Erik ten Hag must take Cristiano Ronaldo risk for Manchester United vs Brentford
| Published date | 12 August 2022 |
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 Ten Hag to mould into a competitive side, they have been slow, indecisive and unprepared in the transfer market.
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While Manchester City and Liverpool strengthened their already incredible sides with yet more world-class players and the likes of Spurs and Arsenal moved quickly to address troubled areas in their squads in the hope of improvement, United still have several positions that they desperately need to reinforce. With the season already underway and time running out, they 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.
This meant that 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 actual 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 striker but an unfortunately timed injury ruled him out of the match. With Cristiano Ronaldo deemed not fit enough to start after missing the majority of pre-season amid his desire to leave, 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 that 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...
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