Man United beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in their third pre-season friendly and after this match, it’s safe to say that Erik ten Hag has been somewhat successful in instilling a new brand of football.
Last season, the Manchester United players looked completely out of sorts and out of ideas but under their new manager, they have a very clear plan. They are playing a high-pressing style of football and unlike last the previous campaign, all the 11 on-field players are operating as a cohesive unit.
Under Ole and Rangnick, one or maybe two players would try and squeeze the opponents but they would eventually give up because there would be no support from their teammates. However, during this pre-season, the Man United players are playing and pressing collectively and according to Bruno Fernandes, this is a clear instruction from the new manager.
“We’ve been most aggressive now,” he told MUTV after the game(h/t MEN).
“The three guys up front have been aggressive when they pressed, it’s been strong, it’s made the last line squeeze, the midfielders too and when we turn over the ball we’re closer to the goal. We have freedom, there’s lots of spaces in the middle and we’re better on the ball too.
This 😍 pic.twitter.com/CwO2QS91ad
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 19, 2022
“We feel good, the results help on that, playing good football a lot of things to improve yet but we’ll have time to do that and be ready for the first game of the season.”
Can Man United maintain the same rhythm with Cristiano Ronaldo upfront?
Erik ten Hag has been using Martial, Sancho and Marcus Rashford as his primary front-three but once the 22/23 season starts, Cristiano Ronaldo is going to come into the side.
And there are major doubts if CR7 will be able to play this high-intensity style of football at the ripe age of 37.
He’s lost most of his pace and over the years, Ronaldo has become more of a poacher inside the box and with the little pace that he has, he usually reserves it for the crucial moments.
However, under the new Man United, the players will have to keep the intensity up for the whole 90 minutes and we are not sure if an ageing Cristiano Ronaldo will be able to achieve that.
On the flip side, it will be really hard for Ten Hag to keep a player like him on the bench but by using him, the manager is surely going to hamper his long-term project at the club. Yes, he is going to score 18 to 20 goals but in order to achieve that, the ex-Ajax manager will have to renounce his game plan.
Teams like Manchester City and Liverpool press the opponents in perfect unison and even if one player is out of sync, this style won’t work(as seen under Ralf Rangnick last season).
Erik ten Hag has made it clear that Cristiano Ronaldo features in his plans for the next season but if Man United are to play a modern and attractive brand of football then the manager will have to make sure that Ronaldo is willing to be a team player and is ready to embody the heavy-metal brand of football.
