Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick says he’d like to see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer make two key changes to his team after their recent struggles.
The Red Devils don’t look at their best at the moment, and Solskjaer could really do with a big performance and a result against Villarreal in the Champions League this week.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside, Chadwick says he thinks it might be worth fixing things in midfield, naming Fred as the player he’d drop in that position.
The Brazil international has had his critics in his time at Old Trafford, and it does seem that he and Scott McTominay look a bit too defensive for some games, with a bit more spark and creativity needed from deep.
Chadwick would ideally like to see Donny van de Beek get a run in the side, though he expects that the Netherlands international will continue to be out of favour with Solskjaer, so Paul Pogba could play there instead, which would also allow summer signing Jadon Sancho to get more of a run of games in the wide left position.
“The area we always talk about is that central midfield area,” Chadwick said. “McTominay and Fred did well against West Ham, but they didn’t really excel against Aston Villa.
“It might be worth taking Fred out of the team and maybe putting in Van de Beek, though the manager doesn’t seem to fancy him at all. Maybe Pogba dropping back into that deeper role with Sancho getting more of a run of games. He hasn’t looked brilliant so far but I think he needs games.
“I’d like to see a real run of games with that front three of Sancho, Greenwood and Ronaldo, with Fernandes in the 10. Potentially that could be the route that Ole goes down.
“Pogba moving deeper seems more likely … it would be nice to see Van de Beek get some game time but incredibly it seems like that ship has sailed already. He played in the cup game against West Ham and wasn’t brilliant, and that seems to be all the chances he’ll be getting at the moment.”
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