Man Utd beat Luton Town 3-0 in the Carabao Cup and the game was a perfect example of what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants from his squad.
It must have made a nice change for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to turn around and look at his substitutes bench and see it packed with game-changing options.
The last time the Manchester United manager had such an embarrassment of riches available to him was for the FA Cup quarter-final win at Norwich. That was also the last time – the irrelevant game against LASK Linz aside – that he fielded a much-changed team in a cup competition.
On that occasion, he needed his regulars to come on and dig United out of a hole against the Premier League’s whipping boys. At Luton Town the second-string were doing just enough but with 12 minutes to go the Hatters still had a pulse and United couldn’t breathe easy just yet.
There was the bonus of a few more minutes in the legs as well when Solskjaer instructed Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood to vacate their wooden seats and get ready at Kenilworth Road. They may well have come on to aid their return to match fitness anyway, but with United’s lead still a slender win at 1-0 they were sent on with the instruction to deliver the last rites to the Championship high-flyers.
They did just that and the difference in the crispness of United’s attacking play in the final dozen minutes and the 78 that had preceded it was startling. They were helped of course by the fact Luton were beginning to commit men forward in search of the equaliser that would take the game to penalties, and there was space for that trio to exploit, but United looked much better when they were on the pitch.
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That’s not to say the players they replaced had been poor. Juan Mata and Donny van de Beek both had good nights. If anything the lack of spark in United’s attacking play was down to the limited impact of Odion Ighalo, who couldn’t get into the game and gave the Luton defence an immobile target to defend against, making life too easy for them.
Once Rashford and Greenwood began darting into pockets of space and Fernandes began finding them it was a different game. The goal that killed Luton off was well taken by Rashford, with a smart assist from Greenwood, who rounded the scoring off with a move that is becoming his signature; a couple of step-overs and then switching back on to his left foot for the finish.
That is exactly what Solskjaer wants from his bench and what any side with a vision of becoming title challengers requires. If the game isn’t going your way you can turn around and see players capable of tilting it in your direction. At the moment United don’t really have that.
When those three players return to the side at Brighton on Saturday Solskjaer will see players who are well below their standard sat on the bench. While Mata deserves more of a look in, Daniel James, Jesse Lingard and Ighalo don’t have either the quality or the form at the moment to make a decisive impact off the bench on a regular basis.
This is why the Norwegian continues to stress the need for new signings and more depth. Players like Jadon Sancho who strengthen the first XI also strengthen the bench, by virtue of whoever drops out. If Greenwood becomes more of an impact sub then United immediately have a player who can turn a game in reserve.
That is the strategy that has worked in midfield this summer. It remains to be seen if Solskjaer can conjure a way of getting Fernandes, Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba in the same side, but for now it’s likely that one of those three will be on the bench. Whoever it is will be a major asset to introduce in the second half of games.
That is the standard United need to find for the bench all across the pitch. At the moment the drop off in quality in attack is simply too great.
By bringing on the formidable trio of Fernandes, Greenwood and Rashford at Kenilworth Road Solslkjaer got a glimpse of the panacea he wants every week. Now it’s up to United to deliver it for him.
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
