The Times - UK (2021-12-06)

Gregor Robertson

visits ???????????????

TONY

CASCARINO

Weekend talking points

It’s early days, so I could end up

looking silly for saying this, but

Steven Gerrard appears to be the best

head coach of the generation of top

players he came from. In only four

games with Aston Villa, he has

succeeded in making his team an

expression of his character and

personality. Villa play the way he did

— they get the ball forward quickly,

and they are direct and energetic. It

is a real skill to make a team a

reflection of the way you are — the

most obvious example of someone

who has done that is Sir Alex

Ferguson.

I’ve not met Steven but I know

some people who know him well and

they all say that he carries himself

brilliantly. He is humble but he

commands respect, and his players at

Villa will know that he has a ruthless

side. He’s not going to be doing knee

slides or going crazy on the touchline,

it’s all much more controlled than

that, but equally he’s not there to be

friends with his players. Villa fans

should be excited about what they

have, and I don’t expect him to be the

sort of guy who has a bit of success

and then gets political about trying to

get a bigger job.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

4-2-3-1 E Martínez

Aston Villa

E Konsa

Villa

E Dier

Tottenham

B Silva

Man City

Fred

Man Utd

H Son

Tottenham

L Moura

Tottenham

B Davies

Tottenham

J Manquillo

Newcastle

N Maupay

Brighton

J Bowen

W Ham

Brighton rewarded

for faith in Maupay

Gerrard’s impact suggests he can

be best manager of his generation

Last week I said that Graham

Potter should show more faith

in Neal Maupay. Instead of always

taking him off when Brighton &

Hove Albion were desperate for a

goal, boost his confidence by

keeping him on. Since I wrote that,

Maupay has scored equalising goals

for his team in the dying seconds of

two matches, against West Ham

United and Southampton. He may

still miss a few — all strikers do —

but he is by far the best option that

Brighton have.

Guardiola pulls

joker out of pack

It has got to the stage where I

wonder if Pep Guardiola is

deliberately mocking the rest of the

Premier League with his selections.

If you’d have asked Claudio Ranieri

on Friday who he would have

expected to be playing as centre

forward for Manchester City against

his Watford side, he wouldn’t have

said Jack Grealish. It’s got to the

point where Guardiola is giving

himself a laugh with the possibilities

available to him. On Saturday his

two full backs were much more

reserved, where usually they are

constantly up and down the pitch.

You never know what Guardiola

is going to do. Nobody else thinks

the way he does, and even if there

have been a few big games —

especially in Europe — in which

his experiments have failed, it’s

fantastic to have a manager who is

so original. What lies behind all of

it is the technical quality his players

have — it’s similar to the idea that

Dutch football was based on in the

1970s, when Guardiola’s hero Johan

Cruyff was playing.

Improving Fred not

at Rodri’s level... yet

It’s funny that Fred got the

winner for Manchester United

because I’ve been wondering if he

may have a better chance at Old

Trafford under Ralf Rangnick. He’s a

player who should be asked to keep

things simple — win the ball, move it

on, be aggressive without the ball, let

others try the outrageous things. If he

has clear instructions, he can get

close to doing what Rodri does for

Manchester City. He’s not at Rodri’s

level, but not many players are, and

Fred has plenty of room to improve.

4 1GG Monday December 6 2021 | the times

thegame

ON THE TOUCHLINE
One thing that quickly became
apparent yesterday was the increased
influence of Darren Fletcher, the
technical director. For most of Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as manager,
Fletcher watched matches from the
directors’ box but the former
Manchester United midfielder played
a prominent role in the dugout and in
the technical area, where he gave
orders and encouragement to Fred
and Scott McTominay.
The 37-year-old also played a key
role in the build-up to the match,
taking training at United’s Carrington
training base on Saturday. It will be
interesting to see how much influence
Fletcher retains. If, as expected, Ralf
Rangnick brings in three coaches of
his own, it is likely that Fletcher will
return to the directors’ box.
His role as technical director is to
develop a “co-ordinated and long-
term approach to player and squad
development”. Unlike his predecessor,
Rangnick spent much of the match
on the sidelines. He rarely gave
orders, however, and chose mainly to
observe with his hands in his pockets.
The only time that Rangnick showed
his dissatisfaction was on a couple of
occasions when Diogo Dalot and
Bruno Fernandes passed the ball
backwards. Rangnick has made clear
to his players that they should go
forwards whenever possible.

