After a positive pre-season, the real business begins for Erik ten Hag on Sunday as Manchester United host Brighton at Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.The Dutchman has made an impressive start to life at the Theatre of Dreams and the players have responded well to his methods, with the squad showing positive early signs that they can implement Ten Hag’s philosophy.
But the real test comes on Sunday as Ten Hag pits his wits against Graham Potter’s side at Old Trafford and the former Ajax boss has a number of decisions to make as he looks to make a winning start to life at the club.Ten Hag has trialled a number of different systems and selections in pre-season and given Brighton’s strength in possession, he has a number of difficult decisions to make when selecting his starting XI and formation.With that in mind, Metro.co.uk’s selected three different ways the Dutchman may line his side up against the Seagulls.
Ten Hag has, more often than not, played a 4-2-3-1 system on United’s pre-season tour. The system allows United to press high, with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford able to pin their full-backs back when out of possession while Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot can do the same to the opposition’s wingers.
While the pairing of Fred and Scott McTominay in midfield often garnered groans from supporters last season, their duties are different under Ten Hag and they’re not asked to sit in the same fashion that they did under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.In defence, Ten Hag has – perhaps surprisingly – suggested that Harry Maguire is his first choice defender and he has decided to retain the England star as club captain.