.png)
3 hours ago
1
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
“Sorry, and I am almost certainly wrong,” says Brendan Large, “but... how does Martinez deserve a shirt for missing the rest of the season? How many full seasons has he played... how many games in a row. He has been good but has struggled to be on the pitch.
“Might this be the club searching for #likes or #engagement or #anythingpositivethatcanbeconnectedtotheclub???”
An email from Cleveland, Ohio. “I enjoy your newsletter,” says Rob Hisnay. “You are one of the few who writes the truth about Ruben Amoron. The downfall of MUFC continues.” Thanks! Though that word ending seems a little harsh.
In case anyone’s wondering what the hell Rob is referring to, it’s a Substack site called United Writing which I founded in 2021 with Rob Smyth. And yes, it may occasionally have expressed doubt about Amorim’s preferred formation.
A nice touch from the United players, giving a shout-out to Lisandro Martinez, who will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate-ligament injury.
Ruben Amorim is asked if this competition is a priority. “The main goal,” he says, “is to win the Premier League.” Has he looked at the table recently?
Ruud also talked about Jeremy Monga, the 15-year-old he has on the bench. “He went up to the Under-18s, did well, went up to the Under-21s and did well there too.” They grow up so fast.
The game is on ITV in Britain and Ruud van Nistelrooy is chatting to the pundits. Asked if it feels odd to be at Old Trafford as the visiting manager, he reveals that he went into the home dressing-room by mistake. When he reached the away one, he didn’t much like it. “It’s tiny! And not comfortable. So they got that right.”
“Is the United job too big for Amorim?” wonders Gerry Scott. “I can understand that it is hard to turn a failing club around and even that things might get worse before they get better. His approach seems to have just torpedoed the team however, with no sense as to when it ever might improve. He just seems unready for the demands of managing at such a big team.” He certainly seems to have been surprised by the pace and relentlessness of the Premier League. But to be fair, he has done all right in the cups – seeing off Arsenal in the third round, winning all four of his games in the Europa League so far, and losing only to Spurs in the Carabao, when he went overboard with the rotation.
Correction! Jake Evans, whose selection was announced by Ruud van Nistelrooy yesterday, is not on the team sheet after all. So, just the one GCSE student for Leicester – Monga, the 15-year-old left-winger. Still, it’s quite something. At the risk of making you feel old, I am obliged to report that Monga was born in July 2009.
Teams in full: Leicester
Leicester (4-2-3-1) Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Thomas; Ndidi, Soumaré; Ayew, El Khanouss, De Cordova-Reid; Daka.
Subs: Stolarczyk, Coulibaly, Coady, Skipp, Winks, Mavididi, Buonanotte, McAteer, Monga.
Teams in full: United
Man United (3-4-2-1) Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro; Dalot, Ugarte, Fernandes, Dorgu; Amad, Mainoo; Højlund.
Subs: Graczyk, Heaven, Lindelof, De Ligt, Collyer, Casemiro, Eriksen, Garnacho, Zirkzee.
Teams in brief: no Vardy!
The bad news for Leicester fans is that the venerable Jamie Vardy – at 38, the same age as Dorgu and Heaven put together – is not on the team sheet. The good news is that Ruud van Nistelrooy has a striker on the bench who is only 16: Jake Evans. And he’s not the youngest player in the squad, either. Also among the subs is Jeremy Monga, a left-winger who is 15. This is not a typo.
Teams in brief: Dorgu starts for United
United made only one senior-ish signing in the transfer window – the 20-year-old wing-back Patrick Dorgu, from Lecce. Ruben Amorim decides to throw him in at the deep end. Another new recruit, the 18-year-old centre-back Ayden Heaven from Arsenal, is on the bench. The kid is a headline waiting to happen.
Pre-match reading
Michael Butler has been taking a close look at how these two managers have fared since they took over. Even the stattos agree: both teams have got worse.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to live coverage of the fourth round of the FA Cup. First up is the Ruud van Nistelrooy derby, or should that be Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans?
On paper, this is a big game: Man United, the holders of the FA Cup and the winners 12 times before that, entertaining Leicester, who won the cup in 2021. On form, it’s not so hot, as both these clubs have fallen on lean times. Leicester, 18th in the Premier League, may well be heading for relegation, and United, who are 13th, haven’t been much better – at least since Van Nistelrooy left them in November, after being personally ushered towards the exit by Ruben Amorim.
This is the third meeting between the sides at Old Trafford this season, and in the first two Ruud was triumphant. As United’s acting manager, he steered his old team to two decisive wins – 5-2 in the Carabao Cup and 3-0 in the league. How Amorim could do with those scorelines now.
Leicester were so impressed with their back-to-back hidings that they hired Ruud to rescue them from the drop. That hasn’t gone so well… in fact, both clubs have newish bosses who appear to have made them worse. It’s the new-manager slump!
Kick-off is at 8pm and I’ll see you soon with the teams.
