Newcastle’s time waster can’t upset Manchester United – Eric Ten Hag always has a plan B

Johan Cruyff didn’t believe in using Plan B, he just perfected Plan A when something went wrong. That is why Pep Guardiola adheres to such principles.

“I will not buy a player who sits on the bench for 11 months to play 10 minutes if the game is going badly,” Guardiola once said.

There is no recipe for the perfect football manager, however close Guardiola may seem, given his incredible track record. The stupid Catalan could upset Manchester City fans with his unwillingness to make substitutions and his commitment to plan A. He didn’t change anything as City worked towards a 1-1 draw at Leipzig on Wednesday night.

Eric ten Hag, while citing Guardiola as an inspiration during his time at Bayern Munich, came from a completely different school. He’s made 16 halftime substitutions this season alone and isn’t afraid to mess up his game plan and start over. The results are devastating.

Manchester United have scored 19 substitute goals in all competitions this season, the most of any team in the five major European competitions of the 2022/23 season. Regardless of the case, Ten Hag changes the game of the reactor with his decisions.

At the August break against Liverpool, Ten Hag replaced Anthony Elanga for Anthony Martial, with Marcus Rashford scoring eight minutes later despite United leading to give a revived United the lead.

Against City last month, United more than equaled the champions in the first half. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the trigger-loving Ten Hag as Martial was sent off, Anthony came on at half-time, Alejandro Garnacho later and United turned the game on its head in the blink of an eye.
Another exciting comeback that truly marked United’s return to the past only came about thanks to their problem-solving coach on Thursday night.

The prevailing opinion at half-time, as Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets and Frenkie De Jong destroyed everything United had to offer at Old Trafford, was that a team as smart as Barca was eight points clear of the leader. La Liga can take one step forward. it would be too far. two legs.

This was no shame for Ten Hag. If United had lost, they would still have made remarkable progress in a short amount of time under a new boss. However, the very best are not satisfied with the progress that others consider acceptable. Wout Weghorst was dragged away at half-time, Anthony came in, and the whole avant-garde turned around.

Jadon Sancho went wide of the left flank, passed the ball to Bruno Fernandez, who was now back in center, passed the ball to Fred and United equalized less than two minutes into the second half. Antony then fired at the winner, and the Midas Ten Hag test brought gold again.

Weghorst started every game, something no one expected from a striker who failed to impress at relegated Burnley last season. The giant Dutchman was even used at number 10.

Perceived madness has a method. The game is 90 minutes long and the game-changing quality of play off the bench had a notable impact on United’s immediate resurgence.

Wegorst advances his position like no other. On Sunday, he made four tackles against Leicester, twice as many as Cristiano Ronaldo had in 10 league games all season. Knowing when the job is done and it’s time for other, more capable forwards to shine is his manager’s strength.

With opponents exhausted, United scored eight goals in 151 minutes without Weghorst on the field, one goal every 19 minutes, while scoring all 58 goals with him on average.
Newcastle are a physical team with a penchant for wasting time – only Leeds have had less possession this season in the Premier League.

But if a determined Newcastle – the best defense in the top flight – upsets United for big chunks in tomorrow’s exhibition match at Wembley, they can’t be counted on to end up with a United number.

Plan B Ten Hag is often better than Plan A. Sometimes the mentor is not always right.