Manchester United fired a warning shot to their age-old adversaries and upcoming opponents Liverpool on Thursday night by blowing Roma away with a blistering display of attacking football at Old Trafford.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s side were staring down the barrel of yet another semi-final defeat as they trailed the Serie A side 2-1 at half-time in the first leg of their Europa League tie.
However, they turned on the style in the second half, scoring five unanswered goals to all but secure their place in the final in Gdansk in four weeks time.
Bruno Fernandes’ output has dipped in the Premier League of late but he was involved in four of the goals, scoring two and assisting two. The timeless Edinson Cavani also underlined his importance to the side as the season edges towards its conclusion.
It was a world away from United’s insipid display in one of the more forgettable Premier League matches of the season against Leeds last time out and Jurgen Klopp will be wary of facing a team with its tails up given the deflating manner of Liverpool’s draw with Newcastle in their previous fixture.
Not only did United thrash Roma, they also emerged from the game unscathed with Solskjaer confirming on Friday morning that he had no fresh injury concerns. Anthony Martial is the only absent first-teamer, with a knee injury expected to keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Goalkeeper reshuffle
There was little that David De Gea could do to prevent Roma’s goals on Thursday, with Lorenzo Pellegrini beating him from the penalty spot and Edin Dzeko tapping into an empty net from a cut-back.
Nevertheless, Dean Henderson has performed well in the Premier League, keeping four clean sheets in seven matches since dislodging De Gea from the starting line-up in March and he is in line to return on Sunday.
Although the goalkeepers are subject to rotation, the back four in front of them is settled with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw both impressing on the flanks and Harry Maguire partnered by Victor Lindelof in the middle.
The individual match-up between the Premier League’s most creative defender this season in Shaw and the Premier League’s second-most creative defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold, provides an intriguing sub-plot to Sunday’s game.
Pogba’s new role
Paul Pogba‘s return to form has coincided with a change in role with Solskjaer deploying him off the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 system, alleviating him of more functional responsibilities when occupying a deeper, more central role in the team.
The great myth when it comes to Pogba is that he is a deep-lying playmaker type: he is well capable of playing sumptuous, long-range passes that snake through the air before reaching their intended target, but he struggles when tasked with the responsibility of dictating the tempo of a match.
At Juventus, Pogba generally played in a box-to-box role in a midfield diamond with Andrea Pirlo acting as the creative pivot from deep and his entire senior international career has been spent playing for Didier Deschamps, a reactive rather than proactive manager who favours a counter-attacking style to patient possession play.
Solskjaer deserves credit, therefore, for finding a solution to the Pogba conundrum. Besides scoring a thumping header against Roma on Thursday, Pogba has contributed three assists in his previous four starts from his new role against Tottenham, Granada and Burnley. His inclination to move infield has also left space out wide for Shaw to exploit.
Greenwood or Cavani?
Mason Greenwood was left on the substitutes bench in midweek but offered a reminder of his qualities by coming off the bench to score the final goal – his sixth in his last eight appearances. Given his form, the 19-year-old will be pushing for a starting place against Liverpool, either out wide or through the middle.
Cavani’s exploits in midweek make him hard to drop and with the Europa League tie against Roma all but wrapped up, Solskjaer may decide to play him against Liverpool with a view to resting him for the return leg in Italy on Thursday night.
With Fernandes’ place in the No 10 role assured, that leaves Marcus Rashford as the odd one out and while dropping him may seem unthinkable given his importance to United during the Solskjaer era, he has been playing through injury recently and his form has suffered as a result.
Rashford is also far less effective on the right wing than Greenwood and Solskjaer may opt to unleash the England international as a second-half substitute should United need additional firepower to break Liverpool down, rather than start him out-of-position.
Man Utd’s predicted line up (4-2-3-1): Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Greenwood, Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani
Follow i sport on Facebook for more Man Utd news, interviews and features
More on Man Utd
- Big players need to step up or Ole will go the same way as McGuinness
- The making of the Man Utd star who never forgot his roots
- New signing ‘plays like Messi’ – and could be perfect fit for Solskjaer’s system
- Why United are prepared to play the long-game in pursuit of Sancho
- Kevin Garside: Well done to Chadwick for reminding us all to be kind
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3aTpRoD
Post a Comment