There is a graphic that made Casemiro look both the loneliest and the most overworked man in Old Trafford. It was an average-touch map of Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Wolves, and it showed the Brazilian stranded in a central zone, his only company coming from the five opponents all around him.
Erik ten Hag had not seen it, but it helped explain why Wolves had 23 shots, the most of any visiting team at Old Trafford in a league game since 2005. United’s season started with a malfunctioning midfield, as their manager admitted. “Definitely it is a new midfield,” he said. “We can and we have to step up there. We have to improve it. In possession, we were absolutely no good. We didn’t match the rules and principles in our possession game and then you don’t get a good game and then also the players make so many unforced errors.”
But the midfield contained two constants from last season, in Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes. The newness reflected the arrival of the debutant Mason Mount and the shift from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. If Ten Hag was trying to emulate his former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola’s early switch at Manchester City, using the flair players Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva as “free eights” ahead of a solitary defensive-minded presence, it was an uncertain start. United looked incoherent: too open at one end, too ineffectual at the other.
But then it is part of a process of reinvention. Welcome to the remodelling of Mason Mount. Often used in the front three for Chelsea – and having the greatest success of his career as an inside-forward for Thomas Tuchel in a 3-4-3 formation – the £55m man has been inserted into a midfield trio for United. If the decision is that Fernandes is at his best as a No 10 or that 4-3-3 leaves United too exposed and that 4-2-3-1 is safer, Mount may have to become Casemiro’s sidekick at the base of the midfield.
All of which would be a radical switch, one that would take time. “I think he can [do it], already we have seen it in pre-season,” said Ten Hag. “But definitely we have to work on many facts of our game; also that fact on midfield and cooperation, how we have to set it. I am sure we will get it, but it is not coming overnight. If it was easier, then everyone could do it.”
But if he wants a role model, Mount need only look at his rival for a position. Ten Hag has previous: A year earlier, he signed a creative player and decided to use his constructive abilities in a more withdrawn role. He took a No 10 and pushed him back. “Christian Eriksen last season came in and had the same,” Ten Hag recalled. “For the first time in his life, he played in a deeper role. That was the ambition for Christian and also the ambition for Mason, and so he wants to be more multifunctional. It will not come overnight.”
Mount makes way for Christian Eriksen in United’s 1-0 win over Wolves— (AP)
But a reason why managers from Tuchel to Frank Lampard to Gareth Southgate have trusted Mount, and why Ten Hag has signed him, is that they feel he has the tactical understanding to adapt to their demands. “There is a process we have to go through, but I am sure he has the game intelligence, he has the technical abilities, he has also good vision on the ball, he knows how to deal with the ball, he has the dynamics, he has the mentality – so all the ingredients are there to do that,” said the United manager.
It will nevertheless bring different demands. Mount attempted only 21 and completed just 17 passes in 67 minutes on the pitch against Wolves. Last season, Mount attempted 38.3 passes per 90 minutes on the pitch; Eriksen 60.7, according to Soccerment statistics (they had an identical success rate of 80.1 per cent). The Dane was more accustomed to knitting the play together from the base of the midfield.
However, as a result of his willingness to press, Mount’s 1.79 tackles per 90 minutes were almost double Eriksen’s 0.96, though the fact that Casemiro averaged 3.77 suggested the Brazilian was overburdened. It is not simply about being a destroyer, but about the positional sense to ensure United are not caught out when they lose the ball – which they were against Wolves on Monday and in defining away games last season. They conceded seven at Liverpool, six at Manchester City, four at Brentford and three apiece at Aston Villa and Arsenal.
If it means Saturday’s trip to Tottenham is a measure of whether United can acquire a more streetwise streak, it is also a test of Mount, if the man who harried opponents in the final third can sit behind the ball. There are times when an attacking midfielder will have to become a defensive midfielder, and with United away at Tottenham and then Arsenal two weeks later, Mount may have to learn on the job.
