Ruud van Nistelrooy is off to a flyer after Leicester’s 3-1 win over West Ham but the scoreline told a very different story to the stats in that game and if he’s to keep the Foxes in the Premier League we suspect January moves may well be required.

He remains in the Manchester United good books despite his dismissal after a productive interim spell and that relationship with the bosses along with his very recent work with the players makes them a prime raiding target.

Here are six players we reckon he should be plumping for.

Victor Lindelof
He’s Manchester United’s third longest-serving player behind Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford having been at the club for seven-and-a-half entirely forgettable years. Never the best nor the worst centre-back in that time, there’s not much more to say about Lindelof’s Manchester United career other than that (for now at least) we acknowledge that he’s had one. In five years or so we may struggle to even be that glowing in our reverence.

We do actually quite like Lindelof though. If nothing else it takes quite the stomach to remain at Manchester United for that long, and actually, being forgettable is an underrated quality in a centre-back. Sure, the very best are hard to miss, but so are the very worst, and being a consistently average centre-back is absolutely fine for Leicester.

Ethan Wheatley
The understandably giddy Leicester fans may well baulk at the inclusion of a striker on this list after both Jamie Vardy and Patson Saka scored in Ruud’s first game in charge, but Wheatley would offer something very different as a target man for the Foxes.

He’s more of a penalty box sniffer than anything else, something Van Nistelrooy will be able to nurture, and he may as well earn experience elsewhere in the second half of the season with his path to the United first team blocked by Rasmus Hojlund, Joshua Zirkzee and Marcus Rashford, all of whom appear to have found their feet quickly under Ruben Amorim.

Harry Maguire
He’s not a guy short of confidence in his own ability having turned transfers down to fight what looked a losing battle for his place in the Manchester United team under Erik ten Hag. He featured far more than anyone thought he would having lost the captaincy, largely due to injuries to his competition, but also because he was playing some decent football.

But while he will probably fancy his chances again of regaining his spot on his return from injury as one of Amorim’s three centre-backs, amid Leny Yoro’s introduction, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez’s improvement and reports of defensive additions being high on a list of transfer priorities, we can’t see a fulfilling future for Maguire at Old Trafford.

A return to Leicester wouldn’t even have been on his radar, with middling Premier League sides a more reasonable landing spot, but Van Nistelrooy increases the allure of the Foxes, like all heroes of the Barclays era turned coaches.

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Toby Collyer
Did nothing wrong having replaced the hapless Casemiro at half-time in United’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in September but he’s still very much below the Brazilian, Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Christian Eriksen in the midfield pecking order, while Ruben Amorim’s new system also allows Bruno Fernandes or Mason Mount to take up one of those roles. Collyer’s not going to play if he stays.

Erik ten Hag was supposedly impressed by his ‘freakish running stats’ in training, as most managers would be in this energy-obsessed era of Premier League football, and while Van Nistelrooy already has two such Willing Runners in Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp, neither has done anything of great note to suggest gains can’t be made in the transfer market in that position.

As is the case with Wheatley, United would presumably be very pleased to send Collyer out on loan.

Christian Eriksen
“It was a time of lots of joy and a lot of freedom,” Christian Eriksen said, reflecting on Van Nistelrooy’s interim spell at United as though he was explaining the Swinging Sixties to his grandchildren.

He only made two brief cameos from the bench during Van Nistelrooy’s four-game stint, with the caretaker boss valuing steel over guile in those deeper midfield positions. But Eriksen could be used as the furthest forward of a midfield three at Leicester, as he did to such great effect at Tottenham and in his brief stint at Brentford, before he was burdened with defensive responsibility he has neither the energy nor we suspect the heart (no pun intended) to engage in.

Also looks like he wouldn’t cost Leicester a dime.

Antony
We’re fully in favour of Antony moving to Leicester more in the hope of it satisfying our sadism than anything else. His place in the team would be far from assured up against Facundo Buonanotte, Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi in those spots behind Jamie Vardy, and the thought of his glum face peering out from the King Power bench is a hugely attractive proposition.

There’s nothing pretty about the way Arsenal beat Man Utd; Arsene Wenger will be spinning but Pulis would be proud.

Send your views on the midweek football and the title race to theeditor@football365.com

It’s agricultural
Tony Pulis would be proud.
Sanjit (Wenger would be spinning in his proverbial!) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur

…Ruben Amorim’s first big test as Man Utd manager: Can he do it on a cold rainy night at Stoke? Unfortunately not.
David, Ireland

Loving this…
Watch the Premier League and 19 clubs propose a devaluation of goals from corners to 0.75.

Ha ha. Suckers!
Eagle

READ: Amorim fails to stop Arsenal corners but Man Utd improvement is evident

American football is better
I like sport. Football, as I played it for 30 years has always been my favourite. However, watching Arsenal and their set pieces has made me realise that American football is better. Arsenal don’t play football, their play special teams and American football special teams play is so much better.
Tony Clarke

Why was Foden on corners?
Watching Rice and Saka last night delivering corners from each side reminded me of just what a sackable offence it was by Southgate to have Foden taking them for England in the Euros.

