MANCHESTER // At his best, Robin van Persie is an elegant executioner with the technique of a master and the capacity for a first-time finish the finest forwards show, as well as a typically Dutch appreciation of space.
The problem, as Van Persie concedes, is that he has been at his best too rarely this season and has admitted to being disappointed with his performances. His display yesterday, then, ought to have satisfied the critic within.
There was a clinical finish, crisper passing and the sense of a player performing at nearer his peak.
Leicester had inflicted the most embarrassing Premier League result of Louis van Gaal’s reign, a 5-3 defeat in September, but there was no repeat. Despite a strong finish from the bottom club, one was never likely.
More encouragingly for United, was the break from their recent norm.
A goal-shy side had only mustered five in their previous six games but yesterday they had three by half-time.
If there is disappointment at an uneventful second half, even the perfectionist Van Gaal seemed pleased. “I am very happy,” he said.
While the Dutchman tends to be defiantly different, there was something orthodox about United’s progress.
He abandoned his policy of playing three central defenders yesterday and opted for a regulation back four. Angel di Maria, a winger who cost a record-breaking fee, was not deployed as a striker and the line was instead led by recognised goalscorers, who both struck.
Van Persie won the Premier League’s Golden Boot in successive seasons, while Radamel Falcao had scored 155 goals in 200 games for his three previous European clubs, yet, in five months together, they had not found the net in the same game.
It was in fact only the fourth time the Colombian has struck in his Old Trafford career, prompting concern from his manager. “I am more happy that Falcao scored because Robin has already scored enough goals,” Van Gaal said.
It has been a period of diminishing returns for one of the world’s most prolific goalscorers, but he showed he remains potent from three yards, while Van Persie’s range is rather greater.
He and Daley Blind combined for one of last year’s most memorable goals. The striker’s first of 2015 was not as remarkable as his flying header against Spain in the World Cup but, again, there was a penetrative pass over an opposing defence and a well-judged, first-time finish.
Van Persie’s volley was terrific, his movement perhaps a little premature.
“The first goal was offside and we didn’t do great for the second,” Leicester manager Nigel Pearson said.
Falcao’s oft-injured knees have caused him many a problem but not this time as they brought him his fourth United goal.
The sliding Colombian scored in ungainly fashion after Mark Schwarzer parried Di Maria’s shot. The instigator of the move, with a lovely pass to release the Argentine, was the influential Van Persie. “We scored beautiful goals,” Van Gaal said.
United added a third when Wes Morgan got the final touch after Blind met Rooney’s corner with a glancing header.
Di Maria, who returned to form after being restored to the midfield, should have added a fourth. Instead, the extra goal was a consolation strike from Marcin Wesolowski. “We could have scored two or three goals more,” Van Gaal said.
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