Ayden Heaven has revealed the most important aspect of playing in the defence of Ruben Amorim’s system at Manchester United.
Manchester United sit sixth in the Premier League after 18 games, just three points adrift of Liverpool in fourth place.
Ruben Amorim’s first season in charge has been difficult to judge so far. While United have shown their quality with some important wins and remain well placed in the table, they have also been guilty of dropping points in matches they should have managed better.
Their recent run of form has been mixed, recording two victories, two draws and one loss in their last five outings. It is not particularly eye-catching, but it does offer some positives.
Among them has been the form of Ayden Heaven, who has started five consecutive matches during the injury absences of Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire.
Heaven reveals ‘most important’ aspect of playing in Amorim’s system
Heaven is naturally left-footed and played on that side of the back three during all of his appearances for United last season but that has changed this term.
The teenager has either played in the centre of Amorim’s back three or on the right-side of a four-man defensive line.
De Ligt and Maguire usually are the ones to play in the middle of the three and Heaven has explained exactly why that position is ‘so important’ in Amorim’s system.
“That middle [spot] is probably one of the most important, because you can’t switch off, can you?” Heaven told United Review.
“You’re alone against the striker really, so you can’t afford to switch off. It was great obviously and it was true that it was my first time ever playing there, so it was a lot different.”
Heaven’s bounce back from West Ham
The most surprising part of Heaven’s impressive form is how he was able to immediately bounce back from a difficult outing against West Ham.
After a poorly-timed challenge early on, Heaven was booked and subsequently brought off at half-time after struggling against Callum Wilson.
Despite that, he was trusted in the following four fixtures and managed to put that performance behind him easily.
“It’s a risk when you’re running a yellow, so I understood that and I was confident going into the Wolves game. I felt like I had a good game,” the youngster added.
United fans will be hoping that Heaven can grow even further now as he has the exact traits needed to become a top defender.
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