Manchester United: 3 ways Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could line up with Donny van de Beek in his side
#1 In a midfield diamond:
From what we have seen so far of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s managerial qualities, he loves adding diversity to his formation and gameplans. The 2019-20 season saw him using the formations such as 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2, and 4-4-2 respectively.
Amongst all of those, the most unfamiliar and rare one was the 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. It came soon in the away game against Everton after Bruno Fernandes joined the Manchester-based club from Sporting CP.
The midfield on that afternoon was looking something like this: Matic was playing the holding role, with Scott McTominay and Fred occupying the right and left side of the central midfield and Bruno Fernandes leading the midfield at the zenith of the diamond.
Some suspected Solskjaer was forced to choose the formation owing to the established form of Matic, Fred and McTominay and effectiveness Bruno Fernandes had brought with him — they were simply undroppable.
The game could have been won by Bruno Fernandes’ ferocious strike from the range had not David de Gea made a blunder that led Everton to the first blood during the opening stages of the game. That being said, the 4-4-2 formation could be a way of progression for Ole Gunnar Solskajer.
Solskajer, who wants to build a team based on the pressing and counter-pressing techniques, might choose occasionally to use the aforementioned formation to bring some variety when things would start going in the wrong direction.
Finally, it would be right to say that Manchester United have signed an absolute class in Donny van de Beek. And no matter what formation Solskjaer opts to play him in, he would be the ostentation at the ‘Theater of Dreams’ and something new that United fans have had witnessed before.
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Where should United play van de Beek?