Erik ten Hag watched his Manchester United side lose their opening game of the season but Diogo Dalot has offered some insight into how they might tweak their line-up going forward.
The Dutchman watched on as Brighton and Hove Albion secured a first ever win at Old Trafford, bagging a 2-1 victory thanks to two Pascal Gross goals in the first-half. It was Ten Hag's first competitive game and he started with a false 9 system as Christian Eriksen began as the most forward United player.
In the second-half Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced and Eriksen dropped into midfield, his more familiar position. That allowed him to see more of the ball, which in turn helped the whole team as Dalot opened up on the dynamic it gave them. Ten Hag left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, partly as a show of authority but also due to his lack of match fitness.
United will want to pick up their first win of the season next weekend at Brentford and Dalot's comments may leave a mark on his manager. The full-back said: "I think as soon as we saw Eriksen was going to have a lot of time on the ball freely, that's when everything started to be more dynamic up front.
"We were doing movements in behind with Cristiano, Jadon and Rashy stretching their defence. Then we got a lot of space for the midfielders, for the fullbacks that we inside and on the wings as well. So this is the type of dynamic that we want to keep for 90 minutes, just not for 45. Off the ball, we want to keep being aggressive, press high and get the ball back as fast as we can."
Anthony Martial, who missed the season opener through injury, may also miss the trip to west London which could see Ronaldo start in attack. Marcus Rashford could be an option but, should Ronaldo still be at the club, he will be favourite to lead the line.
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Eriksen, a summer signing after his contract at Brentford expired, has been tipped to add some creative flair to United and his positional change on Sunday did help them carry more of a threat going forward as they looked to get back into the game.
Ten Hag said on the changes: ''It was clear to see that in the second half we were better in the midfield, with Christian Eriksen back down and Cristiano Ronaldo further up. Then we create and [Marcus] Rashford had two really good chances and it's a pity we didn't score to make it 2-2.''
He also added on the early setback: ''That is what we have to do, we have to deal with the setback and we have to learn from the mistakes and we have to move forward. We have to deal with it and I knew from the start that it would not to be easy, it takes time but you don't have time and we have to win games.''
