Impressed with the progress of Manchester United

I’ve been impressed with the progress the Manchester United team have made between the game with Ipswich and the game with Bobo / Glimt. Although we should be cautious of the level of the opposition and the style of football played in that competition.

That said, the team looked far more comfortable in the shape and seemed to have a better understanding of how to play the way the manager wants.

All I want to see is progress in every game, 5%, 10% 20% better it doesn’t really matter. It won’t be linear as we will have players coming in and out of the line up, and the opposition will be different and offer different challenges. But we should always be aiming to play better than we did in our last game.

Everton will pose a different sort of threat to the teams we have played so far. I expect them to let us have far more of the ball, they will sit deeper and look to counter. We need to be patient in attack and try not to force it and give away the ball too easily. While we will need to concentrate in defence and be in the right shape ready for when they counter, not give away too many set-plays as they will be looking to take advantage of them. We don’t need to be aggressive in defence. Just hold them up, push them wide and keep them isolated. They won’t attack in numbers initially and will be cautious. As long as we don’t dive in and risk them beating us in the 1v1’s their attack will breakdown. They will have to turn back and pass backwards or give the ball away. That will tempt more of their players forward which in turn will open up more space for us to transition into when we win the ball back.

This will be a different sort of test and it’s one I’m looking forward to seeing how Amorim tackles it. It is an excellent opportunity for us to practice our shape and ball progression against an EPL team.

Personally I’d be keeping Garnacho on the bench until later in the game when legs are starting to tire and space starts to open up. I’d prefer Amad and Mount to start in the attacking midfield roles. Players who are more patient and look to play through teams rather than just run at them. Everton will be deep and compact for the first 60 minutes at least. That will make it difficult for Garnacho to find space or impact the game. It doesn’t play to his strengths.

Ugarte and Bruno in midfield are probably the best option right now.

The wingbacks are the tricky positions to pick for. Dalot will certainly be one of them, but who plays the other and on which side they play is anyone’s guess. I hope it’s not Amad as I think he’s so much better and more useful against this Everton team if played as one of the attacking midfielders. I’d be tempted to start Malacia at LWB, he wasn’t great last time out but he needs minutes to get back up to speed. Even if the plan is to sub him at halftime regardless. I’d be tempted to play him as it allows Dalot to play on his more natural side.

I think Rashford will start the game and Højlund come on later as he works his way back. Although long term it probably works better the other way around. Højlund is the better striker, in this system especially, and you want him on the pitch more often than not.

We might have an issue in defence, Mazraoui is the only one who looks certain to start, with the others possibly injured or not quite ready to start. I can see Shaw possibly starting at LCB, then depending on fitness it could be any of MdL, Evans, Maguire, Lindelof or even Casemiro at central CB.

Written by Shappy December 01 2024 13:39:18