Erik ten Hag in baffling tactical tweak as eight Man Utd stars appear to be asked to stop one Arsenal player
ERIK TEN HAG made a baffling tactical decision as Manchester United were beaten by Arsenal.
The tight affair at Old Trafford was settled by a first-half goal from Leandro Trossard as United failed to threaten the Gunners goal.
A patched-up Red Devils side appeared more concerned with stopping the league leaders’ threat after shipping four at Crystal Palace on Monday.
Ten Hag was seemingly fearful of one player in particular – Bukayo Saka.
So in a bid to counter the winger’s threat Ten Hag directed several players to cover Arsenal’s right flank.
The average positions of United’s players shows at least eight played towards that area of the pitch to limit Saka’s space.
Centre-back Jonny Evans played almost as wide as left-back Diogo Dalot, and supported the Portuguese in his contest with Saka throughout.
Dalot put in an impressive performance up against the England star, making five tackles as well as winning eight duels.
All three United midfielders were also called on to help their defensive team-mates in nullifying Saka’s threat.
It had the desired effect as Saka failed to assert his influence over the game, but it also had a huge unintended consequence.
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Willy Kambwala wants to become rock at the back for Man Utd... but Erik ten Hag probably won't be around to see it
By Ken Lawrence
ERIK TEN HAG insists he is still the right man to take Manchester United forward.
The Dutchman believes he can recapture their former glories, despite escaping for the second time in a row what could have been humiliation by Liverpool at the weekend.
And teen Willy Kambwala revealed his “passion” is to become a rock at the heart of United’s defence after making just his second start of the season against their bitter rivals.
United trailed 1-0 at half-time on Sunday but fought back to take a 2-1 lead before Mo Salah’s 84th-minute equaliser from the penalty spot.
Ten Hag was pleased with the second-half performance, declaring it “another signal and message for the future,” before adding, “the team and squad have high potential.”
Yet the Old Trafford chief sounds more and more like he has his finger stuck in a leaky dyke and does not think it is going to hold.
Comeback or not, United still threw away a lead for the third time in eight days following their 4-3 defeat to Chelsea and 1-1 draw with Brentford — both deep into injury time.
And his body language suggests he expects to be crossing it to go back to Holland with his P45 this summer
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Mainly, it freed up Trossard on the opposite flank to cause problems, and he did by notching the winner.
Despite that, the tactic had the positive of limiting shots against the United goal – a key area of concern over the last few weeks.