Manchester United won, no news.
Playing a League One relegation team, Manchester United can't and dare not "create" news. The new owner's second minister is with the team overseers, including Sir Braitsford who has appeared in the stands for three consecutive games, and he just doesn't want to mix up anymore. Manchester United have won by just two goals and will make INEOS's hopes of revamping the squad even more urgent and determined. There are too many wasted opportunities, whether you watch the live broadcast or the highlights, this is the impression. With more than 30 shots on goal, nearly half of which forced the goalkeeper to save, another 10 misses, and six times blocked by the opposition defence, United were able to beat Wigan Athletic with a slightly better grasp of the goal.
The strikers wasted a chance and the wing-backs stepped up
Marcus Rashford, Garnacho, Hoylen, Scott McTominay and B Fernandes took turns to stage "How can you hit the ball in the stands". The wonderful thing is that these masters waste their chances in a variety of ways, including one meter from the goal to cushion the bottom line (Hojlen), there are six yards of mallet smashed off the line (Mike), there are no matter how many seven twenty-one see the goalkeeper (Rashford), and there are still reluctant to fight at the end of the crossbow (Garnacho), and thousands of Manchester United fans who came to cheer on the stadium were full of noise. ** Also make fun of these die-hard fans: win or lose, or the north wind blew in vain this night.
Rather a full-back striker was the more reliable, with Diogo Dalot finding a right-footed curling into the corner from 20 yards from Marcus Rashford, just as he did against Sheffield United in the Premier League. Diogo Dalot's goal is part of Ten Hag's overall style of play, and it is also the reason for the frequent drainage of full-backs in recent years. A few days ago, an expert wrote an article calling for the resurrection of the ancient name of the "frontier guard" buried in the pile of old papers, because no matter how new words are coined, it is not as good as the original title to reflect the changes in other positions of the frontier guard. This full-back is different from the current Chinese ** to refer to a winger or a wing midfielder, the original text is wing half, the fullback in the mother of formations 235.
In those days, there was no such thing as a midfielder, and the "midfielder" was actually composed of two inside forwards and a central midfielder. Dalot can plug in, can also score, the season's individual production is similar to Martial, Rashford, the team scored a maximum of only 6 goals, or 3 people share this "honor", indicating two points: plugging in the back row, secondary guns instead of main guns, dispersing firepower points, is Ten Hag's established style of play, this is one of them;Except for Bruno, who is slightly reliable, everyone else depends on mood and luck. Looking back at the halfway point of the Premier League and Champions League groups, Manchester United had a lot of shots on goal in most of the games, why did they lose goal difference?Ranking hovering between seven and eight?
The shooting was terrible, the defense was even worse.
Playing against a League One relegation team, Manchester United almost gave a gift at the beginning. An attack broke the cable, and the opponent immediately rushed forward on the right, Evans fought and retreated, and Maynu chased wildly behind. What about Dalot?Far away near the opponent's penalty area, he was not in a hurry, and ran back slowly. Fortunately, Onana was lucky and pounced on the opponent one-on-one. If this goal is lost, it is estimated that it will be reversed in the end, but it will be difficult. Originally, I brought two oxygen cylinders to spare, and if you lose the ball first, you must consume it in advance, and you can make a bloodless practice match, so that you can make a life-and-death battle, you think about the press conference after the game.
Stabilizing the defensive line is a top priority for Manchester United
Ten Hag is the only manager in the history of the Premier League who has always been the protagonist of traffic because of his clumsy tongue. Not because of his golden sentences, but because Manchester United's children are too uncompetitive, doing bad things in good games and dead games in bad games. Escaping, United quickly took control of the situation, although the shot was out of tune, but they did not let the defence come out of danger. If the forward configuration of this game is Ten Hag's next arrangement, Manchester United will also have a little hope of losing hope in the race for the top four. Marcus Rashford flanked left, Hojlen stepped forward and Garnacho leaned right. Because of this deployment, Garnacho rarely sent a decent cross to Hojlen, but unfortunately Hojlen felt rusty in front of the goal and flew head-on. He got up and immediately gave Garnacho a thumbs up: Okay, a few more?And then there was no then. Bruno then detoured down the left flank and crossed to goal, but Hojlen was not in the position to grab the spot, but McTominay got the ball on his shoulder and flew off the line.
Garnacho's play as a right winger is a good thing, and as mentioned earlier, he is comfortable on the right flank, with more confidence in his breakthroughs and crosses. Such a simple truth does not need to spend half a season to pay the price of the bottom of the Champions League to understand, just like Manchester United needs the golden sentence of "disembowelment", which ordinary fans also knew more than ten years ago, and there is no need to spend millions to find Rangnick. Of course, professional coaches should give their players a little more time to adapt and two more workouts to increase their courage, but there are problems and solutions that are so obvious that you really don't understand why you should bother with it. With this forward line (assuming there is no action in the winter window and Ten Hag does not promote new players), Manchester United have a certain ability to score goals, add a little more to the midfield, and it is not a problem to score 30 goals in the remaining 18 Premier League games (it is a good thing that the FA Cup is not overeating).
It's more important to improve the defence and drastically reduce the number of amateur goals conceded, and there are no more scenes like giving opponents a one-on-one chance in the opening three minutes. To achieve this, it is imperative to stabilize the defensive combination. Before Lima's return, the combination of Varane and Evans should not be changeable, with Luke Shaw on the left and Wan-Bissaka on the right, which should also be the default. Don't return the favor and recall the bulky aircraft carrier to the first launch when Maguire returns (ahead of Lima). This rear defense, more or less tacit understanding, air defense in front of the door, frontal blocking, not so much that people can see blood pressure rise.
Next, there's the midfield. Casemiro's departure is unlikely, and when he recovers from injury, he will have to be Menu's partner, with these two to protect the backbone of the defence, which can reduce the risk of being broken by opponents and shooting from distance. There is one place left, who is Schef Bruno?Stop having illusions about McTominay, he can be a surprise soldier, but by no means a sapper. Christian Eriksen, Scott McTominay and Amrabat (if Mount is still playing) rotate and cross-match to ease the physical load on individual players. This starter struggled to play the top six, but it was not so bad that it was tofu dregs, and with good luck, it was expected to steal one or two. Playing in the middle and lower reaches, the odds are greater, and there is no room for further losses. The six points conceded at home to Bournemouth and Crystal Palace could well be the key to a top-four finish at the earliest. Be sure to get back 6 points when you return to visit. In the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United's opponent is the winner between Newport in League Two and the amateur team Eastleigh, which is a better sign than playing Wigan Athletic (indicating that Manchester United's luck is improving in the New Year), winning is the bottom line, and the extra point is to examine the newcomers, there is no need to take out all the capital like this round, and all the substitutes should also be competent.