Manchester United lost the Community Shield final to Man City on penalties in agonising circumstances after a performance that will leave many fans upbeat.
United created the best chances of the game and arguably should have been out of sight already by the time Alejandro Garnacho scored the game’s first goal.
Neither of this summer’s marquee signings- Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro, played a part so to give a performance with such marked improvement with effectively last season’s squad is a good building block.
A big reason why the performance was so good is because Erik ten Hag already looks to have fixed the team’s biggest problem from last season.
Erik ten Hag’s new philosophy
Lump the ball forward, everyone runs to it, lose it in a low-probability duel, run back to cover acres of space in an impossible scenario, and then find scapegoats to blame.
That is United’s whole principles of play last season summarised in one sentence. Regardless of what Ten Hag said last year about the quality of shots conceded, the reality was that United got routinely dominated, let alone play at an equal footing with teams operating on half the budget.
A new game model was promised coming into this season and that wasn’t just a luxury, it was a necessity.
There was no way Ten Hag could sustain himself in the job if the team played the same way they did the whole of last season.
Pre-season provided a promising evolution, and the game against Man City hammered home the point that United’s chaos-ball is a thing of the past.
United conceded eight shots vs City which, for necessary context, is the fewest they conceded/game in the whole of last season bar one game in League Cup vs Crystal Palace.
A big reason why was renewed defensive discipline from Casemiro, who turned back the clock with his performance.
In addition, Kobbie Mainoo continued his ascent, while Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes’ work rate ensured United were never overrun in midfield.
The team closed the spaces between the lines with quickness and clarity, making it difficult for City to play progressive passes.
Even their goal arrived from a cross instead of the trademark of last season- the ball cut back into an empty midfield from the wing.
Hope for the season
Ten Hag staunchly defended the style of play last season but it fell on deaf ears and rightly so, as it read like the final words of a struggling manager.
That is confirmed now that he looks to have completely moved away from it. The pre-season plus this final is a big enough sample size to conclude that the puzzling era of empty midfield, frenzied transitions, and shot-conceding madness is well and truly a thing of the past.
Of course, it remains to be seen how he deals with inevitable injury problems as the season progresses but for now, there is renewed hope for the season with the new game model.
Long may it continue, as it’s not often United have played against City in recent years and come away with the feeling that they should have won.
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