Man Utd 2-1 Leicester: 4 talking points as poor Red Devils scrape into FA Cup fifth round | OneFootball

Manchester United left it late to beat Leicester City in the FA Cup fourth round, requiring a stoppage-time winner from Harry Maguire to get over the line at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils were well below their best once more, particularly in the opening hour as they struggled to make any kind of impression on a Leicester side who are scrapping for their lives in the Premier League.

Bobby Decordova-Reid's goal four minutes before the half-time interval saw United concede the first goal for the seventh time in their last eight home games, but this time they turned the game on its head to get into the fifth round of the FA Cup - a competition they are the holders of after beating Manchester City in last season's final.

Substitute Joshua Zirkzee drew United level following good work from substitute Alejandro Garnacho, before Maguire, who replays suggested was half a yard offside when Bruno Fernandes' free-kick was swung into the box, buried a 93rd minute header past Mads Hermansen to ensure extra-time was not needed - VAR of course not in operation until the fifth round.

Here are 90min's four United takeaways.

Livewire Garnacho key to United's future

Garnacho offered a completely different dynamic / OLI SCARFF/GettyImages

For most of January, it was unclear whether or not Alejandro Garnacho would remain a United player.

Chelsea and Napoli were interested and United's stance, despite not being actively looking to sell the Argentine, was that a deal could be done if good money was offered. Garnacho does, after all, represent pure profit as he has graduated from the club's academy.

On this evidence, it's a good job United didn't receive an offer they were willing to accept. Kobbie Mainoo looked unsure of what his new role fully entails, while Rasmus Hojlund's confidence couldn't be any lower if it tried. His complete lack of movement testament to that.

Garnacho's introduction changed things, bringing a new energy and new ideas to United's attacking play. He looked to break the lines, using his speed to burst either inside or outside of James Justin, and he played clever give and gos that caught gave Leicester's players something to actually think about.

It was further evidence that Garnacho is learning what Amorim wants from him - the Portuguese's recent praise for his improvement fully justified on this evidence.

United's painfully slow moving of the ball and laboured press

Amorim's United don't seem to be learning / Michael Regan/GettyImages

The thing that used to scare opposition defences was how quickly Manchester United could go through the gears, springing forward in the blink of an eye with an eye of the needle pass or a darting run.

United also used to bully and press their opposition into making mistakes, dominating the middle of the park and turning possession over at will. Those things just aren't happening at present.

For 65 minutes, Leicester were the better team in every discipline, United toothless in everything they did. It's a recurring theme under Amorim, who must somehow educate and coax his players into starting games quicker and with more intensity. Too often they are behind the eight-ball and they won't always recover like they did here.

Dorgu's debut a real head scratcher

Dorgu surprisingly lined up on United's right flank / Michael Regan/GettyImages

Signing a new left wing-back has been the priority for Amorim from the moment he walked through the doors at Carrington.

Luke Shaw is permanently injured, Diogo Dalot is not good enough to consistently play on the left flank and Noussair Mazraoui is, well, also not a left wing-back. It's why there was genuine interest in signing Nuno Mendes from Paris Saint-Germain and it's why £29.2m worth of eggs were eventually put into Lecce's basket for Patrick Dorgu.

So there was a huge sense of anticipation when Dorgu was named in United's starting lineup, with everybody assuming that Dalot would return to the right as Mazraoui filled in at centre-back for the stricken Lisandro Martinez.

Only Amorim had something totally different in mind.

Dorgu, bizarrely, lined up on the right, in an attempt to double up on Leicester full-back Luke Thomas with the in-form Amad Diallo. He lasted just 45 minutes, winning six of his 11 duels and had a passing accuracy of 82%. Yet he didn't attempt a single dribble and always shaped up to come inside on his stronger left foot, ridding United of the width that you'd expect from an overlapping wing-back.

It was a curious decision from Amorim and was ultimately one that backfired in the grand scheme of things - United lost the half, had no injection of pace in their play and had to change things up. He did at least seem to have a half-decent connection with Amad.

Old Trafford faithful sick of many, many things

There were complaints from supporters about ticket prices / Michael Regan/GettyImages

After failing to register a shot on target in the first half, United's players were understandably booed off by the home faithful.

But it's not just on-field matters that are bothering supporters. The Red Devils, in the opinion of many, had a pretty ordinary January transfer window, seemingly accepting that the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign is going to be a bit of a write-off. Hell, Amorim has explicitly said further pain is to come.

So if you're not really investing in players to improve the current season, can their be any real justification for a ticket price hike that saw Leicester return over 1,700 tickets because supporters were unwilling to pay a minimum of £52 for an 8pm kick-off on a Friday night, when the league encounter had been an away end sell-out capped at £30.

United's fans got the same schtick too, leading to a banner being unfurled that simply read: '£66, your debt not ours'. The sooner the club realise they are sucking the soul out of all those who turn up at Old Trafford each and every week, the better.

Harry Maguire turned out to be United's hero / Gareth Copley/GettyImages

Check out the player ratings from Man Utd 2-1 Leicester here.