The back pages have been dominated by rumours of Louis van Gaal’s imminent departure, and the mounting pressure will surely make this weekend’s trip to Stoke a tense, nervy affair. Confidence and – perhaps – work rate has slowly drained from Manchester United players in recent weeks, but some of their flat-footed defending can be attributed to the low-tempo, possession-centric philosophy of the manager. It is this aspect of their game that should worry the fans on Boxing Day, with Stoke’s exciting front three capable of dominating the spaces between United’s midfield pair.
For the third consecutive match, Van Gaal fielded Marouane Fellaini while overlooking Morgan Schneiderlin in the 2-1 defeat at home to Norwich. Fellaini’s positional play – drifting up and down the pitch entirely out of sync with his midfield partner – typifies the attitude and incoherence that has plagued United of late, and yet he is highly likely to start again this weekend with Bastian Schweinsteiger suspended for his final game.
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Michael Carrick has looked similarly slow, leading to a flimsy central midfield that opponents from Wolfsburg to Norwich are drifting through easily on the counter-attack; Fellaini failed to make a single tackle or interception against Norwich, and they made just three between them at Wolfsburg.
Bojangles
Stoke will be confident they can exploit this area, given that three of the last five goals United have conceded came via attacks built down the centre of the pitch. Mark Hughes’s team may have only mustered seven goals in their last 10 league games, but in their narrow and fluid three of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, they are capable of overloading that central zone.
The pattern of this match could follow Stoke’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City in early December, when these three players created a combined five chances, and 13 take-ons.
Built on strength and tightly compact bodies at the back, the Potters are capable of nullifying United’s timid attacks fairly comfortably. If Shaqiri and company are at their best, expect the ambling Fellaini and Carrick to be overrun once again.
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