Burnley head to Old Trafford on Saturday night winless in the campaign, Vincent Kompany crucially needs points, here’s how he can get them.
The new Burnley revolution hasn’t quite done as planned upon their arrival into the Premier League. Four games, three losses and solitary draw against Nottingham Forest hasn’t exactly set the world alight.
Following a massive summer which saw an incredible 15 names come in the doors at Turf Moor, expectations were high. But with the profile of players signed being young, the feeling is that time was always needed.
However time is now quickly running out, as Vincent Kompany will know well that he can’t afford to give those around them too much of a head start. With Manchester United and Newcastle United standing in their way over the next two weeks, something needs to change.
So with points so vital, Old Trafford awaits, but how can Kompany set up his clarets to have the best chance of success? How can he exploit the glaring weaknesses in Erik ten Hag’s side? And how likely is a successful night on Saturday for Burnley?
What are Manchester United’s weaknesses?
Manchester United have had a terrible start to the season by their own standards. Three losses from five and two losses in a row ahead of their Champions League tie against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Manchester United haven’t been playing bad football this season and have severely under-performed their expected goals. But defensively is where they have seen their points lost along with inconsistency within games which has let to them looking lethargic.
Where United have been targeted and successfully beaten has been in their defensive transitions. This is where Burnley need to look to strike, with players positioned to take advantage of any space vacated.
Casemiro will likely be once again a sole pivot, and he has been struggling in this role all season as his legs no longer allow him to patrol the entire midfield line. His job is made harder by Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen or Mason Mount being poor out of possession.
United’s biggest weakness however is themselves, laziness and poor decision making plagues their game. However dangerous they are, they do tend to need a lot of chances to score.
Therefore Kompany needs to set his team up primed for a quick transition to catch United out as they have been so often this season.
How should Burnley line-up?
Using Burnley’s game against Tottenham as precedent, Burnley should be aiming for a fairly similar line-up, but we are thinking a few changes could help Burnley beat United.
James Trafford obviously still starts in goal, with a defence of Ameen Al-Dakhil, Dara O’Shea, Jordan Beyer and Connor Roberts ahead of him.
In midfield is where we could like to see a tweak.
Sander Berge and Josh Cullen remain where they are in midfield however we think adding Josh Brownhill into the mix with Aaron Ramsey just ahead of the three. This would give the Clarets numerical advantage in midfield which could leave Casemiro to have an extremely difficult day.
This would also neutralise the impact of Bruno Fernandes’ creativity along with smothering either Mason Mount or Christian Eriksen.
Then up-front we continue with Zeki Amdouni and Lyle Foster who could have joy against an out-of-form United defence.