Manchester United are through to the fourth round of the EFL Cup after coasting past League One side Barnsley with a thumping 7-0 win at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag won the EFL Cup back in the 2022-23 season and would no doubt love to repeat the trick this season.
Manchester United’s EFL Cup campaign started on Tuesday night and fans were treated to a goalscoring bonanza at Old Trafford.
League One side Barnsley visited United and were dealt with in brutal fashion as Ten Hag saw his side rack up a 7-0 thrashing.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring before Antony scored from the penalty spot, with both players receiving a major boost in confidence.
Alejandro Garnacho added goals either side of the break with Rashford adding his second to make it 5-0.
Sky Sports pundit on Christian Eriksen
Midfielder Christian Eriksen bagged a brace of his own with United racking up seven goals in the biggest win of the Ten Hag era.
The Dane started as United’s number 10 against Barnsley having featured in a deeper role against Southampton over the weekend.
Eriksen impressed against Southampton and took that performance into Tuesday’s win over Barnsley.
Eriksen scored two fine goals and has now been praise by his former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Michael Dawson.
Pundit Dawson told Sky Sports (17/09, 10:15pm) that Eriksen is giving Ten Hag is a real headache with his displays in midfield.
Dawson praised Eriksen as an ‘intelligent’ player who has so much ‘pure quality’ on the ball.
Dawson added that Eriksen is ‘unbelievable’ as a number 10 and can dictate the pace of the game when called upon in the United engine room.
“This is the headache that Erik ten Hag is going to have now he comes up with a couple of goals,” said Dawson.
“He’s still striding forward late on in the game and gets his first goal. I’ve played with Christian Eriksen… the ability that this player has and the quality… he’s such an intelligent player.
“He’s not somebody who is going to be flying in. His ball-striking, his delivery, his passing, everything is crisp everything is done with pure quality.
“We’ve seen Christian Eriksen in the number 10 position. He is unbelievable, he’s a gifted player, I’ve seen it with my own eyes on many occasions. He can see a pass, he brings calmness, he keeps the ball when you need to slow the game down, he can speed it up, he’s just a really, really intelligent footballer,” he added.
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This is surely Eriksen’s final season at Manchester United
The problem is that Bruno Fernandes is cemented as United’s number 10 and Eriksen will struggle for major minutes in that role at Old Trafford.
Mason Mount’s imminent return from injury doesn’t help either with Eriksen likely limited to deeper midfield roles this season.
Eriksen has enjoyed a strong week but the truth is that this is likely to be his final season as a United player.
The 32-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and a backup role just won’t be good enough for him moving forward.
The Danish media are concerned about Eriksen and his lack of action at United, believing that his international displays are suffering.
Playing in the 2026 World Cup is surely a dream for Eriksen but he may need to leave United in order to make that happen.
Ajax and Anderlecht were linked with signing Eriksen in recent weeks and a departure at the end of the season makes sense for all – even if Eriksen is impressing right now.
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