It boggles my mind back then how he could be so out of touch with his players’ strengths. Anyone wanting to remember him fondly and respectfully should be reminded of this.

The one small- but fairly obvious – oversight might have cost England the trophy.
Johnno. (Did Carsley make the same mistake ? I didn’t watch his games. They were nations league. A man’s gotta have a line)

Man Utd clear lowest of bars
36 minutes into the match last night, the scoreline 0-0. Man Utd haven’t had a shot on target, or touched the ball in the Arsenal box. Phrases such as ‘good shape’, ‘doing well’ and ‘manager will be happy’ are being used by Shearer in commentary. If ever you needed reminding of what Man Utd are right now, it was summed up by these compliments that are usually handed out to bottom half and newly promoted sides away from home.

Looking at the line-ups I’d say that’s the worst Man Utd 11 I ever remember us playing, and the ambition in time wasting from the 13th minutes onwards (did the ref not book Onana out of pity?) spoke volumes.

This was a real men against boys performance. Many will point to Arsenal needing set pieces as a job almost well done by Amorim, and his team. Ignoring the fact Arsenal should have been 1-0 up from one within 3 minutes. And the fact Utd’s only decent chance also came from a set piece.

This was a real 7/10 performance from Arsenal, at best, and that was more than good enough. Some poor decision making around the Utd box (Martinelli has been chief culprit this for a year now) and Havertz being wasteful with a clear cut chance, the scoreline flattered the away side. In hindsight, the lack of great urgency one we scored the first can be handy at this time of year when the games come thick and fast.

In summary, Amorim is no mug though. He’s warned the fanbase about what’s to come, and last night he showed them why emphatically. Utd may have ditched Ten Hag, but the bad results and frustration will continue for some time.
Jbrusty

What a wonderful game of football.
Isak…I can’t remember many strikes as pure as his opener.

Gordon…had us for breakfast so many times and such a run and finish.

Salah….nothing needs saying.

Kelleher…he’s been incredible whilst Ali has been injured, his shot stopping is out of this world but he’s a number 2 for a reason.

Bring on our favourite away ground at our favourite time to play….eek!
James Outram, Wirral

READ: Salah is not an Ozil, Aubameyang or Hazard; Liverpool should bend over backwards to keep him

We gave it away
Caoimhin Kelleher has been immense for us, not just this season but for his entire Liverpool career, so no aspersions cast his way tonight. But, (BUT !) he’s got to punch that clear. He’s got to. Absolute Goalkeeping 101 howler at that stage of the match with mere minutes left to run. Feel a bit sick thinking about it.

Still, to trail twice in soggy, feral conditions and to come away battling with a point, it could be worse. We’ve gone and played uphill x2 the entire second half, once by way of the scoreboard, and once by way of the dodgy, tilted St. James’ pitch (you’re telling me that box-to-box fairway gradient somehow meets Premier League standard ?!).

And you know, we could have a Biscuithands or the like between our sticks, but instead we’ve got Caoimhin Kelleher on, and as a deputy option no less. It really could be worse. Count thy blessings, take the solitary, greasy point, rest and recuperate, go again.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (Salah’s done F-all for an hour but come away now leading the golden boot. Show him the dotted line already.)

…Liverpool fans. Think of it as drawing with Citeh and beating Newcastle. You’re welcome.
Vinnie20Pee

O’Neil out
I have been behind him for all this time, all this season, all last season, and let’s not dent it he worked wonders for us last season, whilst also seeming to be a top bloke.

We also had a terrible run of fixtures at the start of this season, and I didn’t want us judging this season on us playing all the best teams in the league, and a 98th minute goal conceded to lose 2-1 against Man City. However, this is it, this is the final straw Gary O’Neil needs to go, and he needs to go now!

This isn’t his fault entirely. When we sold Collins I hadn’t seen him play a good game for us so I thought no big deal. Then we sold Kilman and never replaced him, we sold Neto, we sold Nunes (who cares) and I know who we are, we are a club who buys cheap and sells high…that is fine, but the owners no longer want to invest that money from selling players into the club. They need to sell the club to someone who gives a shit and f*ck off out of Wolverhampton.
Andrew Gorman

Man Utd and the rainbows
I really didn’t like the news about the United squad dropping the rainbow jackets. That did not make me feel good about the team. But then, they’ve been continually disappointing me for an over a decade now…

This whole thing seems to have sparked a half decent debate in the mailbox though, whilst waking up a fair few morons. I think there’s a general feeling among a certain section of the population that “no one cares what people do in their private lives” which invariably seems to be mixed with “leave the kids alone”. A kind of intolerance dressed up as intolerance if you will.