A NEW FORMATION
For most of Solskjaer’s reign United
played 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, but yesterday
the team lined up in a different
formation, 4-2-2-2. Rangnick has used
this shape with RB Leipzig, as have

many of his coaching disciples, such

as Ralph Hassenhüttl, who adopted

the system to good effect in

Southampton’s 0-0 draw away to

Manchester City in September.

United played with a flat back four,

with Fred and McTominay screening

the defence. Jadon Sancho and

Fernandes played as narrow wingers,

or “the two No 10 positions”, as

Rangnick described them after the

match, while Marcus Rashford

partnered Cristiano Ronaldo up front.

Rashford and Ronaldo pressed the

Crystal Palace centre backs, while

Fernandes and Sancho concentrated

on the full backs. Ronaldo has not

exactly been the most keen presser in

the United team this season but

yesterday he harried the Crystal

Palace defenders and even in the 94th

minute the 36-year-old Portugal star

was tracking back into the left-back

area.

The change in formation made

United a far more solid unit. When

Alex Telles and Dalot burst forward,

as they did on many occasions,

McTominay and Fred provided cover

for Harry Maguire and Victor

Lindelof.

is the second-highest tally of the

season, after his second debut against

Newcastle United. Interestingly, five

of those passes came from Telles and

four from Dalot. In Solskjaer’s final

match, against Watford, Ronaldo’s

team-mates passed to him only 25

times. Ronaldo failed to find the net,

but overall he played well and his

work rate off the ball was appreciated

by his manager.

was at the heart of most of United’s

attacking moves. It became clear

fairly quickly that United’s full backs

and creative midfielders had been told

to find Ronaldo early. Rather than

waste time trying to navigate through

a packed midfield, many high passes

were delivered to the forward, which

makes sense given how good he is in

the air.

Ronaldo received 37 passes, which

New shape, more crosses

• and no shirking stars

PAU L

HIRST

At Old Trafford

McTominay and Fred were two of

United’s best players. Their high

energy levels and willingness to press

high up the pitch will endear them to

their new manager. The pair’s efforts

were key in preventing Palace from

initiating counterattacks.

FLYING FULL BACKS

A penny for the thoughts of Aaron

Wan-Bissaka as he sat on the bench

watching his former club come to Old

Trafford. The United right back has

played poorly on a number of

occasions this season and yesterday

he found himself in the news pages of

a tabloid newspaper after being

filmed at a party where friends were

inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons.

There is no suggestion that

Wan-Bissaka inhaled himself. Dalot,

22, started ahead of the former Palace

player, who has been suffering from a

hand injury of late. Dalot was one of

United’s best performers, as was the

case on Thursday in the 3-2 win over

Arsenal. Wilfried Zaha beat Dalot on

one occasion down Palace’s left wing,

but otherwise the Portugal

international looked solid. That was

the case with Telles, the left back, too.

Telles, starting ahead of the injured

Luke Shaw, made 11 tackles and

interceptions, which was more than

any other player.

In attack, Dalot and Telles used the

freedom given to them by their

manager to get forward and fire

crosses into the area. In the 40th

minute, Telles swung over a pinpoint

cross for Ronaldo. Dalot also

delivered accurate crosses with his

right foot and left. The right back was

involved in the build-up to the only

goal, driving into the area before

laying the ball off to Mason

Greenwood, who teed up Fred.

HIT RONALDO EARLY

Many have suggested that Ronaldo

will become a peripheral figure under

Rangnick but yesterday seemed to

prove otherwise. The Portugal striker

HOTTER ON THE PRESS

Ralf Rangnick’s impact on United was

laid bare by their performance in

several key areas that indicate how

much and how successfully a team

have pressured their opponents in

possession of the ball.

Here is where they ranked yesterday

against their seven previous home

games this season.

Rank in United homes games this

season

Times winning possession ........... 60 (1st)

Times winning possession in attacking

third of pitch........................................... 12 (1st)

Successful tackles made ................ 24 (1st)

Pressed sequences (times they

pressed opponents

as a group) ........................................... 18 (2nd)

SEBASTIAN FREJ/MB MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES

Ronaldo gets

a hug from

Rangnick after

a winning start

under the new

interim boss