After a disastrous last season under both Ole and Ralf Rangnick, Manutd fans will surely hope to bring the glory days back to Old Trafford under one of the most decorated modern day manager, the dutch man Erik Ten Hag.
Although they showed glimpse of trademark Ten Hag football in the pre-season, Manchester United will definitely have a tough season if they fail to bring in Ten Hag's primary and main target for technical and clinical midfielder, Frenkie De Jong. The transfer of De Jong has dragged on for 3 months now, owing to the dutch man insistence of not leaving the Camp Nou.
United has been linked with several midfielders in that position but Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has reiterated that he would rather bring the right players in than bringing just any player.
With the signing of highly rated Argentine Center Back Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia, Manchester United have definitely strengthened and reinforce their defences this season. According to pundits and analysts United has to do more in the defence department, in the position of a quality no.2 which Wan Bissaka and Dalot have not proven to be modern no.2.
Though Lisandro was sometimes used in Midfield by Ten hag before at Ajax, it is pretty clear that the manager prefers him as a centre back. However, the right back situation still hasn’t changed with Dalot being the only viable option for Erik ten hags tactics.
Midfield and attack remains a major source of concern for the club. After releasing Pogba, Matic, Mata, Cavani, Lingard, the club only managed to recruit 30 year old Christian Eriksen in the midfield. Whether they manage to bring more midfielders and attackers by the end of the transfer window is remained to be seen. Although several sources have confirmed that the club are still in the market for forwards such as Benjamin Sesko and Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de jong.
Having released so many players this transfer window, Manchester United fans definitely expected their newly appointed directors John Murtough and Richard Arnold to be more active and efficient in the transfer market. But the board has let the fans down yet again if they do not manage to pull off a miracle in the last 3 weeks of transfer window.
Erik ten hag is expected to play a 4-2-3-1 formation with the current squad. Shaw and Malacia will probably rotate throughout the season while Malacia will try to cement his position as the permanent Left back by the end of the season. Plenty of rotation between Varane, Lisandro, Maguire, Lindelof, Bailly is also expected to see throughout the season. But the right back options are very limited for the Dutch manager with only Dalot, and Wan bissaka not been able to be upto the mark.
In midfield, Manchester United fans might have to go through the pain of watching Mc Tominay and Fred for yet another season if they fail to bring in any holding midfielder, with Bruno, Eriksen and Van de beek as the attacking midfielder option.
Jadon Sancho is tipped to have the season of his career this season, after having a tremendous pre season campaign. The winger might finally break all the shackles and flourish with the freedom he gets under the new manager.
Up top, Manutd only have Cristiano who is desperate to leave the club and a revujenated Anthony Martial. However, Martial has already faced a setback with a mild hamstring injury. So the dutch manager will be forced to start with Cristiano or Rashford as the striker.
Manchester United, still far off from the quality of Pep guardiola's Man City or Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool, will be hoping to finish in top 4 with improvement in their style of play under Ten hag this season. But it still depends on how their board act in the transfer window and back Erik ten hag properly while most of their competitors such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have managed to strengthen their squad better than the red side of Manchester.
Credit: Football and Witball