There were plenty of low points in the last campaign for Manchester United, though perhaps the lowest under interim boss Ralf Rangnick was the 4-0 defeat away to Brighton in May.
The embarrassing loss confirmed United wouldn’t be able to qualify for next season’s Champions League and made up part of six consecutive away losses to finish the campaign.
Four of those defeats saw them concede three or more goals, capturing just how drastically United’s form dipped under the German coach.
It was the defeat to Brighton though, which was actually the Seagulls' biggest top-flight win in their history, that best captured the magnitude of their decline.
United have coincidentally been drawn against Graham Potter’s men in the opening game of the new campaign. That clash, taking place at Old Trafford, will be Erik ten Hag’s first Premier League game in charge of United, and for the Dutchman, it’ll be an opportunity to signal a new era at the club with a commanding victory.
With that in mind, Mirror Football has taken a look at what he’ll need to change and fix from the last meeting to start his tenure in charge of United strongly.
For that game on the south coast, United lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. That’s a formation that’s likely to stay under Ten Hag, and could well be the one we see United line up in when they take on Brighton in August.
However at the Amex, it was unbalanced 11 with the wrong profiles in key areas. In midfield, Rangnick started with a double pivot of Nemanja Matic, who has now joined Roma, and Scott McTominay. Both have decent attributes without the ball, yet neither are great at progressing United through the lines or dictating play in possession.
United finished the game having completed just 27 progressive passes, only against Chelsea and Liverpool did they complete fewer across the final two months of the season.
This is a big reason why United are chasing Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong. The 25-year-old is an excellent technician and has everything required to be a key cog in United’s build-up play next season. The Reds will need him, or a profile similar if they’re to better control matches.
They’ll also need better options in attack. Against Brighton, Rangnick lined up with a front four consisting of Bruno Fernandes on the left, the recently departed Juan Mata in the ten, Anthony Elanga on the right with Cristiano Ronaldo up top.
Fernandes isn’t suited to playing a left-sided role and is instead better as a number ten. This is where he’ll play under Ten Hag, unless he starts the season in the same way he finished the last, in which case there may be an opportunity for Donny van de Beek to stake a claim to make the position his own.
Ten Hag will be hoping Jadon Sancho can finally find his best form at United and he should, in theory at least, be the ideal option to start the season on United’s left.
Adding more quality on the right is another key aim for Ten Hag, highlighted by United’s pursuit of Ajax’s Antony. If they can secure a deal for him in the coming months, then he’d almost certainly start on the right of United’s attack against Brighton.
United failed to score in their final two matches of the season, therefore the hope will be these changes make them more dangerous and provide more attacking support for Ronaldo.
Ten Hag will also hope any new additions to his front line could help United be a more coherent pressing side without the ball.
Brighton under Potter are one of the better coached teams in the division, and their philosophy heavily centres around possession and passing sequences. Pressing well without the ball is key to defeating them, however, United failed to do so when the two teams last met. That’s a point captured by the fact they were successful in just 29 per cent of their defensive pressures.
There were actually only seven sides in the Premier League who finished the last campaign with a lower success rate in terms of defensive pressures than United (28.8 per cent). Pressing without the ball is a key aspect of Ten Hag’s philosophy, and it’ll be something he’ll be working hard on over the summer.
The opening day clash against Brighton promises to be somewhat of an acid test to determine just how successful he’s been in terms of coaching both this and other aspects of his ideologies onto this United squad.
