During Manchester United’s pre season tour in the USA, it was the perfect time for Louis van Gaal to tinker with his squad, putting players in different positions to see if they worked in these areas. One of those players was new hot-shot Memphis Depay.
The no. 10 experiment
Van Gaal seemed to want to stick with his wingers Mata and Young from last season who had proven effective during the second half of the season. As a result of this, the new Dutchman of Old Trafford was then placed as a number ten right behind Rooney for their pre season fixtures.
Memphis played four games in this position against Club America, San Jose Earthquakes, Barcelona and PSG. Although he did score a goal against San Jose, it didn’t take a genius to see Memphis’ talent was being wasted behind Rooney.
What made Memphis such a dangerous forward for PSV last season is his pace, he’s a tricky player who likes to run at defenders and cause them problems before cutting onto his preferred right foot.
While he was playing as a number 10 in the pre season and the opening season game against Tottenham, Memphis often looked suffocated and cut off being stuck just ahead of the midfield.
Any time he would get the ball, he was already being surrounded from all sides and could never really get going in time before being dispossessed. It was having that freedom and space to run at defenders on the wing that made Memphis the Eredivisie top scorer last season with 28 goals from all competitions.
The preferred left wing
It was evident that Memphis wasn’t flourishing in his current position and the 21 year old expressed a preference to go back to his more natural role on the left wing that has made him one of the best up and coming young players in the world right now, and van Gaal listened.
Memphis got his wish and was played on the left wing against Aston Villa and although he didn’t get on the score sheet, you could see he looked more dangerous and showed flashes of brilliance.
He was creating more runs down that left, getting past defenders only for him to lack that clinical finishing. Tuesdays game however, showed exactly why Memphis belongs on the left wing.
Against Club Brugge the young forward was outstanding, weaving through several defenders then a neat tidy corner finish to score his first United goal followed by a run down the left, cutting onto his right foot and sending a top corner shot from outside the box.
Memphis could have easily scored two or three more if not for silly mistakes like firing a shot miles over the bar despite only being yards away, but he can be forgiven thanks to his earlier goals. As well as the fact he is young and was probably full of excitement playing in the Champions League for United. That beautiful cross to Fellani to score in the dying seconds also helped.
Conclusion
Memphis Depay is an out and out inverted left winger, the lad loves to get the ball and drive towards the opposition net with only one thing on mind, switch the ball over to his right and score. He’s so young and yet has so much potential, there are already similarities between him and a young Christiano Ronaldo.
He’s only going to get faster, learn better control of the ball at his feet and become less ball greedy, sometimes a pass to a team mate is smarter than the impossible shot on your own, sometimes.
Comments.
Loading comments…