Mourinho said it was a tactical decision to drop Rooney, a day after saying the striker had struggled under the weight of media criticism since a poor display for England against Slovakia on September 4. A late thunderbolt from Demarai Gray only served as a consolation for Leicester City as the match ended with a scoreline of 4-1 in favour of United.
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Leicester have now lost three Premier League games, the same as in the whole of their title-winning campaign. We didn’t beat Leicester last season.
It was delivered by Daley Blind and Smalling escaped the United defence to power home a header from six yards. Rooney faces strong competition in those areas, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rashford preferred as striker and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Paul Pogba and Mata as options in the No. 10 role. It was his first goal for United, after a heavily scrutinized first month on the job. Pogba then clipped a majestic ball over a Leicester defender for Ibrahimovic, but the Swede again fired over. It is not easy against them and not easy to win in the style that we did.
Mata set up the third, receiving a quickly-taken corner by Blind next to the byline and crossing low for Rashford to tap in.
And they nearly had some joy when David De Gea dived at the feet of Islam Slimani but gifted possession back to the visitors with a poor throw. “We won the game so he is happy”.
Gray then went within a whisker of replicating his stunning goal with an nearly identical effort which De Gea scrambled back to push over the bar.
Leaders Manchester City beat Swansea 3-1 to make it a flawless 10 victories under Pep Guardiola, including six in the Premier League, as they recorded their best start to a top-flight campaign.
Old Trafford was in full voice by this point, but the noise reached deafening levels just two minutes later when Pogba powered Blind’s corner beyond Zieler to get off the mark for United.
Leicester looked a greater threat and David de Gea stopped Marc Albrighton’s cross finding Islam Slimani, while some timely challenges were required before United opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.
According to United manager Jose Mourinho, the 30-year-old’s performance has suffered under the criticism of his performance in England’s recent 1-0 win over Slovakia. The team. The team played very well.
But in seeking to play down Pogba’s excellence, he perhaps revealed something about the way this season at Old Trafford could go.
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Paul Pogba may have had his best game since returning to Manchester United as they thrashed Leicester City 4-1, but Jose Mourinho still expects more from the Frenchman. If I don’t play [Jesse] Lingard, you ask me why.
