Football News: Manchester United Players Overview

The dust has settled a little and I think now is a good time to reflect on the first couple of Manchester United games and what we’ve seen.

1. We look more capable of both controlling games and creating higher quality chances.

We’ve shown in spells that we can control games better, we’ve tired at points and there have been lapses in concentration, but we have had far more control over the games so far than we showed last season. While we have actually used patterns of play to carve out opportunities. Unfortunately, we haven’t taken advantage of those enough, with players looking slightly off the pace and not quite yet all on the same wavelength.

2. Defensively there are still concerns. While the individual errors are to be expected early in the season as players get back up to full fitness and match sharpness, there still seems to be a question of balance in our centre back partnerships.

Both Maguire and Martinez are front foot defenders whose first instinct is to step out and try to win the ball. That is why they have never worked as a partnership and both players play their worst football for us when they are paired together. When either of them have been paired with Varane (a natural sweeper CB) they have both looked much better.

With Varane gone the only natural sweeper CB in our squad appears to be Evans. Yoro could develop into that player, but he is very inexperienced and will need to develop his reading of the game. MdL is naturally a front foot defender, he prefers to engage the opposition rather than protect the space.

Whether we can get a balanced CB partnership this season probably depends on whether MdL can adapt his game. I think he could, he does have the schooling from Ajax to have the knowledge to be able to adapt his game. But it will take time and practice. The sooner him and Martinez can play regularly together the more chance we have of making that adaptation work.

3. Amad has been good in spells, but needs to become a more consistent and rounded threat. He needs to build up his link play with his teammates.

4. Rashford has continued to struggle despite showing a little more effort. Unfortunately, I think he really needs a quality LB behind him to solidify that flank and offer an overlapping threat to drag the opposition away from him and give him a little more space.

5. Mount has shown that he can be a very useful player, his pressing from the front has been excellent, and that off the ball work is a big part of why we have looked…