Erik must pick Ron to take on the Bees
IT really wasn’t supposed to happen like this. The appointment of Erik ten Hag was supposed to usher in a new era at United.
A fresh and exciting style of football was going to be played, the squad’s fat was going to be trimmed and a grand rebuild was going to take place. Yet, the more things change the more they remain exactly the same.
No one sensible is writing off Ten Hag or believing he can’t eventually turn United around, but it’s already clear how hamstrung he will be by a lack of proper structure at the club and the Glazer family’s ownership. Instead of spending the summer assembling a squad for their new manager to mould into a competitive side, the Reds have been slow, indecisive and unprepared in the transfer market.
While City and Liverpool strengthened their already incredible sides with yet more world-class players and Spurs and Arsenal moved quickly to address troubled areas in their squads in the hope of improvement, United still have several positions they desperately need to reinforce.
With the season already underway and time running out before the September 1 transfer deadline, the Reds are now scrambling through a random list of targets that betray the fact there is clearly no cohesive recruitment strategy from the club.
Instead, they are just relying on Ten Hag to provide the names.
United went into the opening match of the season with the same maligned midfield pairing of Scott McTominay and Fred that has now proven not good enough under four separate coaches – as well as without an out and out striker in the starting XI.
Anthony Martial had shown good signs of rejuvenation in pre-season and was going to start against Brighton as the central frontman but an unfortunately timed injury ruled him out.
With Cristiano Ronaldo deemed not fit enough to start after missing the majority of pre-season, it forced Ten Hag to improvise. He opted to deploy Christian Eriksen up front.
It was a calculated risk but a risk all the same and it backfired spectacularly. The Dane played in a false 9 role which United hadn’t worked with at all during their friendly matches and it was clear the dynamic threw the rest of the attack off.
Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, who had looked bright during the summer, reverted to wayward and unconfident displays they put in so often last season. Without the focal point to lead the line and link them together, the exciting attacking trio lost all its dynamism. Eriksen’s positioning also threw Fernandes out of sorts as his space in the hole behind the striker was now being occupied and there weren’t as many progressive passing options available to him. It’s no surprise all the progress United had made during preseason was completely shattered, with the intricate attacks they were pulling off no where to be seen. This is not a slight against Eriksen, who is a good player and did well once moved back into a natural midfield position. But that shift, and
It’s far better for United to remove Ronaldo from a position of strength than to introduce him from one of weakness
Ronaldo coming on in the second half, came too late.
The introduction of a proper striker, even though Ronaldo didn’t exactly do much, put the Reds back into a much more comfortable shape and they did improve as they halved the deficit.
But by that point a confident and well-drilled Brighton were able to expertly see out the game and hold on to the win after taking advantage of United’s early dysfunction to score twice in the opening 45 minutes.
It’s clear Ten Hag can’t take that risk again.
Next up is a trip to Brentford tomorrow and a proper striker must start. If Martial is still sidelined, then it has to be Ronaldo.
Even if he still isn’t fit enough to play the full 90 minutes, it’s far better for him to play the first 45 so United can be at their strongest from the off and try to build up a lead.
Then, if he has to come off, the Reds can withdraw him while, hopefully, having a lead to hold on to, where an extra midfielder might come in handy.
It’s far better for United to remove Ronaldo from a position of strength than to introduce him from one of weakness.
The Reds need to pick up their first win against Brentford because after that come Liverpool and if they go three games without three points on the board then the atmosphere will only get worse.
That’s a position of weakness that will be even harder to recover from.