4 things Manchester United needs to work on the most during the international break

If Manchester United has ever had a slow start to a Premier League season, it was because George Best and Denis Law scored the only goals for the team.

Erik ten Hag’s string of unwelcome broken records includes United’s worst start in the history of the Premier League. The Red Devils are currently in 14th place, 10 points behind Liverpool, and are going into the second international break of the season without a tooth.

Outside of trade windows, there is no way to get any more players who are familiar with the Eredivisie. However, there are a few changes that could be made to avoid adding to the long list of bad memories from the past.

Uncertainty for managers

People have been talking a lot about Ten Hag’s future ever since the embarrassing loss of his second game in charge of the club to Brentford. Private rumors that the hierarchy wants to keep the Dutchman are fighting for airtime with rumors that Thomas Tuchel is going to be hired soon.

Ten Hag’s uncertainty “does affect the players,” Jonny Evans said after he blocked out the noise to keep a clean sheet against Aston Villa. Whatever choice INEOS makes, it will be better than the utter silence of not knowing what to do.

Chaos in the middle of the soccer field

Two pictures of Johan Cruyff were hung on the walls of Ten Hag’s room at Ajax. “I apply Cruyff’s ideals in my current work,” the proud Dutchman said, but the way his United team has been playing goes against everything Cruyff said.

When it comes to football, Cruyff had two simple rules: make the field as big as possible when you have the ball and as small as possible when you don’t. On the other hand, Manchester United seem to be planning to do the exact opposite, leaving huge gaps in the defense’s defense when they try to press and drop deep at the same time.

These growing holes show up in the middle of the field, which is why Kobbie Mainoo looks like he’s 90 years old after every 90 minutes of frantically charging around. They are caused by the forwards and defensive backline not working together. While the front line presses half-heartedly, a defense that isn’t very fast creeps deeper and deeper, stretching the team’s height like an accordion when it’s fully stretched.

United is almost more at risk when they have the ball, because they can’t do anything when the other team forces a mistake inside their own half. All three of Liverpool’s goals in September’s easy win came from bad passes. Bart van Rooij of Twente and Micky van de Ven of Tottenham Hotspur were both able to quickly get through United’s weak center after they lost the ball.

Failure to make a mark

At a big event in the summer of 2023, Ten Hag said, “We want to be the best transition team in the world.” “We wish to reveal a secret. “Because we are United, we want to play fast, lively, and aggressive.

The Dutchman’s players did a good job during the 2023–24 season; they were the only club in the Premier League to make more than 100 straight attacks. This path gave United almost a quarter of their big chances.

This season, only three teams have taken fewer shots after fast breaks than United. They are still waiting for their first goal from this type of effective attack.

United’s edge has been dulled by the new central role of their full-backs, which is partly due to the shape of Noussair Mazraoui and the fact that Diogo Dalot plays on the left wing with his right foot. Luke Shaw needs to get better as soon as possible, but moving Dalot to his natural side might also help.

Concerning Bruno Fernandes

Although Bruno Fernandes has been shown red cards twice in a row, he has much bigger problems than that. In the first seven games of the season, the club captain has only made six chances in the Premier League. Two of those chances came in a loss to Brighton on the second weekend of the season. A huge group of 68 Premier League players, including his former teammate Aaron Wan-Bissaka, have been better in the closing third than United’s star player.

Fernandes has dropped to a terrible average of 0.9 key passes per game after averaging more than three per game over the last two seasons. More than ten years have passed since Fernandes produced less than one chance per game on average. That was in his second season at Udinese in 2014/15.

Since Fernandes joined United at the beginning of 2020, they have relied too much on his artistic abilities. While it’s true that they are only now feeling the pain of his shrinking form, it is still strange. Only Southampton, who is also in danger of being relegated, has scored fewer goals than Ten Hag’s lost cause this season. Crystal Palace, on the other hand, has taken more shots than United.

Fernandes has played 75 times for his country and club since the beginning of the summer, missing only six games. Going on trips to Poland and Scotland this month, the Portuguese player is back on the move. Surely he deserves a break from being responsible for all of United’s offensive efforts.