Patrick Rees
After an impressive performance against Wigan Athletic, the Reds Devils are now off to China to play their rest of the pre-season friendlies. The official squad for the tour has been released and it is a shock to see that the manager, who has been criticized for his ‘Bad Record’ in term of promoting the youth has selected nine academy graduates for the tour.
Well, to be fairly honest, this is the perfect time for the manager to get to know his player more and besides that, he will have time to see which youngster deserve to be in the starting XI. 22 July is the date when the Devils will be battling Mkhitaryan’s previous club Borussia Dortmund and soon after that, there will be the ‘Friendly’ Manchester Derby.
The new season is coming up, and every single player will be looking to impress the new manager and we are sure that every single fan is eagerly waiting to see how the new gaffer will line his team up in the first few games of the league, where some big names might miss, so here we give you that predicted lineup for the Devils that could work well even in the absence of the big names:
Goalkeeper: David De Gea-
Absolutely no doubt about that isn’t it? The Spanish shot stopper, who was previously linked with Real Madrid is a pure Red Devil as he himself have stated that he is happy at the club and wants to show the new manager his talent.
Defensive Line: Fosu-Mensah; Bailly; Smalling; Shaw-
It is expected that the Italian full-back Matteo Darmian, who is now rumoured to be a target for many big clubs might miss the start of the season and to fill the void, the 18-year-old Dutch defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah will be the perfect replacement. The player has impressed the Old Trafford spectators with his solid performances last season and could well become a regular starter for the team.
The centre back pairing is likely to be of Eric Bailly, who had a shaky start against Wigan, but eventually showed what he is capable of and Chris Smalling, last season’s Manchester United Players’ Player of the Year.
On the left-hand side, Luke Shaw is the deserving candidate and the 21-year-old English defender will be looking to mark a solid comeback after recovering from that horiible injury.
Holding Midfielders: Carrick; Herrera-
Manchester United’s vice-captain Michael Carrick, who signed a new one-year deal with the Devils is expected to be lined up as a holding midfielder and will be given a usual job of driving the team forward. But now with Mourinho on the driving seat, we might see him playing a quick role rather than his slow pace game. Alongside Carrick, the Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera might get his chance to launch himself forward as a box-to-box midfielder.
Attacking Trio: Mkhitaryan; Rooney; Lingard-
The new arrival from German Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be looking to mark a solid Premier League debut and the manager himself might be giving the Armenian a more attacking role. Alongside Mkhitaryan, our Skipper Wayne Rooney might feature as a number 10 man. After Mourinho’s official press conference, it was clear that Rooney will no longer be playing as central midfielder, hence an attacking, yet a central zone would be the perfect fit for the player. On the left hand side, Manchester United’s wonder boy Jesse Lingard might out power Memphis Depay as the Dutch winger failed badly even against Wigan, hence Lingard, place in the lineup can be justified. Martial is expected the miss the first few games of the season and this is a good opportunity for Lingard to show what he is capable off.
Striker: Marcus Rashford-
Another Manchester United wonder kid could kick off his new campaign as a starting role. It is expected that Zlatan will miss the initial games for the team. Unless United sign another striker in the window, Rashford will be the utmost priority of the manager.
