Man Utd can solve obvious midfield problem by swooping in for Liverpool transfer target

Many of Manchester United’s ongoing issues were clear to see in Thursday night’s 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea.

The visitors were thoroughly dominant for large periods of the game, especially in the first half and could have been out of sight by the break had David De Gea not been in inspired form.

Chelsea did finally find a way past De Gea early in the second half thanks to a sweetly struck Marco Alonso volley, however Cristiano Ronaldo again came to United’s rescue two minutes later with a thumping strike of his own to draw the game level.

Although the draw looked like a decent result on paper for United, the performances of both sides were very different. Chelsea dominated much of the ball and territory, while United were often penned into their own half, rarely able to establish prolonged periods in possession.

A big cause of their issues was down to the lack of technical quality they had in the middle of the pitch. On the night Ralf Rangnick lined his side up in a 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot of Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.

Both players are better destroyers than creators, meaning when United did win possession, they’d often skip the pass into the midfield and instead go direct. That point is captured by the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo was the target of more passes than any other United player (59). McTominay (30) and Matic (29) ranked fifth and sixth in this area on the night.

It was a complete contrast for Chelsea who’d often utilise midfielder Jorginho as a key cog in their build up play and only two Chelsea players were the target of passes more than the Italian on the night (66).

The problem United have in terms of lacking a midfield profile capable of orchestrating their build-up play is a big one,