Manchester United back to the drawing board

Man United vs Liverpool

Manchester United came into their fixture against Liverpool on Monday 22nd August 2022 at Old Trafford as underdogs after losing two games in a row against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford. Erik Ten Hag gave his squad a bit of punishment on their day off as Man United players were forced to run 13.9 kilometres. This worked as Man United players ran a combined 114 kilometres in their 2-1 win against Liverpool which was 20 kilometres further than the week before against Brentford. Ten Hag made brave selection calls for this game by replacing Harry Maguire with Raphael Verane in the starting line-up. Liverpool couldn’t cope with Man United showing a bit of fight and character as they made 106 sprints in this game.

Away days

Man Utd set a standard with their performance against Liverpool and it was significant that they continued the good form into their next game. They travelled to St Mary’s to take on Southampton at 12:30Pm on Saturday 27th August 2022. You can not afford to concede free-kicks or corners against The Saints as James Ward-Prowse is remarkable with his delivery. £70 million new signing Casemiro from Real Madrid was in Man United squad for the Southampton clash but was only brought on from the bench with 10 minutes to go. A strike from Bruno Fernandes was enough to beat Southampton 0-1 and a cool finish by Jaden Sancho meant that Man United won three consecutive games in the Premier League for the first time since December 2021.

Man United vs Arsenal

This was another test for Erik Ten Hag as The Gunners travelled to Old Trafford on Sunday 4th September 2022. Ten Hag decided to give new £86 million signing Anthony his debut against Arsenal but left Casemiro and Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. VAR Lee Mason advised referee Paul Tierney to look at Arsenal goal on the monitor and they decided to disallow the goal for a foul by Martin Odergaard on Christian Eriksen. This was a let off for the home side as in my opinion the goal should have been allowed. Arsenal were the better team with having 60% possession but Man United were affective with four counter attacks as the home side won 3-1.

Queen Elizabeth

Man United had serious momentum after winning four Premier League games in a row and were scheduled to play both Crystal Palace and Leeds United before the International break. Queen Elizabeth II sadly passed away on September 8th 2022 which meant that Crystal Palace vs Man United was postponed. It was confirmed by the Premier League on Monday 12th September 2022 that Man United vs Leeds was postponed due to lack of security with the Queen’s funeral scheduled for Monday 19th September 2022. The extended break of no Premier League games helped some teams like Brighton but it hindered Man United in my opinion.

Manchester Derby

Their trip to the Etihad was Man United’s first Premier League game in four weeks. Ten Hag picked the same team that started against Arsenal on 4th September but this game may have been best suited to the experience of Casemiro and Cristiano Ronaldo instead. With Man City not having Rodri available for this game it gave the away team a chance but their passing was shocking in attack. Man United lacked control in this game and capitulated as they were four nil behind at half time. The right side of Man United’s defence was ripped to shreds from early on as Diego Dalot received a yellow card after two minutes.

Double hat-trick

As bad as Man United played they were simply outplayed and outclassed by the home side. The gap between the two Manchester clubs is getting bigger due to arrival of Erling Haaland to the Premier League. Erling Haaland is currently given centre-half’s nightmares as he has now scored three consecutive hat-tricks at the Etihad. Man City’s fourth goal against Man Utd was simply poetry in motion and if Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland continue that partnership, City could win the Premier League by 15 to 20 points. Man United scored three goals in the second half but by then the game was over and it will take a lot for them to recover from that defeat.

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