcher was unressing on the touchline, but Powell returned to the pitch nonetheless.
Uneventful opening of the second half
The opening quarter of the second half went by in an unstructured manner, with neither side managing to establishing some pressure. Barmby managed to secure Leicester a corner kick, however, after dribbling past RoShaun Williams, and subsequently United were inches away from countering in 4-0. Harrop, unfortuately, failed to set Powell up one-on-one with the goalkeeper on the counter after the corner kick at the other end.
United push on
4-0, however, was destined to come at some point. Timothy Fosu-Mensah picked out Devonte Redmond with a wonderful and perfectly weighted through ball, with the latter surpassing the goalkeeper and slotting it home into the empty net.
Yet the worst was to come for the guests. Fosu-Mensah displayed superior pace on the right hand side, and picked out Nick Powell in the box, who provided 5-0 with an excellent diving header after evading Anderson’s poor marking.
Happy Harry, at least for a while
However, Harry Panayiou was set on pulling one back. Miles rushed forward on the right, Redmond and Fosu-Mensah were caught by confusion, and Leicester’s Player of the Year last season found the back of the net to a little drop of agony for the Blues.
With seventeen minutes to go, Warren Joyce was forced to sub off the Dutchman Fosu-Mensah, as he came out in an agonizing manner in the wake of a challenge. Clayton Blackmore, for the night commentating on MUTV, was talking of a cramp, but the it was a tricky one to examine at first sight.
United adding nails in the coffin
Misery was growing for Leicester in the 77th minute, when Nick Powell had dropped deep. The former Crewe front man picked out the subbed-on Marcus Rashford, who despite struggling a tad with the first touch, delivered a powerful effort to extend the lead to 6-1.
Seven minutes from time, Fletcher could even added the seventh when Goss picked him out inside the box, but despite lack of pressure, the striker skied it way over the crossbar.
Climbing past Everton
Warren Joyce’ men are in the wake of this game climbing past Everton on goal difference, as both have collected thirteen points so far. United, however, have four games in hand on the Scousers, and a various amount of games in hand on all the other sides in the league.
Manchester United:
Johnstone – Fosu-Mensah (Rashford 73), Williams, Tuanzebe, Riley – Weir, Willock (Fletcher 68), Goss, Harrop – Redmond (Rothwell 78) – Powell
Goalscorers: Powell 10, 64, Redmond 14, 61, Weir 38, Rashford 77
Leicester
Henry – Miles, Sesay, Moore (Rowe 66), Fox (King 66) – Cain, Kipré (Anderson 46), McCourt, Barmby – Panayiotou – Blyth
Subs: Olukanmi, Yates, Anderson, Rowe, King
Goalscorers: Panayiotou
