Our reporter Michael Plant gives his thoughts ahead of Manchester United's Premier League encounter against Tottenham Hotspur, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe planning to attend the game.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Manchester United are back in Premier League action this weekend following on
00:04 from Monday night's FA Cup win against Wigan Athletic. I thought that was a
00:07 game United played really well in, albeit it was obviously against a league
00:11 one side, but I thought United put together some good passing sequences and
00:15 made some good opportunities offensively but of course didn't take enough of their
00:20 chances at a problem which has come back to blight United repeatedly this season.
00:25 The likes of Rasmus Hoyland, Marcus Rashford, Anthony have simply not scored
00:29 enough goals and it's an issue that will be put to the test once again against
00:34 Tottenham this weekend as will United's disappointing record against sides in
00:38 the top half of the table because you know well let's say the top nine of the
00:43 table United this season have only beaten one of those sides, Aston Villa.
00:47 Okay they've beaten Chelsea in 10th place but even that was a game that you
00:50 know United could very easily have lost and Chelsea are certainly not a
00:55 formidable opponent this season. So it's an opportunity once again for Eric Tenn
00:59 Haag to put that right and it feels like a long time since United were actually in
01:03 Premier League action. It will have been over two weeks since they will have
01:08 played last in the league. It's actually their only January Premier League
01:12 fixture, just a little bit of a quirk of how the calendar has fallen. You've
01:16 obviously got two FA Cup games in January, you've got the winter break as
01:20 well next week for United and then their next fixture is the 1st of February and
01:25 so it's just a funny way the calendar's fallen but the only fixture United have
01:28 in January and it remains an important one because Manchester United are
01:32 currently eighth or away off the Champions League spots. I think it's
01:36 about nine points or so they're off the Champions League spots so they need
01:40 to get back to trying to close that gap in the table. This feels a little bit
01:45 slightly like a refresh as well because obviously everything that's going on
01:50 with Ineos and you know I think over the Christmas fixtures United didn't really
01:54 have time to digest that and to reflect on it. There were so many matches so
01:58 quickly after that Christmas Eve news. Plus we've got a couple of players going
02:01 out now on loan. The squad looks slightly different now than it did at the
02:05 start of January. Sancho, Van der Beek, Reguilón no longer involved in
02:11 the squad. That's three players already dying and it feels like you know we're
02:14 starting to look just a little bit different as we kind of come into the
02:18 January period. I think it'll be interesting I mean I mentioned Ineos,
02:21 Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning at this stage to be in the ground at Old
02:26 Trafford. His first game he will have attended since that 25% purchase of the
02:32 club was agreed. Obviously he still has to be ratified by the Premier League
02:37 which we're expecting to take perhaps in around a month, six weeks at this stage.
02:41 But it'll be interesting to see what sort of reception he gets. I think it'd be quite
02:44 interesting to see his reaction. I don't think he'll give away any
02:48 reaction but you know I think it'd be telling United fans to offer
02:52 another opportunity to explain to them why they're so opposed to the current
02:55 owners the Glazers. I expect them to be very vocal in that. I know that's been
02:58 the case with Ineos in the last three games certainly. Sir Dave Brailsford
03:02 has been at the last three games so I suspect there'll be another opportunity
03:05 to remind Ratcliffe just the huge task he's got on his hand in trying to keep
03:10 the fans happy while the Glazers are still in kind of our majority owners at
03:15 the club. But in terms of on the pitch as I say difficult game for United and
03:18 they struggled last time against Spurs, lost 2-0. Tottenham are a good team now and
03:23 are going to be very difficult to play against albeit they are missing Son
03:27 who's one of their their key players of course and Sar as well. He's a really
03:32 good player in midfield. Both are away on international duty at the moment.
03:36 There's obviously impact in quite a few Premier League clubs but yeah as I say I
03:40 think United need to put in a committed performance. I'm expecting them to
03:43 play the same front three that played against Wigan, Garnaccio on the right,
03:47 Rashford on the left and Hoyland up front. That at the moment looks like the
03:51 best front three at this stage. And then just in terms of injury news for United
03:55 I mean there's there's still quite a few players not involved. I think there's 13
03:59 that were ruled out for the Wigan game through injury illness and then Jadon
04:03 Sancho obviously still frozen out on Monday night anyway. So I'm expecting
04:08 quite a few back. You know Eriksen was in, was ill, Ahmad was ill. You'd expect
04:12 both will be back. Ten Hag said after the game that Harry Maguire could be back.
04:16 The same for Luke Shaw, Christian Eriksen. I'm not expecting Leite Martinez,
04:21 Casemiro to be back involved just at this stage. I think Ten Hag also confirmed
04:25 well hinted that Mason Mount is unlikely to be involved as well. So
04:29 yeah as I say I think quite a lot of tactical things to sort out for Ten Hag.
04:35 I'm expecting to be a relatively similar team from the one that started at Wigan
04:38 maybe with Luke Shaw coming in at left back. But it's gonna be a very difficult
04:41 game for United and a very important weekend as well ahead of a gap in the
04:48 winter schedule in the Premier League and in the FA Cup the following week.