At the Allianz Arena, amid Manchester United’s 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich, one player in particular seemed to be having more difficulty than the majority.
Erik Ten Hag must be concerned by how United was continually exploited in midfield, and one player in particular had trouble.
Alongside Casemiro, Christian Eriksen started the match in midfield, but the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder struggled to have an impact.
Even Casemiro struggled to keep the game under control, but his two goals more than made up for his shoddy defence.
Eriksen’s struggles
The Danish midfielder started at position eight, which was the same spot he played most of last season, but was easily outnumbered throughout.According to Sofascore, the midfielder got only 46 touches overall during the match.
One of the primary explanations given for his placement in midfield alongside the former Real Madrid midfielder is his strong ball retention.He completed 30 of 36 passes, so he wasn’t negligent, but he simply didn’t see the ball enough and was usually left chasing Bayern’s middle.
One summer signing appears to be on his way to rejoining the United squad and making his debut, which is wonderful news for United and Ten Hag.
Importance of Amrabat
The team might be in need of a pick-me-up right now, and Sofyan Amrabat’s importance in anchoring the midfielder alongside Casemiro and ultimately joining the first team could be that thing.Amrabat is calm, a reliable defender, and has a powerful acceleration on the pitch.
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Eriksen is just not suited to a deeper place against powerful opposition and should be playing farther forward, which is challenging given Bruno Fernandes’ impenetrable position in the United first team and his captaincy status.The number of goals United concedes via cuts or midfield runners advancing past the United defensive line would be of special concern.When Casemiro and Eriksen missed the runners for the second goal, Gnabry was there to slip the ball past Onana.
A similar goal was also scored by Danny Welbeck and Pascal Gross.Ten Hag sees this as a major problem, and they are hoping that Amrabat’s introduction would make a difference.