Manchester United fans must be screaming with delight after the last two days, the club have signed Matteo Darmian from Torino and have completed the the double signing of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin. With the influx of top quality players, Louis Van Gaal should have no problem to field a strong team and more importantly push Manchester United for the Premier League title.
Last season, the club took some time to learn about the Van Gaal way to do things but just about scraped into the Champions League qualifiers and this season should have no excuses for the club. They have signed some amazingly talented players, have signed them early and should be doing well when the Premier League starts. But with so many new faces joining in, just how will Manchester United line-up?
A new look for a new team
For now, David de Gea is a Manchester United player and he will not be going anywhere, so there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that one of the best goalkeeper in the world should start most of the games. In the realistic scenario of him leaving it should be Victor Valdes manning the gloves for the Red side of Manchester.
Defence was a major issue last season for United, they tried many combinations at the back with some success but most of the performances were rather dire. Marcos Rojo was the only player who came out with some positive praise, so he would start in the heart of defence and would be partnered with Phil Jones or Chris Smalling. The left-back position should be Luke Shaw’s, who needs to show United fans just how good he really is. Right-back is Darmian’s slot all day long, there are no two ways about it.
The major change would come in midfield, we all knew that Van Gaal wanted to sign Strootman for United before he suffered that injury at Roma, this time around he would have a midfield of Herrera and Schneiderlin which would have Bastian Schweinsteiger playing at the top, a midfield trio of destruction could be the perfect foil for Manchester United, or they could play with Bastian and Schneiderlin with Carrick as well. The permutations and combinations for the midfield are numerous and that could be a huge factor as to how United play this season.
United should have three forwards this time around, instead of playing Rooney as a deep playmaker, he would play as the lone striker aided by a couple of wingers. Rooney should be playing centrally with Di Maria and Mata playing alongside him. With no Van Persie or Falcao, all the goal scoring onus falls on Rooney and with Bastian in midfield, this could be the one season where Rooney doesn’t have to be the toughest player on the field for United.
