Manchester United v Leicester City: Five things to look out for

I have picked out five areas of interest for Man United as we approach our game vs Leicester City.

1. Falcao – Will he start finding the back of the net?

For a man with a reputation for his predatory instincts in front of goal, it is safe to say that Radamel Falcao has been disappointing with his goal return. The whole of world football were happy to see Falcao return from injury and playing for an elite team respectively. However, it just hasn’t happened for him quite yet. On his return from the anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in January 2014, he was just beginning to find his form and unfortunately after he scored his first goal against Everton, he suffered a calf injury which disrupted his game time and also confidence.

Since his latest return from injury, he has been unlucky not to find himself on the score sheet more often. His movement has been fantastic and I have been particularly impressed with the way in which he is able to find pockets between opposition centre backs and find space between the goalkeeper and the defence consistently. It is something we have missed at Man United since Robin van Persie in 2012/2013 season. Against Queens Park Rangers, this happened many times and he was unfortunate not to get on the score-sheet, after being denied by a fantastic save from Robert Green and denied a second time by Steven Caulker who was able to manoeuvre the ball away from Falcao’s path from what looked a certain goal.

I think it is important at this stage that we are seeing Falcao creating opportunities by his intuition because it is one element that could have easily diminished after suffering serious injuries. Whilst he may well have the intelligence to make certain runs, the injury could have easily prevented him from making them.

Now he has had a consistent run in the team, starting with the game against Leicester City on Saturday, Falcao must start capitalising on the chances that come his way and bulldoze his way into becoming the focal point of the team, especially with the cloud of doubt surrounding van Persie’s position in the team after his comments this week regarding whether he will be offered a new contract from the United hierarchy.

2. “Four-Four-Two! Four-Four-Two!” Will Louis van Gaal revert to a back four against Leicester City?

Despite the obvious deficiencies in our attacking play, lack of fluidity in midfield, the over cautiousness of our defence whilst on the ball and statistics showing that we have earned less points with a three man defence in comparison to four at the back EVEN THOUGH we’ve had more possession in games and conceded less goals, Louis van Gaal is adamant that 3-5-2 is the way he shall set the team up.

My main criticism of playing a 3-5-2 formation is that it may well give a team a larger percentage of possession in a game but it stifles a team from creating goal scoring opportunities. Opponents know that they can drop off our defence whenever we are beginning an attack because they will not do anything productive with the ball except recycle it a few times between midfield, thus allowing opponents to get back into defensive shape, which then leads to us playing a long ball as there are no openings.It has happened all too often this season, none more so as frustratingly against Southampton at home and Queens Park Rangers away. I suspect that Leicester City will also prepare their team similarly as the aforementioned teams.

We now have players who have returned from injury which allow us to play either a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) formation. It makes far more sense to go into a game in one of those shapes and lead a game, and then revert to 3-5-2 to provide defensive solidarity and then hit teams on the break as they attack more, than to go into a game extra cautious and then change to an attacking formation late into the game, where we are more susceptible on the break to concede or may well be losing anyway!

3. Will Louis van Gaal persist with playing Angel Di Maria in the Arjen Robben World Cup Role?

Playing Angel di Maria up front as a striker has not quite worked for van Gaal, but why is he insistent on playing a world class forward in Wayne Rooney in midfield and a world class midfielder in Di Maria as a striker? Simple; pace or rather the lack of pace and incisiveness in the final third.

When questioned specifically on the change of roles, van Gaal said, “I tried him (Di Maria) as a striker as we needed pace in that position. We must stretch the pitch.” He then said, “Then you make the pitch bigger, your midfielders can play in a bigger space and play a better positional game.”

It is van Gaal’s wish of “making the pitch bigger” that strikes me as to why he plays Di Maria as a striker. Angel Di Maria has the pace but he lacks the natural positional sense of a striker and looks terribly lost when occupying areas in and around the opposition’s box, especially with his back to goal. I believe that by playing Di Maria as a winger or even in a narrow midfield diamond, it would allow van Gaal to use Di Maria’s pace to expose space behind an opposition’s team out wide and pull a defence out of shape. It is in these areas where Di Maria is particularly able to damage teams like he did so emphatically against Leicester City away earlier on in the season.

Hopefully we see Di Maria playing in one of his natural midfield positions where he would be able to provide more of a threat to Leicester City with his incisive passing, mazy runs from deep and his underrated work rate in pressing the opposition.

4. Will Ander Herrera start against Leicester?

For whatever reason, Ander Herrera is struggling to cement a position in Louis van Gaal’s starting line-up. There have been rumours of Herrera missing physiotherapy sessions and van Gaal is punishing him by not playing. Also, van Gaal may well have taken Herrera out of the spotlight of the starting eleven in light of the match fixing scandal surrounding Herrera, in which he has now been cleared of any wrong doing.

But it has now got to the stage where we are in desperate need of Herrera’s ability in the middle of the park. He simply offers more than what any of our other midfielders provide and most importantly, it is of high quality. Whenever Herrera plays, the tempo of our game drastically increases with his incisive and direct passing, and his pressing of opponents. He also has the natural ability of creating space for himself effortlessly and it is this intelligencewe are in need of. Herrera is a midfielder who can affect a game going forward as he naturally brings other players into the game but he also does not neglect his defensive duties.

If Herrera was to start against Leicester, the pace and quality of our attacks would improve with his quick snappy passing and it would allow Van Gaal to play Di Maria in midfield and Rooney back in his best position as a forward. Also, by playing Herrera, the defenders would have an outlet to pass to who would not automatically return the ball to them; Herrera’s game is all about playing the ball forward and not being afraid to take a risk with his passing, something of which we have missed. Simply put, Herrera NEEDS to start!

5. Will we see any new acquisitions in the last couple days of the transfer window?

 There was a lot of talk in the run up of the transfer window of the reported players that Manchester United would target to sign in January. Many of course were fantasy signings like Gareth Bale and Kevin Strootman which would be impossible simply because elite players do not transfer midseason; but there were also more realistic targets such as Aleksandar Dragovic and Juan Cuadrado.

Of course, aside from Victor Valdes who was signed for free, we have not made any signings; Dragovic remains at Dynamo Kiev and Juan Cuadrado is on the verge of completing a move to Chelsea. However, it has been reported in the last few hours (time of writing 29/01/2015) that Mats Hummels could be on the verge of a big money move to Old Trafford. Whilst at the start of the window, it was almost unthinkable of Hummels leaving Borussia Dortmund in the middle of the season, but according to reports, Dortmund are preparing for life after Hummels and are looking at none other than Aleksandar Dragovic as his replacement. Also, they need the cash to purchase Andre Schurrle from Chelsea.

The drop in value of the Euro may well have played a significant role in English teams lack of movement in the market as they look to purchase players on the continent for slightly less, but as we draw to a close of the window, we may now see significant movement from van Gaal and Ed Woodward.