MUFC welcome mate Ange Postecoglou and Hottenham Totspur to Old Trafford in match 6 of the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag is in desperate need of both a performance and result after two straight draws and a flat disappointment of a display on Wednesday night in the Europa League.
That performance caused all of the critics and naysayers to return and question whether he is the man to take United to where they want to be despite a relatively postive start to the season, at least in terms of overall performances.
But Spurs will provide the toughest test post the international break and will definitely cause United several issues.
Can we thwart them is the question.
Predicted Lineup
I don't even know at this point.
Every time I think ten Hag is going to do one thing, he goes and does another. Our manager is a hard man to call and with a fit (ish) squad, it gives the manager more options in terms of selection than before.
What my gut tells me he'll do is this:
The only area of the field where I believe it's fair to say we can all predict correctly is the back line. Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt - who comes back in for Maguire, Martinez and Dalot are all nailed on to start.
Things then start to get a little more tricky.
Given the number of options available to the manager in midfield and attack, there are several different combos ten Hag could go with.
The man who's started all four of the last games Christian Eriksen will remain in midfield. However, due to the fact that he's played so many matches on the bounce and that we all would think that he would definitely start the next, a part of me feels that ten Hag will drop/rotate him because our manager does the opposite of what we think.
His partner will be Mainoo and ahead of them is a man who does need dropping, Bruno Fernandes.
Yes he's the captain and very influential in the team but thanks to him forgetting how to football for what seems like the past 33 years, the magnifico deserves a place on the bench.
He starts.
I don't believe that Hojlund is fit enough to start which is why I've kept Zirkzee as striker. He is in desperate need of a goal, much like the team overall. The new recruit will most likely get substituted by the hour mark.
The same goes for the man who has been a mainstay at right-wing, Amad.
Off the left sees Rashford come back into the league starting XI after being rotated at Palace. Or at least I think he'll come back.
There is also the option of what Erik ten Hag did at the start of the season and that is play the two false 9s of Bruno and Mount, who is also back and available.
I wouldn't be surprised if he does this.
Erik ten Hag said in his presser that the squad will remain the same as was against Twente.
United's Approach
How we played prior to the draw against Twente was nigh on perfect. The only thing lacking was scoring. Play anything like that, and I believe we have a chance.
Play like we did against Twente, mate, forget about it.
Southampton, Barnsley and Palace were performances that saw some of the best football we've seen under ten Hag and it was pretty consistent. It was three games in a row where we played some top stuff and hopefully Wednesday's draw is just a blip in terms of those performances.
We need to keep the ball a lot better, show that urgency we lacked against Twente, stay calm in possession and under pressure which Spurs will apply a lot of, be patient when necessary and also look to exploit their high line.
Despite the speed of their defenders and Vicario's sweeper keeping ability, give Rashford a run in that space I'll bet my house that he will come out on top every time.
This is an area where we can take advantage of them because even though they've had warning signs in the past, Ange Postecoglou is adamant on sticking to their principles of playing a high line regardless of whether it works in their favor or not.
Whenever we do create chances, we have to take them. As we know, 17 is the number of big chances we've missed in the league so far. That is the most and is 5 more than those in second place, of which there are a couple including one Hottenham Totspur.
So if we take our chances, there's a chance they will miss theirs and give us the win we need.
There's been an improvement in our set-pieces as we are more of a threat from them. De Ligt scored his first goal from a short corner routine while he also forced a great save from Dean Henderson in last week's 0-0 at Palace. Zirkzee also had a top chance to score in that game from a corner but put his header wide.
Spurs also like to build up from the back which also says to me that ten Hag could use Mount and Bruno as the false 9s because the high press with Mount in particular was brilliant. There were several high turnovers but we failed to punish teams.
This is something that we could look at as well.
Erik ten Hag can also opt for a more simple approach and just camp on the edge of our box and hit them on the break. It's worked before so I see no reason why it can't work again especially with Spurs' high line.
But to be doing this at Old Trafford and in your third season is completely unacceptable. It's about time we start to see a better brand of football against all sides even if it could work against us in this particular match.
The Old Trafford faithful will also let the manager and team know that that football is shite.
No Mourinho masterclass please 🙏.
However, defensively, we'll have to be on our guard as like I said, Spurs do create a lot of chances. Of course against us all their shots will go in so we have to be very careful.
If we are to push the line higher up (which I think we will), Onana has to be on the edge of his box ready to sweeper keep. Spurs have a lot of pace on the break and much like us, will try to get in behind.
Spurs
The team from the capital are actually very similar to United.
Much like MUFC, THFC do look to dominate possession, play on the front foot with a high line, look to squeeze the opposition in their half and create chances, of which they're pretty good at.
While no one can touch United at the top of the list for big chances missed, Tottenham do miss a lot as well with big Ange hoping for some better fortune at Old Trafford.
The Australian's side are one of the team's with the highest average possession in the league though, with 63.2%, the second highest behind City and 7% more than United, via FBREF.
This shows that regardless of who they play, Spurs will look to get on the ball a lot which is something new that Postecoglou has brought to their game.
The Australian also likes his side to put crosses into the box as Spurs are at the top of the table for that in the league with 129. They use the width of their wingers and overlapping full-backs to get the ball out wide and put in a cross.
United are notorious for not defending those properly so it is an area where we need to be weary and where Spurs could look to take advantage.
We also don't have the quickest of centre-backs so when we do push high, the pace of Son, Kulusevski and Johnson will be something that Spurs will try to use as often as possible.
As their full-backs Porro and Ugodie are very attacking, we will need our wingers to track back and help their full-back in defence. We know that Rashford out of all our wingers is very reluctant to do so whether through his own accord or instruction.
Should Dalot and Mazraoui be overloaded, this will definitely be a problem.
Spurs also have a lot of strength, running power and energy in their midfield with the likes of Kulusevski, Bentancur and Maddison. If we play Eriksen, Mainoo and Bruno, I do think we can get overrun because that isn't the most powerful trio. Eriksen doesn't have the energy, Mainoo hasn't been at his best and Bruno has been terrible. This could be a game for someone like Ugarte although I doubt we'll see him.
However, during their 3-0 victory over Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday night, captain Son Heung-Min had to be taken off due to injury. Whether he will be available for tomorrow remains to be seen although his manager seemed quite relaxed about Spurs' skipper's prospects of playing.
Tottenham are 10th in the table, just one spot above United. They are only higher than us because of a superior goal difference, 4 compared to 0, as both sides sit on a mere 7 points after five games.
Spurs have two wins, one draw and two losses from their five, the exact same as United but they did win their last game 3-1 against Brentford whereas we drew 0-0 at Palace.
Ange's team have played two games away from home and drew at Leicester on the opening day and lost at Newcastle (2-1) in match 3 although how they didn't win both is a mystery. This and the fact that they played their Europa League game a day later than United as well as the fact that it's at Old Trafford gives MUFC a few advantages.
Recent Meetings
The last three matches don't bode well for MUFC as we haven't won anything of them. We've drawn two and lost one of those.
Before that though, United won four in a row with Spurs' only victory at Old Trafford in the last eight was that ridiculous 6-1 in 20/21.
Prediction
This fixture last season was a 2-2 draw. That's what I'm going for again. I feel that both sides will look to play on the front foot and create chances but neither will have that something extra to get over the line.
A draw isn't the worst result but we need to win. After last week's stalemate and a poor display on Wednesday, we need to see a performance and victory. 11th isn't where we want to be so we have to start moving up the table fast.
What do you think will happen this Sunday?
Background Image ofplayer: Christian Eriksen during Man Utd's 1-1 draw against FC Twente | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)