Are Manchester United too easy to play against? | The Football Show

Let's talk about Manchester United, shall we? Roy Keane called them weak, easy to play against. OK, not the best start to the season for them, is it, Sue? What do you make of it? No, I think against Wolves, they were poor and Wolves should have got something from the game, but they got the result. And I think when you look back to last season, I think they lost their opening two games, didn't they? So you go, OK, well, maybe they're not quite at it, but they're obviously picking up points. But then against Tottenham, yeah, I think that the real area of concern, which I've heard a lot being spoken about, is that midfield area, the fact that they've been too easy to play against, against Wolves, against Tottenham. Tottenham dominated that midfield area. So that's something that needs to improve, needs to be better. You could look at Rashford playing centrally, so when Hoyland comes back fit, Rashford can then move to the left. Will he be better out there? Yes, of course he will. I think that's his best position. So will that balance sort of slightly change? Will they bring in another number six to maybe play alongside Casemiro? Because, you know, Scott McTominay was on the bench and he didn't come on and you thought that would have been somebody that maybe you would have brought on when they were getting over in the midfield, but he didn't. So that area needs to be addressed, doesn't it, that midfield area, because at the moment they are far too easy to play against. It is an interesting one. And Mason Mount obviously bought in for a lot of money, but is it unfair to judge him at the moment because he's not being asked to play in the position that perhaps he's better in? Well, what is his best position? That's my big thing with Mason Mount, is he a sort of a left of a right of a three in midfield or a left of a right of a three up top? What's his best position? And I think that's where we're a little bit caught with him at the moment is that he can play both, but he's a steady at both at the moment and it's almost like you need to find the niche role for him where he fits into that system. It's an interesting one. And Eric Tenhaas obviously bought him in for a reason, knows that he's going to add quality to that midfield area. I still think Manchester United at the moment are better when Ericsson plays in the team. I think he brings an experience. Okay, he might not get around the pitch as much as other people and he might not look as intense on the eye, but where his positional sense is, is that he might not need to do as much running because he's already filled that gap. So they might not get overrun because he's filling in areas already through his experience of understanding. I'm not going to quite go and make that run because I'm seeing something else here. So it's going to prevent that. And everyone goes, oh, he's not doing that, but he's already prevented the other side of it that other people aren't seeing. I think, again, when we talk about games and we talk about Chelsea before, games hinging on big moments. The Bruno Fernandes header, if he scores that, which is a chance we expect him to score because of the quality that he's got, the game swings completely. And this is the thing with the Premier League and the quality within the Premier League is that big moments hinge on incidents like that. I just want to pick up on what you were saying in regards to Villa and you're putting them in the top four. You said Manchester United papered over cracks last season. Are those cracks now beginning to show or is this just a little bit of... They had a worse start last campaign, didn't they? Yeah, they did. But then the form of Marcus Rashford was quite sensational, wasn't it? It was almost like we knew a moment of magic could change a game for Manchester United. They weren't brilliant at times last year, but he would do something special. And that's what special players can do. The big thing is that he's not doing it in the first couple of games, so then Manchester United aren't getting anything out of it. They shouldn't have won the first game. They should have drawn that game. It should have been a penalty. They might not have scored it, but it would have been an opportunity for Wolves to equalise and they had ample opportunities to score. But I think Manchester United need more players. They definitely need more quality within the squad. And again, there's times when I watch them and they are far too easy to play against and that'll be a concern for him.