Manchester United’s time for trial and error is over and when they next take the field, a trophy will be at stake and against them will be their city neighbours.
The Community Shield final is on August 10 and after a pre-season that gave some hope, some fear, and a lot of learnings, the time to put it to use will arrive soon.
The injuries will be the biggest talking point, alongside the returns of many internationals who have reported to Carrington after their extended holiday.
Therefore, it will be extremely difficult to predict what team Erik ten Hag selects for that game because even though a trophy is at stake, Community Shield is still only “semi-competitive” in a realistic sense.
There is, however, an increasing likelihood that the XI could have a major shock in it…
A left-field selection looming
United’s preparations for the pre-season took a major hit against Arsenal, when Rasmus Hojlund and Leny Yoro were forced off due to injuries.
Yoro is still young and United’s options in defence are a lot healthier than they are in attack, where Hojlund’s injury leaves Joshua Zirkzee as the only natural striker in the squad. Or does it?
Ten Hag spoke to the media after the defeat vs Liverpool and one thing was catching everybody’s eye, and that is the person who started up top.
Jadon Sancho started as the false nine for the second game in a row after Ten Hag repeated last pre-season’s trick and placed him at the tip of his attack.
Unfortunately, his performance was not as good as it was against Real Betis last time out, but Ten Hag insisted that he remains an option to play there now.
He said: “Yes, otherwise we wouldn’t play with him [Sancho] there [as striker]. That is what we can do if we don’t have the availability of Rasmus.
“We know he can play in wide areas, but also as a false striker, he’s an option. I think that Marcus has done it before and he can do it, and it’s definitely an option. But I think he is most productive from the left, starting wide and coming inside. So when he can arrive there, he is most effective.”
Erik ten Hag’s comment represents full-circle moment
It was during last season that Ten Hag started experimenting with Sancho as a false nine. The forward impressed enough to make fans think he could be a genuine option.
That is the theme Ten Hag has repeated in his recent comments so there’s hope again after the events of last season.
Of course, all the optimism regarding Sancho’s reinvention into a nifty false nine was torn to shreds when he fell out with Ten Hag in spectacular fashion.
Coming into this transfer window, it wasn’t even likely that he’d be still a United player at this point in August, let alone a shock inclusion in an unexpected position for their first competitive game.
Sancho has earned the trust of his teammates and the manager again. Coming up against his old team should give him plenty of confidence as well.
If he starts as a false nine vs Manchester City, as Ten Hag strongly hints at, a good performance from him will be a proper full-circle moment, both for his United career, and his whole career too.
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