Manchester United should use Atletico Madrid blueprint to topple Liverpool in the Premier League - Paul Parker
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Published 21/10/2021 at 11:33 GMT
Former Manchester United and England defender Paul Parker believes United must adopt a similar gameplan to the one Atletico Madrid used in their narrow 3-2 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday if they are to stand any chance of beating the Merseyside club in the Premier League on Sunday. Parker also gives his thoughts on the contributions of David De Gea and Bruno Fernandes this season.
Solskjaer heaps praise on Cristiano Ronaldo and gives Rashford injury update
I’m sure for the Liverpool game Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have Paul Pogba on the pitch. He will still play two in midfield.
He believes that it may give them a better chance of not conceding and he’ll believe they can fight against Liverpool's midfield which is more free-flowing than what they’ve got.
They’ve got a better front three than Manchester United’s because they’re a unit and they’ve got more cohesion than United’s front three and midfield. They are the better team going forward, but Solskjaer has just got to hope that he’ll have everyone working hard to try and stop Liverpool playing. He will have to look at what Atletico Madrid did when they went 2-0 down.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a lot of goals but he is not going to be the one closing people down. When you have someone like Ronaldo, players will have to be willing to do that defensive work for him.
If you’re playing with Ronaldo you’ve got to play the game to suit him to get the best out of him. If not, you’re putting it all into the hands of the gods.
Manchester United can’t just believe or should be in a position where they just have to roll up their sleeves to beat a Man City or a Liverpool. They should be competing at the same level as those two sides.
As you see when City and Liverpool go head-to-head they’re a level above Manchester United and every other team in the league.
You can’t base everything on having to get results against City or Liverpool because the league isn’t won that way. There’s another 17 teams and you have to be able to get as much as you can against all of them. You have to produce in all of those games.
UTD MUST LEARN TO CONTROL THE MIDFIELD BATTLE
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Bruno Fernandes
Image credit: Getty Images
The problem is Manchester United cannot defend with two people sitting in front of the back four. They cannot create a lot either because the two players are not creative players.
Solskjaer seems to want to keep going back to them [Fred and Scott McTominay] and he seems to justify it when they get a good result, but when you look at their general play there’s an easier remedy and that’s to take the game to people and try and control the midfield.
If you can’t control it at least have players who can go out there and have a good go at trying to control it.
As much as everyone talks about Bruno Fernandes, he tries but he shows his frustration too much. Gesturing towards players isn’t good on the eye. Some people would call that passionate, but I wouldn’t say that contributes to a team ethic by doing that. Wait until half-time to voice that or signal that.
DE GEA HAS BEEN BAILING UTD OUT
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David De Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo
Image credit: Getty Images
United cannot keep playing the way they’re playing, it’s ridiculous. It’s just not good enough and they're relying again on their goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper that everyone was ridiculing has been a saviour this season and one of the reasons they’re likely going to go through in the Champions League is because of De Gea. He is bailing them out.
Ronaldo has nicked important goals but I don’t think anyone was expecting him to be there to get a hold of it and make a difference with the ball at his feet.
But when you look at it maybe United need something different in certain games to get a bit of control and maybe take the game to people. But when you’re at home and you’re getting dominated by Villarreal and Atalanta it’s a problem.
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