Manchester United’s focus appears on the front and back lines ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window, but The 3–1 defeat to Leicester City in the FA Cup last weekend showed that they needed an immediate upgrade in the middle of the park.
Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho, and Center-Bench reported interest in abundance Ed Woodward and Ole Gunnar Sölskjer are prioritizing three positions that United fans have long considered weak.
And yet in the absence of Paul Pogba through February, it has gradually become clear that his midfield options beyond the French are not enough to mount a title challenge next season.
Pogba is widely expected to leave this summer or so, and it would be naive to trust a player who has not gone on a hot streak since the middle of the 2018-19 season.
The Leicester game was the final confirmation of the problem at hand, not only because Fred Fox was directly at fault for two goals, as Brendan Rodgers’ midfield pair of Wilfred Nadidi and Yuri Tielemans actually missed Solskar for his team. did not do.
Leicester’s second goal captured the contrast between the teams’ midfields. It is worth looking back.
The Tielemans jointly raised the ball in a relatively harmless position inside the half, his head swiftly assessing what lay around him as he passed through the visitors’ defensive lines; This is the first action you will not see from Fred, Nimanja Matic, Donnie van de Beek or Scott McTommen.
He takes a touch to control the ball and, with Matic quickly closing it, it rounds the corner for Kelichi Ihnacho and in a fluid, line-breaking movement typical of Leicester’s verticality under the Rodgers United rotates behind the midfielder.
As he retrieves the ball from Ihnacho, the pitch opens to Tieleman, who ghosts a flat-footed Fred and shoots into the far corner.
Here, we see hesitation, situational indiscipline, and disconnection of Solskar’s midfield. We also see the value of a driving box-to-box midfielder – who is capable of making and scoring anywhere.
A statistical comparison of Tielemans and Fred – United’s best box-to-box midfielders – reveals the differences between the two players.
According to WyScout, more than Fred (1.92 compared to 1.92), dribble (2.22 to 1.42), penalty area (2.55 to 1.34) and ‘smart pass (1.53 to 0.73) through Tieleman balls per 90 minutes. Reaches, which measures “a constructive and penetrating pass that attempts to break the opposition’s defensive lines to gain significant advantage in the attack”.
The Tielemans almost doubled Fred’s tally for ‘Deep Complications’ (0.93 to 0.5), a measure of targeted passes within the 20-meter target, and scored six Premier League goals. United’s five Central midfielders have scored just eight between them, and four of them were scored by Pogba.
Tactically, Solskizer needs a piercing midfielder like Tieleman more than most managers.
United are widely renowned for playing without a coherent attacking structure, their game-plan lacking elaborate rhythms to the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola or Thomas Tuchel.
Solskjer advocates an improvisational approach. This explains why they trust the personality of Bruno Fernandes, and why their matches appear to drift so often as players move carelessly and without a clear purpose.
United likes to create a low-tempo game built on a solid basis, before relying on ‘moments’ to win the match, and so they suffer from sluggish performances until individuals can sprint the game to life.
In other words, the Tielmans’ fast forward passes and quick turns – such as one-two forwards from their second goal – are needed to stop United’s football game at Old Trafford.
Currently, things are often locked in the middle of the park side by side with Fred or Matic Look, slowing the tempo. For those hoping for van de Beek’s solution, the Dutch international is better at touching the pitch at a higher level. He is more of Dele Alli than the Tielemans.
United can also do with a new defensive midfielder in the NDD mold, and not only because Leicester’s Nigeria international is a clear statistical upgrade they already have.
Destroyers like Nidi are an important part of dominating the occupation and, therefore, keep the opponent under constant pressure.
Again, the drift problem that affects Sölskjer’s strategy will be partially solved if they have a more effective tackle and possession referee, which can help to move the ball forward by breaking the counterattack.
This is exactly what happened in Liverpool when Fabinho joined the club.
Klopp’s side struggled to maintain their tempo or return the other team, which also led to matches regionally and often dropped points – until Fabinho joined the club and was relegated to a relentless machine. Changed.
Liverpool have split up in 2020-21 without their usual role proving to be a matter with Fabinho.
It would be a mistake for United to focus only on star players in the defensive and attacking lines this summer.
For Solskar’s broad-stroke tactical system to work, and jointly create opportunities to score goals consistently throughout the campaign, they need upgrades in the middle of the park.
Ndidi and Tielemans would be the perfect pair.
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