Young blood flourishing under pressure

Four things we learned as United impress with 1-0 win against Leicester, writes James Ducker

demonstrated a certain courage and conviction after his spot-kick miss in the defeat by Crystal Palace, just days after watching Pogba fail to score from 12 yards at Wolves following a debate about who would take it. The England striker, like his team-mates, coped well in the pressure cooker. immediate improvement to United’s flaky rearguard.

“United bought them because of that, to bring some stability,” midfielder Nemanja Matic said.

Even at 22, he looks one of the team’s genuine leaders.

Matic had Mctominay firmly in mind when he said: “I don’t believe in age – this season people from the club can see who is already ready to play at a high level.” Andreas Pereira ended up filling in the second half and his limitations were laid bare when Fred, after excellent work, pulled the ball back to him on the edge of the penalty area, only for his touch to desert him when a clear shooting opportunity presented itself.

Maddison still has significant improvements to make and he must add goals to his game but, at 22, Rodgers is convinced there is a pedigree player in the making there and sees a hint of Philippe Coutinho about him.

“James is the type of player who will drift from position to position,” the Leicester manager said.

“I remember working with Coutinho at Liverpool, sometimes he’d play inside, sometimes he’d drift off to the side.

“James is a little bit like that in terms of positioning. His job is to create and score goals and he’ll keep working on that.

“He’s a big talent and we’re just trying to prepare him in order for him to play at the highest level.”