Five things we learned from Manchester United’s 5-2 win over Leicester City in the Carabao Cup

Add as preferred source on Google

Ruud Van Nistelrooy has begun life as Manchester United’s interim manager with a 5-2 win over Leicester City at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup.

Erik ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United on Monday morning with the Red Devils closing in on the appointment of Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon to replace the Dutchman.

As the negotiations continue for Amorim, Ruud Van Nistelrooy took charge of the Red Devils during the Carabao Cup clash and goals were flying in for the club in the cup competition.

Here are five things we learned from United’s 5-2 victory over Leicester.

Manchester United find their goalscoring boots

Scoring goals under Ten Hag proved to be a problem for the Red Devils this campaign but under Van Nistelrooy, the goals were flowing.

Casemiro netted twice including an outrageous opener for the Red Devils, Alejandro Garnacho had a tap-in to make it two before Bruno Fernandes scored a deflected free-kick before half-time.

This performance appeared to be one that showed that the shackles were indeed off for some of the struggling first-team players.

Casemiro finds new lease of life under Ruud Van Nistelrooy

As mentioned, there have been plenty of established first-team players who have struggled in recent weeks, or indeed recent months under Ten Hag.

One player who has certainly struggled is Casemiro, who lost his place in the squad but was a man on a mission under Van Nistelrooy in the Carabao Cup.

Casemiro scored a 30-yard screamer in the first half and rifled in another goal with his left foot from a corner and looked back to his old self under Van Nistelrooy.

Joshua Zirkzee struggles to make a name for himself

Despite some players having a new lease of life under Van Nistelrooy, one player who continued to struggle was Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee.

Zirkzee was played up front alongside Fernandes as Van Nistelrooy decided to revert to the two-pronged strike force, which he was used to during his days under Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, Zirkzee struggled to get involved in the game and did not have many chances to score for the Red Devils and was dropping deeper and deeper to get involved.

Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro form solid base

Whilst Casemiro will inevitably get all the plaudits for his two goals against the Foxes, his midfield partner Manuel Ugarte also deserves credit.

Ugarte performed excellently against Fenerbahce last week and has once again been in brilliant form for the Red Devils.

With Amorim potentially on his way to Old Trafford, Ugarte could explode into life under a new manager.

Bruno Fernandes ends goalscoring drought

The old saying is that when you wait a while for one, two appear back to back and that was what happened with Fernandes.

Coming into the game, Fernandes had failed to find the back of the net throughout the entire campaign but he scored two tonight and looked back to his best.

Fernandes was pushed further forward and his performance drastically improved with the midfielder scoring a deflected free-kick and skipping past Danny Ward with some superb skill and smashing the ball into the net. He looks back to his best.