Xabi Alonso encapsulated the importance a midfielder holds in the outcome of a match, asserting that ‘If you win the midfield battle, you probably win the game.’ It’s a footballing precept which Manchester United have embodied, in contrasting ways, in recent years. There are a multitude of factors behind the reversal of fortunes for United from last season to this; a new manager with a clearly articulated philosophy; expensive, but proficient, recruitment in the summer; the renewed form of key players such as Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, and others. Yet it might be the midfield – a battle which this new look Manchester United team are winning with more regularity – producing the upturn in performance and, crucially, results.

It is hard to envision a more fundamental upgrade than the transition from the double pivot of ‘McFred’ to the accomplished pairing of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro. At times last year it felt like Manchester United did not have a midfield, such was the ease with which opponents were slicing through the team. Similarly, there appeared no conduit between defence and attack; no players functioning as the links between the oppositve ends of the pitch. Casemiro has aptly described the midfield as the ‘heartbeat of a football team.’ Last season Manchester United flatlined; Casemiro and Eriksen constituted the team’s defibrillators.

Which brings us to the salient point. For the next three Premier League games, Erik Ten Hag will be devoid of his talented midfield dyad. Eriksen is ruled out with injury, potentially until the end of the season, and Casemiro is suspended for raising his hands to a Crystal Palace player’s…collar. While this red card may be justifiably overturned, Manchester United will have to plan for a life in the short-term where the midfield battle may be harder to win.

Marcel Sabitzer, signed with an efficacy and foresight by the executive branch of the club which may confuse fans in the stands, grows a more important figure, particularly with Scott McTominay still ruled out. Yet the Austrian’s brief cameo on Saturday, while very promising, indicated a player more in the mould of Fred; an energetic ball-winning midfielder who thrives in chaos, rather than a skilful surgeon in the vein of Eriksen. Ten Hag has continuously picked his Danish virtuoso in the centre of midfield for this very precise skillset. But it’s not a skillset with an obvious like-for-like replacement, especially with the behemoth that is Casemiro also consigned to the side lines.

As such, Ten Hag may have to exercise an element of creativity in solving this issue. Or he could summon the spirit of Alexander Graham Bell and steal inspiration from elsewhere. The rise of the inverted fullback has seen modern coaches, such as Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, incorporate Johan Cruyff’s tactic of instructing the fullback to step into midfield. This addition to the midfield enables existing central midfielders to push into forward areas, helping to create overloads, both centrally and out wide, without sacrificing structural solidity as your inverted fullback covers the gaps. Guardiola explained the importance of overloads succinctly:

‘In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.’

It’s evident then the value derived from a fullback stepping into midfield. This becomes particularly valuable, however, when your fullback is as skilful on the ball as Luke Shaw, and your midfield is as starved of skill as United’s at present. The inverted fullback appears an elegant short-term solution, with the potential for long-term value. Erik Ten Hag’s men face Leeds in back-to-back fixtures and then Leicester at home in the timeframe in which Casemiro will be unavailable – a perfect selection of opponents in which to try something different.

A starting XI in the traditional 4-2-3-1 the Dutch manager has deployed all season…

               De Gea

AwB    Varane   Martinez  Shaw

        Sabitzer    Fred    

Antony       Bruno     Garnacho

              Rashford 

…can easily morph into the inverted fullback tactic which has seen Arsenal rise meteorically to the top of the table this year and Manchester City dominate in previous years:

               De Gea

AwB     Varane    Martinez

        Sabitzer    Shaw    

Antony     Bruno    Fred    Garnacho

              Rashford 

Shaw has consummately demonstrated a capability on the ball this season, as well as a capacity for positional change, which appear ideal for this role. Martinez seems a natural in the LCB role, having played many times for Ajax as a LB. And it enables Fred to play with the freedom that his hard-running intense style thrives in, as far from David De Gea’s goal as humanly possible.

Sabitzer has shown his suitability to the right-side of central midfield in his time at Leipzig, while Antony and Garnacho are perfect candidates to hug their respective touchlines. Bruno and Rashford being given complete freedom as close to the opposition’s box as possible can only produce positive results such is the form of the two men. It appears the perfect antidote to Ten Hag’s problems.

Xabi Alonso expanded further on his notion about the midfield battle, detailing how it was not necessarily midfielders alone who help to win the war:

‘The doesn’t mean the players in the midfield are the ones alone who determine that, because now we have strikers who drop into midfield and defenders who move up into the midfield. It is the area you must dominate.’

Luke Shaw represents an option of a defender who joins the midfield to ensure Manchester United continue to dominate opposition, in place of the two warriors who have been winning the battles thus far. It just requires a little bit of faith.

Darragh Fox