MANCHESTER UNITED: SQUAD REVIEW AND PLAYER RATINGS FROM DERBY LOSS

SQUAD REVIEW & PLAYER RATINGS FROM UNITED'S DISASTROUS LOSS TO CITY

-Samarth Purohit

-Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala

Photo via: onefootball

Manchester United have gone from a club with the best defence the PL has ever seen with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, to a defensive blunder with Maguire, Lindelof and Bailly. Raphael Varane is incredibly skilled and makes a major impact when on the pitch, but will be out of commission for a while. This shouldn't be much of a problem for a club of United's stature, as substitutes like Bailly are present. However, Bailly himself is very inconsistent, as shown by his amazing game against Atalanta, before he proved to be a liability against Man City. Maguire and Shaw were both incredible during the Euros, but have since regressed in form. Shaw looks like the broken left back who was often criticized under Mourinho. Chances are they weren't given the right amount of time to re-enter training after a taxing international campaign, and Shaw's been playing for United with a rib injury for a while, which further highlights the issues in Man United's defence, but that is true for their opponents as well. Lindelof is a very average defender and has been rushed out of injury. Aaron Wan Bissaka is a great defender one on one, but his contribution offensively is non-existent, and with the likes of Maguire, Shaw and Lindelof having poor form at the moment, he can't contribute much.

Midfield was never going to be a strong suit for this squad, with the likes of Fred and Mctominay playing roles they really shouldn't be in. Fernandes is a world class player, but he can't effectively carry a midfield without proper defensive reinforcements. This is more annoying to many fans as Van De Beek has been benched for essentially his entire tenure at Man United, and he could be the missing link in the midfield chain, as shown by his rather impressive performances when given playing time. Unfortunately, it is tough to fit both Fernandes and Van De Beek in the team, considering they both like to play attacking, free roam roles in midfield.

Manchester United's main strength lies in our forwards, and we have a large talented roster to pick from: Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Martial and Jesse Lingard are all great offensive talents. The real issue comes when linking them. Sancho is a creative forward, but is now being benched more often than not in favour of Greenwood or Rashford, neither of whom offer a great amount of chances or creativity; essentially leading either Luke Shaw or Bruno Fernandes to create chances for goals. Further, Greenwood has not yet been developed as a winger and it shows in his playing style as he will always take a risky shot, even if passing to an open Ronaldo is a much safer bet for a goal. Until Greenwoods relative selfishness with the ball is fixed, playing him with Ronaldo as a double striker should be ruled out of the equation. Ronaldo himself does what is required, as does Rashford, and they, more often than not, net goals for the squad. However, they can't do anything without a chance created, and as mentioned previously, that's one of the main offensive issues with Manchester United. 

Manchester United was absolutely dominated by City, where the Red Devils played even worse than against Liverpool, regardless of what the score card might say. The fact it happened on a day many United fans consider sacred, the anniversary of the day Sir Alex Ferguson became manager, just adds salt to the wound. The only saving grace was United keeper DDG, who had to make save after save after save, against Man City forwards, and even Man United defenders. The fact that United had more shots on target on their own goal (2) than City’s (1), sums up Manchester United’s game.

Ronaldo  5: Ronaldo had United’s only shot on target, forcing a fine save from Ederson. He received little to no service, but his pressing was lacking, allowing City to play out from the back far too easily.

Greenwood  4: Had no influence on the game, didn’t do enough to press City’s centre-backs either. 

Shaw  3: Did not offer anything offensively, continuing his woeful run of form. Was caught ball watching for the second goal. 

Fred  1: Was absolutely dominated by City’s midfield, and played some woeful passes in the middle of the pitch.

Mctominay  2: Couldn’t keep up with City’s pace of play, and afforded their creators too much space in the middle of the park. 

Fernandes  3: Failed to break down City’s defensive lines, and should have closed down Joao Cancelo much faster for the first goal. 

AWB  2: Offered little offensively, and not much more defensively. Was constantly overloaded on his flank in the first half, but offered Foden and Cancelo too much space. 

Maguire  2: Was constantly played through in the first half, and offered no stability in defence, nor a sense of security. Would not make it into the Leicester team he left for £85 million.

Bailly  0: Scored an own goal while trying to rashly clear the ball in his first premier league game of the season. Was dominated by City’s attackers, before being taken off at half-time. 

Lindelof  3: His positioning and awareness was lacking, and perhaps it was the wrong decision on behalf of Solskjaer to rush him back from injury. 

David de gea  8: There is no doubt that De Gea is one of the best shot-stoppers in the world, and United would have lost closer to 6-0 if not for the Spaniard. However, his box presence is lacking; he rarely leaves his line to sweep or to claim crosses, adding pressure to United’s fragile backline. Was at fault for the second goal: not coming out to claim Cancelo’s cross, and then making a mess of the save. However, he was United’s best player on the day by miles and miles. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer  -5: It has been clear for some time now that Ole is out of depth at United. His team play with no purpose or urgency, their backline has no structure, and the team pressing is woeful. His ineptness is displayed in the very fact that United played with the same new system of 3-5-2 against both Spurs and City, two vastly different sides, and as a result, offered City nearly 2/3rds of the possession, and were demolished as a result.