{"id":626806,"date":"2023-08-19T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T09:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=626806"},"modified":"2023-08-18T17:12:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T21:12:25","slug":"man-utd-tottenham-hotspur-predicted-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/19\/man-utd-tottenham-hotspur-predicted-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik ten Hag to Make Shock Decisions &#8211; Man Utd Predicted Lineup v Tottenham Hotspur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manchester United will be keen to make vast improvements from their season-opening 1-0 victory over Wolves. Despite taking three points from the match, their performance was concerning. They will know they were fortunate to take a victory at Old Trafford on Monday and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will need to make significant improvements to beat Ange Postecoglou\u2019s Tottenham Hotspur. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Changes to the starting eleven seem inevitable, so Last Word on Football has created a predicted lineup for United, based on the latest news, updates and analysis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Man Utd Predicted Lineup v Tottenham Hotspur\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>How Erik ten Hag\u2019s Side Lined-Up Against Wolves<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>[metabet_core_side_odds_tile query=&#8221;soccer_game_player_score_goal_first\/536559&#8243; size=&#8221;350&#215;300&#8243; style=&#8221;fraction&#8221; site_id=&#8221;lastwordonsports&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New number one keeper Andre Onana started in goal against Wolves, with Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez in front of him at centre-back. Aaron Wan-Bissaka started at right-back over the more ball-dominant Diogo Dalot and was one of United\u2019s best performers. At left-back, Luke Shaw started as expected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Casemiro played as a single pivot in defensive midfield behind Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, who struggled on his debut. Mount created zero chances, and completed zero crosses or tackles, while also failing to win a single aerial duel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Antony started on the right wing and had encouraging moments despite a lack of end product. Alejandro Garnacho had a tough game on the left, although this was in part due to a standout performance by Wolves\u2019 Nelson Semedo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marcus Rashford was a lone striker and suffered from a severe lack of supply from his midfielders. His best moments came on the counter-attack, but he was contained well by Max Kilman and Nelson Semedo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch:\u00a0<\/strong>Jadon Sancho&#8217;s Last Chance for Manchester United Redemption<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"This is Jadon Sancho&#039;s Last Chance for Manchester United Redemption\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ioZIb3zqmGg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><b>United\u2019s Performance and Tactical Issues Against Wolves<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even the most die-hard United fans will have been appalled by the performance of Erik Ten Hag\u2019s side. They were tactically outsmarted by Gary O\u2019Neil, who set up his side very well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A big issue for United came from the selection of one of their best performers on the day: Wan-Bissaka. Wolves would stand off Shaw and Martinez when the two defenders had the ball to block passes into the midfield.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United would then shift the ball to the right towards Wan-Bissaka, clearly aware of the English right-back&#8217;s weakness in his ability to progress the ball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was forced to pass back to Onana who then had to launch the ball. With United\u2019s players on the back foot, Wolves\u2019 compact and organised shape helped them ensure aerial dominance and won them the ball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ten Hag will also have been extremely concerned by his midfield\u2019s weakness in defence. Casemiro struggled as a single pivot and was outnumbered by Wolves&#8217; central and wide players, who all sought to charge through the middle of the field. Mount was ineffective at both ends of the pitch, while Bruno Fernandes struggled to control the tempo and was unable to contribute defensively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While United looked to launch numerous attacks in transition, O\u2019Neil\u2019s side was organised and compact enough at the back to slow them down on most occasions.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At full-time United had registered 51% of possession, 15 shots with 3 on targets. Wolves, on the other hand, had 49% possession but 23 shots, with 6 of those on target.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/18\/pierre-emile-hojbjerg-tottenham-hotspur-atletico-prime-target\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018Combative\u2019 Tottenham Hotspur Player Now a Prime Target for La Liga Team \u2013 Personal Terms Agreed<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Ten Hag&#8217;s Tactics to Expect vs Spurs<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whilst it was ineffective in their last match, expect the Red Devils to launch extremely direct counter-attacks against Spurs. Out of possession, they will likely play a deeper midfield partner to support Casemiro, whether that\u2019s Mason Mount, Christian Eriksen or Scott McTominay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Man Utd Injury News<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite fears over the Argentinian centre-back\u2019s ankle injury, United\u2019s head coach has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/manchester-united-injury-news-martinez-27548501\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that he should be fit and has been training this week. Summer signing Rasmus Holjund is still out with a back injury, while Tyrell Malacia, Tom Heaton and exciting youngsters Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo have been ruled out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Man Utd Predicted Lineup vs Spurs\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes, Mount, Rashford, Martial<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United\u2019s manager is likely to make big structural changes to counter Spurs&#8217; aggressive possession-based football. We expect that Mason Mount will be used on the right, as he was at times in preseason, to assist their press and defensive work. Christian Eriksen may start to add desperately needed ball retention to their side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/18\/lazio-target-hugo-lloris\/\" target=\"_self\">Tottenham Hotspur Could Lose Veteran Player to Serie A<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashford is likely to be the pivotal component of their counter-attacks on the left, following his performance against Wolves where he was clearly isolated. Martial could start, due to his positioning and finishing on the counter-attack. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/57511216@N04\/51656499688\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniel<\/a> on Flickr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q19125117\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CC by 2.0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester United will be keen to make vast improvements from their season-opening 1-0 victory over Wolves. Despite taking three points from the match, their performance was concerning. They will know they were fortunate to take a victory at Old Trafford on Monday and\u00a0will need to make significant improvements to beat Ange Postecoglou\u2019s Tottenham Hotspur. Changes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4759,"featured_media":624350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9367,3,24],"tags":[8769,4315,9381,2915],"class_list":["post-626806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-predictions","category-premier-league","category-tottenham","tag-ange-postecoglou","tag-erik-ten-hag","tag-manchester-united-predicted-lineup","tag-mason-mount"],"modified_by":"Joseph Howes, Site Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}