DBasia.news – Manchester United are currently late in signing new players in the 2022 summer transfer market and has only brought in three players.
The Red Devils have played three pre-season friendly matches ahead of the 2022-2023 season against Liverpool (4-0), Melbourne Victory (4-1) and Crystal Palace (3-1). All three matches went through with victories when they toured Thailand and Australia.
Winning is not a benchmark in pre-season but a bonus. No doubt the most observant of the performance of Harry Maguire and his team mates is a game that is completely different from last season, even though the face of the Man United squad is not much different.
Minus Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic, and Paul Pogba who have left, plus the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo in pre-season, practically the Man United squad coached by Erik ten Hag today is not much different from last season.
The addition of a new player, only Tyrell Malacia who followed Man United’s pre-season while Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez have not joined.
But with the same face, its like Man United are like a different team. Their game from pre-season was proactive, playing aggressively, trying to dominate possession, playing short passes, making dynamic movements, and also doing high pressing in the defensive phase. The difference is observed by Jadon Sancho.
“This pre-season, we have the same players but it looks like a completely different team and I think that is something we are working on and I feel we are getting better,” Sancho told Man United’s official website.
“The manager is great at team bonding and having fun together and doing things like team dinners and stuff like that. So, yeah, that helps.”
Sancho also said how committed Ten Hag was in conveying his desire, the philosophy of football, regarding the football game that Man United wanted to play.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings with the manager and understand how he wants us to play, and there’s definitely a big sign from everyone accepting that and we’re getting what he wants to happen.”
“You can see in the game, as I said before, with the way we played and there was more structure and chances to score goals, and we also had more possession of the ball and being effective.”
Sancho (22) who joined from Borussia Dortmund for 73 million pounds in 2021 is also motivated. He’s played pre-season, is in shape, and is ready to revive his career this season.
“This is my first pre-season with United because last year I had an infection in my ear so I couldn’t do the whole pre-season with the team which was a bit annoying at the time, and (meaning) a lack of fitness and understanding of how the players play,” added Sancho.
“But now, this season, I feel a lot more comfortable and, especially scoring goals in pre-season, it’s a confidence boost for myself and, hopefully, I can bring it into this season and keep it.”