Manchester United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer played an advanced role in the win over Brentford.
For a player who is 6ft 7″, it is rare you see Wout Weghorst use his physical strength to dominate in the air.
He sat out the game against Brentford, with fellow loanee Marcel Sabitzer stepping into a forward role, and winning a lot of headers.
Sabitzer played as a 10 to begin with, but at times interchanged with Marcus Rashford who dropped deep, with the Austrian the furthest forward player.
Sabitzer uses his strength
Brentford are an awkward side to play against. United found this out earlier in the season.
Erik ten Hag recognised this and took the game to them. He featured Bruno Fernandes in a deeper position to get more control of possession, and pushed Sabitzer forward.
The Austrian used to play this role many years ago, once scoring 27 goals in a season for Red Bull Salzburg.
Sabitzer provided the assist for Marcus Rashford’s goal, winning a clever header to knock the ball down for the striker to score.
His role was praised by Match Of The Day pundit and former United star Dion Dublin, who said: “Erik ten Hag got that little bit of a mix tonight, it confused Brentford.”
Sabitzer won 10 duels, more than any player on the pitch. Eight of these were aerial duels, from 10 he contested.
It was an aggressive and powerful display, showing an interesting tactical adaptability.
Wout Weghorst has shown his adaptability too, dropping down to play as a 10, but he has never really applied physicality in a way to dominate in the air.
Anthony Martial’s return late in the second half pushed Sabitzer back into midfield, and this may simply have been a one-off experiment, to combat a tricky opponent who do not lose many games.
In any case, it worked, and Sabitzer registered his first United assist. He is proving to be a useful player for Erik ten Hag to have available.
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