Premiership: Man Utd rout Leicester 4-1 ( 2003-09-28 11:13)
Ruud van Nistelrooy was back
in the limelight for all the right reasons with a devastating hat-trick as
Manchester United swept aside injury ravaged Leicester with an emphatic 4-1 win
at the Walkers Stadium.
The Dutchman had missed a last-minute penalty in the explosive encounter with
Arsenal last weekend, was jostled by several of the Gunners as he left the pitch
and had been branded a cheat by Arsene Wenger.
But Van Nistelrooy had maintained a dignified silence amongst all the mayhem
and he was at his best as Sir Alex Ferguson's side reduced the gap between
themselves and leaders Arsenal to a single point.
It means that Leicester are still looking for their first home Premiership
win against the Red Devils who sliced through their defence almost at will via
the skill of fit again Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Scholes, back in action after his hernia problem, set up the first two goals
and it would have been a welcome sign for Sven-Goran Eriksson ahead of England's
vital Euro qualifier with Turkey in a fortnight's time.
The game was over as a contest after United struck twice in a minute in the
first half and it allowed Ferguson the luxury of being able to bring off and
rest up Roy Keane, Scholes and Giggs ahead of the mid-week Champions League game
with Stuttgart.
Leicester were outclassed but they never threw in the towel and had at least
the consolation of scoring.
Scholes was soon involved and released Quinton Fortune in space on the left
flank but, after cutting inside, he dragged his shot wide of Ian Walker's post.
Darren Fletcher showed his potential for the first time when he collected
another pass from Scholes and slipped inside Ben Thatcher before striking a well
struck shot straight at Walker.
Leicester carved out a decent opening after 12 minutes when Paul Dickov took
advantage of some hesitancy in the United defence and chipped the ball through
to Marcus Bent.
United 'keeper Tim Howard was quickly out to narrow the angle and the on-loan
Ipswich striker sent his shot wide of the far post.
But United effectively killed off the contest by netting twice in the space
of 60 seconds through Keane and Van Nistelrooy.
Scholes showed typical vision to pick out Keane who beat the offside trap and
coolly side-stepped Walker before netting his first goal of 2003-2004.
Leicester had no time to recover from this reversal before Van Nistelrooy
doubled the lead for the Red Devils.
Scholes attempted a low shot from 25 yards out which fell invitingly into the
path of the Dutchman who controlled the ball and then easily beat Walker from 10
yards out.
United looked as if they could score at will and Van Nistelrooy stabbed an
effort wide from close range after appearing to be taken by surprise by Ryan
Giggs' dipping cross.
Leicester retaliated briefly and Gerry Taggart got on the end of an
outswinging Muzzy Izzet free-kick from the right flank only for Howard to hold
onto his low header.
A cross from Fletcher should have been tucked away by Van Nistelrooy but he
lost control after chesting the ball down.
City boss Micky Adams was forced to bring off Thatcher, who has been
suffering from 'flu all week, and replaced him at left-back with Alan Rogers.
But it hardly mattered and United were soon back on the offensive and a
minute before half-time Van Nistelrooy added number three.
Ferdinand was the creator this time with a ball into the United predator who
turned inside Frank Sinclair before volleying the shot into the roof of the net.
Keane was replaced at half-time by Djemba-Djemba as United continued to
dominate proceedings and after 52 minutes Van Nistelrooy completed his own
personal treble.
Djemba-Djemba was the provider with a first time pass from inside his first
half and Van Nistelrooy had time to steady himself before drilling a low shot
past the exposed Walker into the corner of the net.
Marcus Bent almost pulled a goal back for Leicester but John O'Shea managed
to block his close range attempt.
Leicester had to replace Ian Walker, who was suffering from a back problem,
with Danny Coyne, but they at least staged a fighting finish.
After 73 minutes Frank Sinclair pulled a goal back with a header from Izzet's
corner and then a 20-yard drive from Bent thumped against the crossbar.
Ferguson hails Ruud and team
Sir Alex Ferguson saluted hat-trick hero Ruud van Nistelrooy - but insisted
events in the explosive encounter with Arsenal had not acted as an extra
motivation for the Dutchman.
Ferguson told MUTV: 'I don't think it has been a difficult week for Ruud. As
far as we are concerned, he has done nothing wrong. We will leave it to the FA
to deal with and keep our powder dry.
'I don't think the previous week's episode was any kind of motivation for
Ruud. His motivation has always been that he is a world class footballer who
loves scoring.'
Ferguson was delighted with his team's performance and believes the return of
Paul Scholes will take some of the pressure of van Nistelrooy to keep on
scoring.
He said: 'I think today's performance was probably one of the best of the
season. The movement and passing was outstanding.
'We also defended well. We had watched Leicester on video and knew they would
be a threat from set-pieces and crosses if we did not defend right and for 80
minutes we did that.
'I am very pleased that Roy Keane got on the scoresheet. I was astonished
when someone told me it was 41 games since he last scored.
'I knew there was something wrong with his game!
'It is important that other players score for us and Paul Scholes was back in
the side and is always someone likely to get on the scoresheet. That hopefully
will not place such a burden on Ruud to always score.'
Ferguson added: 'I was slightly disappointed about conceding a goal towards
the end but, with the changes we made in the second half, it was possible it
might happen.'
Leicester manager Micky Adams bemoaned his side's poor defending as they lost
at home for the first time since Boxing Day.
He said: 'It was poor defending. From our point of view, you can't do that.
We talked about concentrating at all times against this mob. If you don't, they
punish you - and we were punished.
'Scholes caused problems. If you defend deep then he will find little pockets
to play in and he showed what a world class player he is.
'I think this was also the first time that United have not had two games in a
week and they had time to prepare, get the episode at Old Trafford out of their
mind and get on with football.
'I felt that there might be some kind of backlash - and that's the way to do
it.'
