Tyrell Malacia returned to Manchester United’s starting line-up against Omonia after sitting out at the weekend against Everton.
The Dutch talent made the most of it and began to demonstrate attacking credentials United fans want to see.
Malacia created four goalscoring chances in Manchester United’s victory, an impressive number considering he played just 60 minutes.
This was his best output in a Manchester United shirt so far going forward as he linked up cleverly with his teammates.
With United enjoying so much possession (79 per cent), Malacia played much of the game as a deep lying midfielder, inverting from left-back when United were in possession.
Malacia completed 92 per cent of his passes, with 74 touches in 60 minutes before United called on Luke Shaw to come on.
The decision to introduce Shaw wasn’t a bad one, United needed fresh legs and a double change with Jadon Sancho coming on for Antony gave the team a different approach.
Shaw played more as a typical left-back, opposed to Malacia tucking into join the build-up play in midfield. Erik ten Hag will see it as a positive to have two different options.
Malacia shows attacking improvement
Malacia’s previous games against Omonia and Manchester City saw him create zero chances. He was substituted off in both at half-time.
In matches against Sheriff Tiraspol and Real Sociedad he created one in each, while against Arsenal, none.
He also failed to create a chance in victories over Leicester and Southampton, or Liverpool or Brentford.
Malacia’s defensive work has drawn plenty of accolades during several of these matches, but the attacking part of his game has not yet taken off, with just two chances created all season before last night.
Against Omonia he doubled that figure, with four chances created. This is somewhat of a breakthrough for the Dutchman at United, who did provide four assists for Feyenoord last season, from 36 chances created.
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