Many Manchester United fans were surprised when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer changed the shape of the team on Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United defeated Tottenham away from home and kept a clean sheet thanks to the tweak that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made.
Manchester United played a 3-5-2 formation against Tottenham and it helped them, but there is no formation in football without weaknesses.
The 3-5-2 formation gives Manchester United much-needed cover at the back and helps them become a more stable team with and without the ball.
The 3-5-2 formation brings about some issues for different teams based on the type of players available.
With the profile of players that United have, here are two problems that they will encounter with the 3-5-2 system.
1| Central Midfield Problem
Chelsea and Inter Milan (under Antonio Conte) played this system and they had fantastic central midfielders. Central Midfield is one of Manchester United’s weakest positions.
They have Fred and Scott McTominay as starters in that position, and those two are simply not good enough. In a 3-5-2 system, the need for a traditional defensive midfielder is not high.
A side that plays 3-5-2 needs central midfielders that can dominate games. Sadly, Fred and Scott McTominay are not midfielders like that.
Chelsea have Kovacic, Jorginho, N’golo Kante, all three midfielders are world-class talents.
If Manchester United want to make the 3-5-2 formation work for a long time, they need better central midfielders.
2- Manchester United Will Also face Low Blocks And Wing-backs Problem
Chelsea’s match against Newcastle yesterday offers a much-needed perspective for this point.
With the 3-5-2 system, the team will be sacrificing wingers for wing-backs.
Playing the 3-5-2 system gives so much control to the midfielders that it will cause some oppositions to go into a low-block in other to defend better.
That is where wing-backs come in. Chelsea have one of the best wing-backs in the world in Marcos Alonso.
Chilwell and James have scored more than 6 goals for Chelsea this season. On Saturday, when Chelsea’s main attacking players couldn’t open the game up, Reece James (a wing-back) scored a brace and that opened up Newcastle.
Manchester United have Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw. Both players have very low output and that will affect the team. Luke Shaw has only scored 2 Premier League goals in his career. Wan-Bissaka also has just 2 PL goals in over 120 PL appearances.
Manchester United will need attacking wing-backs that can always contribute to the attack and also have the stamina to help out defensively.
These are some problems that Manchester United will experience if they decide to stick with the 3-5-2 system, However, they can solve these problems by signing better players in the transfer window.
Also Read: Ole “Conte” Solskjaer Turns Up For Manchester United
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