Why Manchester United are struggling this season
Manchester United have had a difficult season this year. Here is an in-depth look at some of the issues United are dealing with currently.
Manchester United’s season this year in The Premier League has been a turbulent experience.
United have lost two out of their last three games, losing (3-0) to their rivals Manchester City, Newcastle United (3-0) and winning (1-0) to Fulham.
Here is an in-depth look at some problems the Red Devils are currently facing.
Wrong style
The Red Devils have gone back to playing over-the-top balls to win games. A style that’s completely different to how their current manager Erik ten Hag wants to play. Ten Hag plays transitional football, which requires the defence to create chances for the attack. The formation he plays normally is a 4-2-3-1 system, which focuses on using a double pivot, a withdrawn central or defensive-midfield pairing. This season United has brought Sofyan Amrabat to play this role with Casemiro. Amrabat hasn’t been able to play in his preferred position and has played a large number of games at left-back because of injuries to Sergio Reguilon and Luke Shaw.
Playing Amrabat out of position also means Ten Hag has to rely on Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen to play these roles. McTominay plays well when he has been instructed to play up in the opposition’s half, while Eriksen playing that role is dangerous because he lacks physicality.
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Defence
Ten Hag’s system requires his goalkeeper and defenders to transition the ball from the defence to attack. United this season has started to try and fit this style of play, with the club purchasing Andre Onana from Inter Milan. Onana is an excellent keeper at passing the ball and dealing with the press. Yet his style of play hasn’t worked this year because of injuries to Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.
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United have relied on Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire to help keep clean sheets for the Red Devils. Maguire cannot deal with fast players in the league and suits a low-block side in The Premier League. He also struggles to play possession-based football, with statistics showing he averages 47 passes after five matches.1 Evans also lacks the physical ability to deal with fast wingers or strikers and doesn’t pass the ball often, averaging 48 passes after five matches.2 Both players’ passing average is lower compared to Martinez who averages 52.60 passes after five games.3
United needs to buy a centre-back with strong technical skills. A possible signing in my opinion would be Jean-Clair Todibo, who is currently playing at Nice, a team United’s new shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe owns. Todibo averages 64 passes per match with a pass completion rate of 89%, suiting Ten Hag’s style.4
Conclusion
There are various other problems at United that I haven’t talked about. Issues relating to Jadon Sancho vs Ten Hag, Rashford’s bad form, how Mason Mount doesn’t fit into the team, and why playing Bruno Fernandes as a winger out of position is wrong. If I wrote about all these issues this post would be 10,000 words long. However, United needs to buy another centre-back to steady their season.
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Harry Maguire - https://www.premierleague.com/players/9566/Harry-Maguire/stats?co=1&se=578
Jonny Evans - https://www.premierleague.com/players/3156/Jonny-Evans/stats?co=1&se=578
Lisandro Martinez - https://www.premierleague.com/players/67191/Lisandro-Mart%C3%ADnez/stats?co=1&se=578
Todibo - https://www.infogol.net/en/player/jean-clair-todibo/40074#:~:text=Jean%2DClair%20Todibo%20averaged%2064,2022%2F23%20season%20was%206.32.
You could write a whole series about what hasn't gone well for United this season. haha