United ride their luck against Leicester: 3 things we learned

The Premier League is back to breaking hearts, as a valiant Leicester couldn’t quite break down Manchester United in a 2-1 loss on opening day.

In case you haven’t heard, Premier League soccer is back. The opening game saw Manchester United earn a somewhat fortuitous 2-1 win at home against Leicester. However, as Jose Mourinho will probably point out in his post-match press conference, getting three points to start the 2018-19 campaign is all that matters. Here are three takeaways from the opening fixture.

1. Bad finishing, decision-making doom the Foxes

It’s an oft-repeated axiom that professional sports are deeply unfair, and that sometimes the better team doesn’t win. Today was one of those days, as the Foxes not only had more possession but did more with it, outshooting United 13-8, although United had more shots on target (6-4). Statistics aside, Leicester also performed better on the eye test, with their play being more ambitious.

However, that ambition didn’t always serve them well, and on two painful occasions this ambition morphed into anxiety and mental mistakes. The first was on a Daniel Amartey hand ball about a minute into the game (World Cup hero Paul Pogba buried the ensuing penalty). The second major lapse for Leicester came about 80 minutes later, when disorganization off a Juan Mata pass allowed Luke Shaw to get his first senior goal for United.

All was not lost for the Foxes, but multiple missed chances by Kelechi Iheanacho will surely relegate him to the bench. A missed chance by James Maddison (who looked to be a decent replacement for Riyad Mahrez) at around the half-hour mark will loom. Jaime Vardy got a goal back late to continue his rampage against top-six opposition.

2. United still look toothless in attack

They got the three points and most of their shots were on target but United still looked bad in the final third for most of the match. Marcus Rashford may as well have had the offside flag glued to his kit, Alexis Sanchez played about a dozen balls to nowhere and Paul Pogba, penalty aside, didn’t seem to have the freedom to flow and dictate attack.

Part of this may have been down to United scoring so early in the match, and it would be fair to assume Mourinho didn’t want to over-exert his players in their first real fixture of the club calendar, particularly when so many of them made it to the latter stages of the World Cup.

Once Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Linguard are allowed to play a full 90 minutes after their World Cup holidays and Nemanja Matic is in midfield to take pressure off Pogba and new signing Fred, performances should improve. Even so, Mourinho has a difficult task finding a formation that fits Sanchez, Rashford, Lukaku and Pogba’s attacking talents together.

3. The Premier League needs VAR

Referee Andre Marriner had a bad game. Twice he carded players for silly offenses in the second half, after allowing pretty much everything to go in the first, much to the consternation of both Leicester and United players.

However, the decision that looms largest was the decision not to award a penalty to Leicester for Eric Bailly’s challenge on Iheanacho around the hour mark. That’s not to say it was a clear penalty, and the Ivorian wasn’t overtly dirty in the challenge, but a second look may have been beneficial, and limited sour grapes.

Refereeing inconsistency is nothing new and the human element will always play some part in refereeing but the FA has shown real short-sightedness by not embracing VAR as other top-flights in Europe have indicated they will.

Leicester’s next match is against newly promoted Wolves, while United will take on Brighton.