Is the proverbial “new manager bump” coming for Manchester United now that Ruud van Nistelrooy is taking over, on an interim basis? We’ll start to see on Wednesday, when Leicester City comes to town for an EFL Cup Round of 16 clash. Credit Erik ten Hag, he won two trophies (both domestic cups) in two and a half years at the helm, which is much better than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or David Moyes did at Old Trafford.
It’s comparable to how Jose Mourinho fared here, sort of. Mourinho had that one season where he finished second in the table while Ten Hag’s teams have been just god awful in the league.
Leicester City at Manchester United FYIs
Competition: EFL Cup Round of 16
Kick: Wed. Oct 30, 7:45pm, Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
United Preview Content: Erik ten Hag Replacement Candidates Starting XI Prediction Team News
How They Got Here: Man United- Beat Barnsley 7-0 (third round)
Leicester City- beat Tranmere Rovers 4-0 (second round), Beat Walsall 3-0 on penalties, 0-0 FT (third round)
Ten Hag’s sacking was actually getting a bit overdue, so at least we have closure on that now, finally. Let’s move on to the Leicester City clash.
Man United Starting XI Prediction vs Leicester City (EFL Cup Rd of 16)
Altay Bayindir, Diogo Dalot, Matthijs De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Noussair Mazraoui; Christian Eriksen, Casemiro; Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Alejandro Garnacho; Joshua Zirkzee
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.