Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stabilized his Manchester United position with a big victory over Tottenham and a draw with Atalanta, if the Manchester derby against Manchester City on Saturday is not good, he will face a new wave of crisis on the next international matchday. Coupled with the shadow left by the previous double red club and Liverpool's attack, this game to win may be a realistic goal for Manchester United.
Solskjaer still needs to solve two major problems, naturally the formation and the use of personnel, of which the forward and center-back candidates have attracted much attention. Manchester United players who missed the game could be identified, including two France main internationals, centre-back Varane and defender Pogba. Varane had to recuperate for a month from a hamstring strain, while Pogba had two more suspensions and was not eligible for either Manchester City or Watford.
United have conceded 23 goals in all competitions this season, are third-to-last defensively in the Premier League and have never kept a clean sheet without Varane.2 Even if the French Iron Guard sits, Manchester United only keep two games in the Premier League without conceding a goal, so facing Guardiola's Manchester City is also the third team in the Premier League in terms of goals, how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer arranges the defense will be the biggest test.
First of all, whether United stick to the 352 formation that has started in the last two games depends on whether solso can find the right 3 centre-backs. Varane is already determined to be sidelined, and the key is to see if the Swedish Iceman Lindelev can recover from injury, and if he returns, then he can form a three-centre-back with Maguire and Erik Bai.
If Lindlev is absent, United can also arrange another three-centre-back line-up, or take a third option, paired by Maguire and Bai, to play a double-centre-back formation.
Lindelev missed the Champions League game to Atalanta due to injury, but he was then selected for the Swedish squad for the next half month's international match day, indicating that his injury is not serious and it is possible to return to Manchester City. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer summed up his situation: whether to compete is unknown and hope to catch up with the derby.
If Lindlev also continues to hang the free card, then the center-back combination of Maguire and Bayga Jones may not be reassuring. Another option for Solskjaer is to make a cameo appearance as centre-back for Luke Shaw or McTomine, who has played as one of the three centre-backs at United in the past.
According to the data, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made a total of 8 cameos as centre-backs for Luke Shaw, and the opponents are all strong teams, Barca, Paris Saint-Germain, Red Bull Leipzig, Bruges, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, of which "England Carlos" has played as center-back twice against Manchester City!
The results of these games were mixed, with Manchester United winning away to Paris, Chelsea and Manchester City, and home to Manchester City, but also being double-killed by Barca, losing to Leipzig and Liverpool. To be sure, the boss trusts Luke Shaw's ability to play centre-back. As for his left wing-back, there are Brazil internationalStrees and Portugal international Diogu Dalo to fill.
Because Cristiano Ronaldo has a strong header ability, the left-footed Willy is better at crossing from the left, so if Fat Shaw makes a cameo at center-back, the left wing-back is more likely to belong to the Brazilian knife guard.
This season, Ivorian centre-back Bai has not yet played a minute in the Premier League, but he has a good chance of starting against Manchester City, and there is only one situation in which the manager can not use him - Lindelev returns and Manchester United adopt a four-back formation.
But Bai played well against Atalanta, especially his two advantages in defense and speed, allowing him to make up for his sometimes out-of-position flaws. Therefore, if Bai cannot play Manchester City, it will be a surprising result.
In midfield, with or without the use of three centre-backs, McTomine and Fred will be ironclad starts. Van de Beek and Nemanja Matic, although they have played well in their last two substitute games, have not yet reached the point of changing the manager's preferred midfield option.
The "McFred" combination with Bruno Fernandez will be a fixture in the middle of Manchester United's midfield.
Coming to United's forward line, there is another area that gives Solskjaer a headache, the original problem here is the large number of people, but Cavani's tendon injury has brought new problems.
In Manchester United's 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, the 70-year-old "Cappello" duo played well, with both Ronaldo and Cavani scoring goals. Cristiano Ronaldo is the number one contributor to saving the manager from leaving the class, and Cavani's performance without the ball is no one in the Manchester United squad can replace. If all had been normal, Cavani could have gone ahead instead of Rashford, although the latter's pace was suitable for counter-attacking and used to be a City nemesis.
So, after Edmundo Edinsk Edmund was injured, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to decide whether to add another attacker, that is, to make a choice between 352 and 4231, but also to choose a replacement for Edani. Marcus Rashford, Sancho or Mason Greenwood have a chance to compete for two starting spots.
Fans are expecting Sancho to play more of a right winger, but unfortunately, given Marcus Rashford starting during his midweek visit to Atalanta, Sancho's chances of playing his old club in the derby are extremely low.
The data shows that Sancho played 280 minutes as left winger for Manchester United in the Premier League this season, serving as a substitute for 550 minutes, while only 35 minutes were as a right winger.
Mr. £73 million has been on the bench seven times in the last 10 games and can suddenly start an important derby unless there is a miracle.
As a result, Greenwood and Marcus Rashford could be the two main candidates for Ronaldo's side, with Greenwood playing 50 minutes on the champions league bench and Rashford starting for 70 minutes. In solskjaer's usual style, Marcus Rashford is more likely to play.
Manchester United start against Manchester City (352): De Gea/Baie, Maguire, Lindlev/Wan Bissaka, McTomine, Fred, Fernandez, Luke Shaw/Ronaldo, Rashford.