2
The individual mistakes that have plagued Manchester United defensively over recent seasons are happening for four reasons, according to club legend Gary Pallister.
In an exclusive interview with The Peoples Person courtesy of online betting site BetWright, Pallister was speaking about the errors made by Luke Shaw that cost the Red Devils the three points against Manchester City on Sunday.
Asked why so many different players seem to be making so many errors, Pallister offered an interesting theory.
Changing of the guard
“Certainly when it comes to playing at the back, I think the fives have changed, the wing-backs have changed,” he said.
“You’ve got to get a settled back four or back five. Get the right people behind you as well, give yourself a platform to be tight, to make it difficult for teams to score against you. But right now, teams are finding it quite easy.
“We offer up a lot of chances in games. I’d like to see a settled system at the back. The same players.
“Every game he seems to change the centre halves as well, I don’t understand, even when we’ve done well he’s changed the centre halves.
“I don’t understand the theory behind that, because part of myself and Steve and Rio and Vidic and partnerships that have played at the back, the more games you play alongside each other, the more understanding you get. You know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It becomes more of a second nature.
“But if it’s changing week in, week out, the dynamics change, the trust maybe isn’t there.
Confidence from the keeper
“We’ve got a new keeper who’s obviously going to come in at some time. Hopefully he’s a good one, because I think that’s played a huge part as well.
“Onana struggled for long periods of time, Bayindir at the moment is not looking confident, and that can affect players at the back as well if there’s not that kind of trust there.
We asked the former England international what are the different skills you need to play in a back three versus a back two.
Specialist role
“In a back three, if you’re one of the wide centre backs, you’ve got to be a little bit of a right back or a left back as well, because you’re getting dragged out to the width, if your wing back’s playing further up the park.
“Centre halves have always been central, you’ve got the protection of the right back, the left back.
“But if you’re the right or the left wing back then you’ve got to cover more of the field, unless you’re playing with defensive wing backs.
“As a centre half in a four, you don’t want to be dragged out to the width. Because that’s where you usually come up against the speedy, tricky wingers. And centre halves probably don’t like speedy, tricky wingers. So that’s the difference.
“I played a little bit there for Middlesbrough. I didn’t really enjoy being one of the outside centre backs so eventually I went back into the middle and played in the middle, which is a lot easier. You’re more of a sweeper then, so you can tuck round and read things and pick things up off the two outside centre backs.
“It does make it harder for centre backs who are playing in a five on the width, because they don’t want to be dragged out that far away from the centre.”
Asked if it is asking too much of a young centre-back like Leny Yoro and a converted full back like Luke Shaw to play in this tactically challenging back three role, Pallister replied:
“Well, I think Luke, because he’s played left-back, can handle it. Yoro’s got enough pace, I think, to be able to handle it.
“I thought Yoro at the end of last season was starting to really look the part. I don’t think [the constant change in back five] helped him this season. I don’t think he’s looked as assured as at the end of last season.”
Warriors needed
“I still think Luke’s got a lot offer as a left back. If Martinez comes back from this cruciate [injury] and he’s the player that he was in his first season, I think we’ve got a ready-made left-sided centre-back there. And then Luke will be fighting for the place alongside Dorgu.
“I think he [Martinez] struggled last year, he had injuries. In the games that he played last year, he didn’t look the player he was in that first season. But I loved him in the first season that he came in.
“Again, I like characters, I like aggression, I like somebody who’s got a little bit of nastiness about him, like Cunha has. And I think Martinez brings that to the park as well.
“When I look at some of the crazy people I played with, I think they were great additions to the team. You could always push the boundaries of fair play.
“The likes of Keane, Robson, Bruce, Hughes, Schmeichel, Ince. These were all warriors and scrappers and fighters that you wanted in your team. We haven’t for a while had these sorts of characters in the side, nor personalities that when things aren’t going well don’t just sit there and take it, but get in other people’s faces in the team and demand more.”
The first part of our interview with Pallister was about Bruno Fernandes’ role and can be read here.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
