As the Louis van Gaal era rolls slowly onwards, one reason for the Dutchman’s difficulties becomes clearer. Wayne Rooney has spoken of the Manchester United’s need to find greater balance between defence and attack, noting that the team struggles to maintain cover for its back four as soon as it pours forward.
Against Liverpool last weekend, United’s need for an elite defensive midfielder was more apparent than ever. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick were both absent but had they been playing, United would probably still have found themselves struggling against the force of Liverpool’s pressing game. Moreover, neither Schweinsteiger nor Carrick are long-term options in United’s midfield and so it makes sense for Van Gaal, tasked with the rebuilding of the squad, to turn his attention to that position.
A key feature of Liverpool’s dominance for much of that first half at Anfield was United’s consistent failure to play the ball out calmly from the back. This resulted in them sending the ball long and though De Gea’s delivery was often very good, it did not provide the team with the more patient tempo that it perhaps needs to build its very best attacks. If Van Gaal’s philosophy is to have any chance of success, he needs players who will play the ball swiftly through the middle and using Marouane Fellaini in that role does nothing to further such an aim.
The brilliance of Sergio Busquets is often overlooked to the extent that very many people would not place him anywhere near their top 10 players in the world, but a player of his ilk is what United greatly need. A possession-based game is only as good as the speed and width with which it is played, and at present United have the worst of all possible worlds: a static midfield that isn’t particularly strong at pressing and does not get ahead of the ball very much in the final third.
A deep-lying playmaker would go some way to solving these problems. When Carrick arrived at Old Trafford he was maligned by some for his lack of presence, though it must be said that he was stepping into the shirt of Roy Keane — the mood equivalent of following a hurricane with a merciful summer breeze. For all of his gifts, this is not a natural role for Morgan Schneiderlin either; the Frenchman would be a perfect foil for the new Carrick.
It is encouraging, therefore, to see United linked with Renato Sanches, the promising 18-year-old at Benfica, who has been praised by no less a demanding critic than Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid. Sanches is capable of playing either just in front of the back four or in a more advanced role and his age suggests that like Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw, he could form the cornerstone of a superb United squad for years to come.
United’s patient approach with a target like Sanches is commendable but there is presumably also some thought being put towards success in the medium term. If so, it is a surprise that there is hasn’t been more interest in a player like Christoph Kramer of Borussia Moenchengladbach, who has been one of the main reasons for his team’s impressive showing this season.
Kramer, who made a brief appearance for Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, is currently only 24 years old and has a blend of technical and physical attributes that are somewhat reminiscent of Owen Hargreaves. Yet his signature seems to be coveted by few clubs other than Napoli. Kramer is the type of player that United need as part of their midfield axis — particularly since the older statesmen in this role are beginning to tire, and because the current deputies, such as Marouane Fellaini and Daley Blind, are either not sufficiently quick in decision-making or a little too vulnerable against the press.
If the last few games have revealed anything about United, it is that for a club of their resources their squad is remarkably thin. (For example, with the greatest of respect to Ashley Young, whose work-rate in defence has been excellent, it is difficult to imagine another club as wealthy who would so often use a player with his limitations at full-back.) If United are to claim a place in the UEFA Champions League, for which they are still very much in the hunt, then they must show greater precision in the transfer market — something which, despite the riches at their disposal, they at times seem worryingly unable to do.
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