A Carabao Cup win doesn't let Man United's players off the hook

MANCHESTER — It was one of the strangest scenes in a strange season for Manchester United. In the first game following the 5-2 Carabao Cup victory over Leicester City at Old Trafford following the sacking of manager Erik ten Haag, the players bowed before leaving the pitch.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, the interim head coach, was already back in the dressing-room, making a brief diversion to applaud the fans and celebrate the win with clenched fists before the players headed for the tunnel.

But despite finishing 14th in the Premier League and another manager paying the price for their failure to perform, the players made sure they applauded every second as they were greeted by all four sides of the stadium.

Perhaps they were desperate for some joy this season and to enjoy a rare moment of success. Never mind that it was a comfortable win against a half-strength Leicester side — any win would have been for United on this day.

“Suddenly we had good luck,” Van Nistelrooy said. “It made today a great day.”

But while United wait for Sporting CP coach Ruben Amorim to confirm his departure from the Portuguese champions to replace Ten Haag — United are in talks with Sporting over a deal to secure his release by triggering his €10 million release clause. — Van Nistelrooy and the players did their bit to paint a picture of normalcy after Ten Haag's departure.

It's usually the same story when a manager is fired. The team gets an instant bounce and morale boost that is enough to seal a much-needed win, but often proves to be an illusion. The failure that got the previous manager sacked soon returned and the new manager quickly discovered that the job they had come in for had been vacated for the simple reason that players often didn't perform well enough.

This is the harsh reality of Manchester United now. Indeed, it has been much the same since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 after delivering 13 Premier League titles in 20 years.

That became Van Nistelrooy the ninth The manager who will take over United's squad selection since Ferguson resigned is a grim statistic. Ten Haag was United's fifth permanent manager to lose his job since Ferguson's departure, with Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick all taking over on a temporary basis before Van Nistelrooy's hot-seat.

If United manage to sign and seal Amorim ahead of Sunday's home game against Chelsea, it could be a game only for Van Nistelrooy, but sources suggest the former PSV Eindhoven coach will still be in charge this weekend. ESPN said that “patience” will be needed before reaching a conclusion on negotiations with Sporting.

But at least Van Nistelrooy oversaw a win — only United's fifth this season. Ten Haag's disastrous record this campaign led to his sacking, but although his tactics and selections became increasingly unpredictable, there is no question that many of his players underperformed and contributed to his job loss.

Don't be fooled into believing that this win proves that United are ready to turn a corner.

Yes, Casemiro produced his best performance of the season, scoring twice and assisting another, and captain Bruno Fernandes was also impressive.

But two Leicester goals, from Bilal El Khans and Conor Cody, again exposed United's defensive problems and there were many more moments when Steve Cooper's side created chances and could have scored more. Victor Lindelof and Manuel Ugarte's two easy possessions by Jordan Ayew will alarm Van Nistelrooy and worry Amorim when he watches the replays of this game.

It's an unbalanced United squad, but its players are certainly capable of much better.

They could even continue their revival with a win over Chelsea at the weekend, but if Amorim takes over, it would be wise to be wary of trusting this team's players to deliver consistently. They didn't do that for Ten Hague and 90 minutes against Leicester was not enough evidence that Van Nistelrooy had found a missing ingredient.

There were no major changes in the team and no tension with the strategy. It was the same players and formation that delivered so many poor results and performances for Ten Haag, so it will take more than that to convince anyone that United are ready for a sudden rise up the table now that Ten Haag is gone.

Amrim will know that. He will watch United's games, study the data and determine which players can survive the new regime and which are past their use-by date.

But at least United won. Casemiro will be happy with his two goals, as Fernandes also scored twice, with Alejandro Garnacho United's other goal.

The game didn't paint a clear picture of United though, and it had nothing to do with the fog that hung over Old Trafford on Wednesday.