Erik ten Hag is trying a new plan with Manchester United’s training in an effort to counter Liverpool, according to reports. The Reds might face something different tonight.
This comes from the Athletic. They claim that Erik ten Hag has tried something new in training in an effort to counter Liverpool.
It involves a major decision at the back – dropping Harry Maguire. Raphael Varane has been partnering Lisandro Martínez in training, with the club captain seemingly falling down the pecking order.
As United try to correct their horrendous form, it appears Ten Hag is eager to try something new.
Erik ten Hag has a new plan for Liverpool
This one does make quite a bit of sense. Varane and Martínez are almost certainly better suited to playing against Liverpool than Maguire is.
Martínez, of course, has faced criticism for a lack of physicality. He’s very small for a centre-back and both Brighton and Brentford took advantage of that when they could. We expected Darwin Nunez to seriously trouble the player – but he won’t be available.
Without Nunez, Liverpool don’t actually have a physical striker. It will almost certainly be Roberto Firmino, instead, who looks to drop deep and drift into space, rather than overpower defenders. That will make it hard for the Reds to exploit Martínez.
Thus in adding Varane, United have a quick, mobile centre-back partnership who will fancy their chances of keeping up with Liverpool’s runners. At least, they’ll fancy their chances better than Maguire would.
But the reality is that United’s problems aren’t actually at centre-back. This could help them in one way but we’d still expect Liverpool to be too smart, too fluid and too aggressive for them to handle.
Varane and Martínez are their best-possible partnership to face Liverpool, certainly – but it’s not one that should wing the game. Liverpool, at their best, win this one regardless.
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