Right before the League Cup final, Manchester United will have an equally important match in the Europa League play-off round. Welcoming Barcelona, despite having the advantage of home field, but surely teachers and coach Erik Ten Hag will still experience 90 challenging minutes.
On the other side of the front line, it is obvious that coach Xavi Hernandez’s army will also have a “easy to go” trip to Old Trafford, especially when they will not have the services of the duo Pedri and Gavi . Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Xavi was especially concerned about the four factors who are playing impressively under Ten Hag.
Xavi is especially wary of 4 Man Utd players.
“He (Ten Hag) is very good, I like him very much,” Xavi told The Times.
“Ten Hag has built a team and is bringing out the best in all the players. Tactically, Ten Hag is also very good and he manages the dressing room very well.”
“Ten Hag is getting the most out of his players. You’ve seen that with Sancho, Rashford and the Portuguese guy (Bruno Fernandes). And see how Fred is doing.”
True to Xavi’s assessment, Ten Hag is a coach capable of exploiting the maximum potential of his students. And in the upcoming confrontation between the two teams, surely The 4 names that the Spanish captain listed will cause a lot of difficulties for the Camp Nou team.
Ten Hag is possessing many quality factors.
First of all is the case of Rashford, who scored just 5 goals in all competitions last season. But under the guidance of Ten Hag, the English striker has grown continuously and is now considered one of the best strikers in the world, with a total of 24 goals in all fronts.
Along with the explosion of Rashford, since the end of the 2022 World Cup, Bruno Fernandes is also showing the image of a top-class playing midfielder in Europe. In the last 14 appearances, the Portuguese star has contributed to 10 goals of Man Utd, with a total of 4 goals and 6 assists.
Bruno and Rashford are a formidable pair.
Meanwhile, after a long time sitting out to solve personal problems, Jadon Sancho has officially returned and continuously delivered impressive performances. After the last 4 appearances, Sancho has brought 2 goals for Man Utd. Notably, the English striker tends to shine every time he enters the field from the bench.
And finally the case of Fred, although there are still many conflicting views surrounding this midfielder, but in recent times, the Brazilian star is playing in an impressive form. Fred has always shown his comprehensive defensive ability and tireless pressing every time he plays, and in the last 2 matches, he has also given himself 2 assists.
Overall, while Eriksen is absent and Sabitzer has yet to bring about any real impact, Fred is still a really important factor for Man Utd’s midfield.
Huynh Phong | 20:58 22/02/2023
