Saturday afternoon will see Manchester United play their penultimate pre-season fixture of the summer as Erik ten Hag’s Reds’ jet off to Oslo, Norway, to face Atletico Madrid.
United have won three and drew one of their first four preparation games under the new boss. The squad enjoyed a fruitful training camp in Thailand and Australia over the last couple of weeks before touching back down in Manchester last weekend.
The Reds’ had a day off on Monday before returning to training on Tuesday — bolstered by the additions of two new signings, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez.
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The pair got right amongst the action in a behind closed doors friendly against National League’s Wrexham on Wednesday. United won 4-1 and Eriksen bagged a goal on his unofficial, unseen debut. They are both expected to feature over the weekend.
We say over the weekend as United are facing a rather unprecedented 48 hours just a week before the Premier League officially kicks off.
While a chunk of Ten Hag’s squad flies off to Norway to face the Spanish giants on Saturday, some will remain in Manchester and prepare to face another Spanish side, Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
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Ten Hag opted to have two games of high magnitude in such quick succession in order to be able to give more of his players a chance to get 90 minutes of football into their legs before the season officially gets underway.
With all of that said, who features in which game is one big unknown. However, there have been inklings suggesting Ten Hag will field his strongest side in Norway, allowing some fringe players and youngsters to welcome him to Old Trafford for the first time the following day.
In theory, that would make sense. The key players will get a great test against a relentlessly organized Diego Simeone side, while the rest still get a chance to impress versus a good level of opposition.
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Knowing all that we know, Ten Hag’s XI for Atletico rather picks itself. The only real unknowns are who plays left-back, who partners Harry Maguire at the heart of the defence, and who lines up alongside Fred in the engine room.
The 52-year-old boss’ squad figures to have a clean bill of health ahead of the double header, with Ten Hag able to mix and match his sides whichever way he pleases.
Donny van de Beek started United’s final tour game alongside Fred in midfield with Scott McTominay absent from the squad. It will be interesting — and very telling ahead of next week — to see who partners Fred on Saturday. Eriksen is an outside candidate.
At left-back, it is down to Luke Shaw and new man Tyrell Malacia. The former started against Villa and had a solid 45 minutes before being terrorized by Leon Bailey after the break. Malacia didn’t do great against the Jamaica international after coming on either.
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Whoever starts on the left against Atletico should be nailed on to march out of the Old Trafford tunnel against Brighton on August 7, or so you’d figure.
As far as centre-back partnerships go, this one is a toss-up. Martinez got his first United minutes against Wrexham and will certainly start one of the two games this weekend in an attempt to make an impression on the boss who he knows so well.
Lindelöf has been his consistent self during pre-season thus far and Varane only featured in two tour games as a result of a knock, but he did appear against Wrexham to get more minutes in his legs. Eric Bailly has had an outstanding summer but looks set for the exit door.
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Some big decisions await the new Reds’ boss. We may very well witness his preferred centre-back partnership in action against Atletico.
It will be interesting to see how much of a role James Garner plays over the weekend. United are slowly starting to ship youngsters out on loan and the 21-year-old has not had much of a chance to audition in front of Ten Hag as a result of a knock. He is by consensus ready to contribute but needs more minutes to show that.
The Atletico game will also be crucial for the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. The former will be aware that Eriksen can play in his position and there are plenty of youngsters, such as Anthony Elanga, Amad, or Alejandro Garnacho, awaiting a slip up. United are also continuing to assess forward options in the transfer market.
Martial will all but cement his starting role to begin the Premier League season with a good outing against a very rigid Simeone defence.
The one almost certain absentee is Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star is intensively pursuing an exit from Old Trafford after lengthy talks with Ten Hag over the past few days have not convinced him stay at the club. With the team against the Spanish giants being a stronger XI, it's doubtful Ronaldo returns to the fold in this fixture, if he does at all.
The following game against Rayo Vallecano would be the likely return to the pitch for United's no.7, but it is not certain whether he will appear at all with his ambitions for next season elsewhere, he was also not pictured training with the squad when United released images of Carrington action on Thursday afternoon.
Topics: Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Erik Ten Hag
Arion Armeniakos