Darwin Nunez suspension eliminates big Erik ten Hag worry ahead of Man United vs Liverpool FC

The issue of height in Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United team has been well covered over the last fortnight.

Ben Mee out-jumping new signing Lisandro Martinez to head home Brentford’s third on Saturday made this shortfall obvious, and it’s something that Brighton also exposed. Fans have questioned whether the stature of 5ft 9in Martinez would be an issue in the Premier League.

Jamie Carragher thinks it is and highlighted how Brentford and Brighton exposed the Argentina international. Speaking on Sky Sports, he detailed that both teams opted to play long passes forward far more frequently than normal.

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For each, around 21 per cent of their passes against United were long balls. For context, Brighton’s average long-ball distribution last season was 12 per cent, and Brentford’s was 16 per cent.

In fact, in Brighton’s case, it was the second-highest proportion of long balls they had produced in a single match since the start of last season. It’s clearly an area teams will look to exploit.

United play Liverpool on Monday and the hosts would have been fearful of Darwin Nunez’s aerial abilities. But his red card for violent conduct in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace effectively rules out any direct over-the-top play.

Roberto Firmino may return from injury in time for the match but he is nowhere near as powerful in the air as Nunez. In fact, none of Liverpool’s attackers are.

Carragher suggested that both they and Manchester City are likely to be the only Premier League teams not to look for direct balls when Martinez is at centre-back.

Ten Hag will have to deal with a new kind of threat not yet faced as United boss, but it may play into his hands. Stopping balls