Let’s face it Wazzer needed a break from the constant questions around his loss of form and although JM probably wanted to avoid benching him and gave him every chance to regain his form. However with Rooney’s form in about the worst state of his career, Rooney had to be dropped to show the rest of the team that no-one’s place is guaranteed and that no squad player can afford to let up for even 10 minutes of the game considering the competititon in the United squad. Rooney has looked out of sorts and out of focus so needs a spell on the sidelines to get his desire back so we praise Mou for making the call to drop the captain.

United fielded the back four we predicted of :

——-Valenca——-Bailly——–Smalling———-Shaw—–

Then JM made the big calls and left out Rooney and Martial with a front 6 of…

———-Lingard———Herrera——–Pogba————
——–Rashford——-Ibrahimovic————Mata——

The first period of the half looked disjointed but what difference Rooney’s absence was making was hard to quantify for the first 20mins with the exception of the 4-0 lead United were enjoying which clearly showed United were playing the superior football. Mata has always played his best as a No.10 (remenber back to his Valencia and Chelsea days) and here was no different as Mata pulled the strings interacting with Ibra before scoring with aplomb before setting up Rashford for the simplest of tap-ins. I hope JM is realising what a better No. 10 he has in Mata than Rooney these days -we shall see.

As the goals went in United came to dominate the midfield and really take a grip of the game leaving Leicester with no real way back. Paul Pogba looked like the £89million player today as he was setting the tempo for the game in the first half before fizzing two Scolesesque penetrating cross field balls which started a period of intense United pressure as Utd scored 3 goals in five stunning minutes before the end of the first half.

Pogba delivered a disguised lob over the top to Ibrahimovic, who only just volleyed over, as he fired a dipping 35-yarder that was well saved by Ron-Robert Zieler. Pogba then sliced through an equisite pass that freed Antonio Valencia. The Frenchman had played a key part in Mata’s goal before 5 minutes later he headed his first goal for the club sending the Theatre Of Dreams into raptures.

On a day when Spurs, Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal all won it was imperative that United won and JM delivered. With upcoming games vs Stoke City, Liverpool and Chelsea as well as 2 Europa League ties coming up it was pretty much a “must-win-game”.

United deserved a 7.5/10 rating but what a difference a week makes.