It proved a job well done for Manchester United on Friday as they overcame Melbourne Victory 4-1 in their second pre-season fixture of the summer.
The win came on the back of the Reds' 4-0 demolition of rivals Liverpool on Tuesday, making it an almost perfect start to life at United for new boss Erik ten Hag.
His side dominated most aspects of the game on Friday night and was more than worthy of their win. However, if there’s a facet of the game that he wouldn’t have enjoyed, then it would have been how easily his team were cut open for the hosts opening goal.
A precise pass was played in behind United’s defensive line which was high up the pitch, catching out Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof who made up United’s centre-back pairing. Neither have the pace to recover allowing attacker Ben Folami to latch onto the pass before sweeping the ball across goal for Christopher Ikonomidis to finish.
The sequence of play was a stark reminder of the inefficiencies of United’s current central defenders, especially from a physical point of view.
Ten Hag will obviously have ambitions to play a high defensive line consistently at United. Having one is key for pushing up the pitch, limiting space and providing players ahead with the ideal platform in which to press opponents inside their own half. But the issue is, the likes of Lindelof and Maguire have not got the right profiles for such a tactic.
Neither are the quickest, or most mobile, meaning pacey and tricky attackers enjoy success against them. Ex-United star Rio Ferdinand warned of these issues, specifically related to Maguire, when speaking on his YouTube channel back in March.
On the show, he questioned whether you can play in such a way with Maguire. “(Top teams) they play on the front foot and want to win the ball high. Therefore, you need defenders that can defend on the halfway line one v one, two v two or three v two if you want that security.
“But if you can play two v two or one v one on the halfway line, that enables you to have more bodies in the opponents’ half. Hence why teams do that, to win the ball early and be closer to the opposition goal to score goals.
“Liverpool do it tremendously well, Manchester City do it really well, Bayern do it. Three of the best teams on the planet and everyone is going that way of playing football. Can you do that with Maguire? That’s my problem, that’s my issue. His pace doesn’t allow for that, he’s always going to be looking over his shoulder.
“If I’m a quick centre-forward or a quick attacker, I would be hanging around where Harry Maguire is.”
Ten Hag has partly addressed the issue with the imminent signing of Lisandro Martinez who is more than equipped to operate under such tactics. Yet for the likes of Maguire and Lindelof, Friday’s game was a reminder that their futures in this new-look United team remain uncertain.
