Manchester United travel to the capital to face Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Following in the footsteps of his compatriot Louis van Gaal, Erik ten Hag lost his maiden Premier League match at Old Trafford. Van Gaal managed only a draw against Sunderland the following weekend but no Manchester United team has begun the season with consecutive defeats since 1992.
Here’s the XI Ten Hag may deploy to avoid the club’s worst start in three decades.
A “half-fit” Cristiano Ronaldo should be starting for Manchester United. True? 🤨
— 90min (@90min_Football) August 10, 2022
GK: David de Gea – The only clean sheet in De Gea’s last 13 appearances for Manchester United came against Brentford.
RB: Diogo Dalot – Statistically the most similar player to the Manchester United fullback is Chelsea’s freshly recruited Marc Cucurella (per StatsBomb), although it’s unlikely Dalot would also command a £62m transfer fee.
CB: Harry Maguire – Manchester United’s captain stressed that Brighton’s early goal “knocked us back really badly” – which appears to be a recurring theme. United have only won two of the last 19 matches in which they’ve fallen behind.
CB: Lisandro Martinez – A hardly convincing debut could have been made even worse had Martinez’s blatant shove in the back of Danny Welbeck been spotted by the referee or any of his assistants (video or otherwise).
LB: Luke Shaw – Back in July, Shaw insisted that Manchester United will have a clear playing structure for the “first time in a while” under Ten Hag. That assertion wasn’t readily apparent during the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last weekend.
CM: Fred – Ten Hag described Fred’s current role within the team as the “connector” from defence to attack.
CM: Christian Eriksen – The Dane failed to replicate the success Dusan Tadic enjoyed through the middle under Ten Hag at Ajax and may well be shifted further back for his return to Brentford just months after leaving the Londoners.
RW: Jadon Sancho – Brentford’s towering – but not technically renowned – centre-back Kristoffer Ajer racked up as many assists as Sancho last season (three).
AM: Bruno Fernandes – The only goal Fernandes has scored in his last ten Premier League appearances was the opener against Brentford in May.
LW: Marcus Rashford – The Manchester-born forward found the net on his only previous visit to Brentford’s bus stop in Hounslow.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo – Ten Hag admitted post-match that Manchester United were “better” in the second half with Ronaldo up front. If Anthony Martial remains unavailable with a hamstring complaint, the Dutchman may be forced into fielding the wantaway 37-year-old from the first whistle.