Ten Hag hails Maguire after Man Utd beat Copenhagen
Before Manchester United get carried away celebrating ‘turning a corner’ with their stirring victory over FC Copenhagen, they might want to think about what lies around it. Because as good as the atmosphere and the emotion was at Old Trafford as Harry Maguire and Andre Onana turned around their Champions League fortunes on Tuesday, Manchester City will show no mercy in the derby on Sunday.
After three wins on the spin for the first time this season against Brentford, Sheffield United and now Copenhagen, the real test of lasting change in the mood at United is waiting. Erik ten Hag has complained about poor starts in those games against Sheffield United and Copenhagen.
In south Yorkshire, he said the first half was “not a good game for our side – poor” while against the Danes he simply labelled it “no good”. If they have a similarly lazy and disconnected start against City they could be blown away before their half time orange. And a bad derby defeat has the potential to similarly blow away all the positivity that has built.
Ten Hag will spend the week hammering his players on the need to be on it from the start this Sunday as he contemplates the best lineup to do just that. But he has positives to cling to, not least Maguire’s resurgence – after returning to the left side of defence in the absence of the re-injured Lisandro Martinez – where the defender is emerging from a desperate 12 months.
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If Ten Hag is looking for strength of character, he need look no further than the example set by his former captain, who has battled heroically against a tide of unfair criticism with genuine resilience while others in the side have stayed silent. The Sheffield born player, 30, looked on his way out of the club in the summer with West Ham and United talking over a possible switch.
But after indicating he would rather stay and fight he has made the best of his opportunities to start three successive games for Ten Hag for the first time since the Dutchman arrived at the club. In those he has produced back-to-back man of the match performances against the Blades and Copenhagen and done a manager who has doubted him a huge favour. Maguire will lead the back line against Haaland on Sunday and looks the right man for the job.
Ten Hag may be also minded to start with Christian Eriksen who made an obvious and positive impact in the second half against both Sheffield United and Copenhagen.
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Elsewhere, he will also be hoping for more from Marcus Rashford, whose 12 starts have produced one goal, and Rasmus Hojlund, who has three Champions League strikes but none in five starts in the Premier League following his £72million move in the summer.
There was an understandable outpouring of joy for Onana after his penalty save deep into added time on Tuesday and the celebrations continued long and loud into the dressing room after the match. Ten Hag needs that to be a catalyst for a signing who was looking like a dud at £47m; he must relax into the role.
The Cameroon international, brought from Inter as an upgrade on David De Gea particularly when it comes to distribution, has done little to impress with the ball at his feet. And he has contributed to United’s low-lights reel this season with some high-profile blunders with his hands.
As an aside, quite what a struggling Onana thought of pictures circulating last week of De Gea cosying up to former teammates including Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane, Tom Heaton and club captain Bruno Fernandes for coffee in Hale is anybody’s guess.
Maybe it was about keeping his name on the market with the former United keeper still without a club or perhaps just a innocent meeting with old friends but the posting on social media was unnecessary when his replacement is struggling.
Football moves quickly though and if he can do what he did against City for well over an hour in the Champions League final and shut them out for the full 90 on Sunday, talk of De Gea will recede and talk of a corner definitely turned can begin with more solid justification.
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