I think Sam Morsy had every right to refuse to wear the arm band. I don’t agree with his beliefs but he has a right to them. He’s not impinging anyone’s human rights, he is not compelled to promote LGTBQIA+ rights any more than I am compelled in 2024 to accept that there is a God.

However, in doing so he invites scrutiny as everyone else’s right to have an opinion kicks in. That scrutiny was rightly applied by F365 and Mr Tickner. If he didn’t want to face that scrutiny he wouldn’t have played or he would have worn the armband – and I suspect invited much worse scrutiny in his country of origin for whom he was an International. Them’s the shakes. He made his decision and will deal with the consequences. It’s unfortunate that these beliefs exist and I don’t think they are acceptable but fortunately, the Thought Police is not a real thing. Officially anyway.

And Mazraoui has exactly the same right not to wear rainbow jackets and invite the exact same scrutiny upon himself. Again, wearing the jacket is likely to bring a deal of hostility in his country of origin, for which he is a current International. He could have worn the jacket or not played, but he has made his choice. Again, one I don’t agree with.

The Manchester United Team have made a complete hash of this though. In attempting to enable Mazraoui to avoid scrutiny they have invited scrutiny on themselves. If supporting the cause was important to the other players they would have worn it anyway. By choosing a team mate, they’ve indicated that they were all merely virtue signaling. In turn, if Mazraoui was that steadfast in his beliefs, it wouldn’t have bothered him to be the only one not wearing the jackets as he would’ve explained it.

Of course, the players’ biggest miscalculation was that this wouldn’t come out. They’ve tried to stick together as a team in the leakiest dressing room and club English football has ever known. So to try and protect a team mate from airing a questionable belief (which he’s done before by the way) they’ve managed to highlight yet another split within the team.

And that’s to say nothing of any further damage between the club and its supporters and the wider LGBTQIA+ community.

The problem with letting people not wear the armbands or jackets and then shielding them from scrutiny is exactly as F365 call it. It’s tolerating intolerance. It’s intolerance dressed as tolerance. If you don’t want to support gay or trans people then fine. But you better have a good reason that you’re able to articulate.

The problem for those people is that there isn’t a good reason except “belief”.

In 2024 that should be intolerable.
Ashmundo

(We had loads of mails on this subject but most are saying all the same things in different ways. This one – about the Man Utd situation – seemed quite balanced so we will publish this and hopefully move on. Until the next time – Ed)

Gary Neville has described Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover as “the most annoying bloke in football” after the Gunners beat Man Utd 2-0 on Wednesday night.

After Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli both missed good chances from corners in the first-half, Jurrien Timber opened the scoring for Arsenal with a header from a corner on 59 minutes.

Joshua Zirkzee almost scored an own-goal from another brilliant Gunners corner before yet another brilliant delivery from a corner saw William Saliba turn in Arsenal’ second goal of the game on 73 minutes.

Man Utd had kept Arsenal at bay in the first half, after beating Everton 4-0 over the weekend, but the Gunners outclassed them in the second half to close the gap to seven points on Premier League leaders Liverpool.

And after witnessing Arsenal pummel Man Utd with corner after corner, Neville claimed Gunners set-piece coach Jover has “got to be the most annoying bloke in football”.

Speaking on a live watchalong for The Overlap, Neville said: “The set-piece coach at Arsenal, he’s got to be the most annoying bloke in football.

“He’s got to be, hasn’t he? He’s got to be though, hasn’t he?”

Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher added: “I’ll tell you what, give him what he wants.

“If you was that set-piece coach for Arsenal, you could write your own contract, couldn’t you? You couldn’t get rid of him.

“You know, if he said, “I want 25 grand a week”, you’d have to give it to him, wouldn’t you?”

Speaking about Jover’s role at Arsenal earlier this week, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “He’s a very special person and obviously someone very close to me. I went to war for him at City because I felt there was a big room for improvement in that department.

“I contacted him and I suggested to Pep (for him) to come and help us. Since then we’ve been extremely close.

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“We share a clear vision of how we want to put everything together, about how everything is connected, aligned and can work efficiently in our team.

“There are a lot of other people who put a lot of effort and thought and hours into that, but for sure he is someone who is very, very important for the team.”

Another set-piece analyst Mads Buttgereit has previously described Jover – who Arsenal poached from Man City – as a “genius”.

Buttgereit told Sky Sports: “I always had a passion for set-pieces but at that point I was still a normal coach, in a normal coaching role. I think, after meeting him, I began to see myself more as a set-piece specialist.

“Nicolas is a genius in the way he thinks and the way he creates the plans. Sitting with him and discussing different set-plays, you feel everything has an exact thought behind it.

“There are no coincidences at any point in any routine. Whenever we discussed set-pieces, it was never simple. We could discuss a specific corner routine for over an hour, not a problem.

“We would go through every aspect and go through what the opponent would then do. It was very, very detailed.

“There are a few set-piece coaches who I know personally but, in my mind, I think Nicolas is the best. He is fantastic.”