“Very different…” Erik ten Hag could play unorthodox striker against Manchester City

Erik ten Hag has admitted that he could play a very unorthodox striker as Manchester United prepare to face Manchester City in the Community Shield next weekend.

While Manchester United are now deep into their pre-season, having played Rosenborg, Rangers, Arsenal, and Real Betis, their focus is starting to shift toward the 2024 Community Shield fixture against Manchester City.

Erik ten Hag‘s men qualified for the fixture after being Pep Guardiola and co. during the FA Cup final on the final day of the domestic season last campaign. With City having won the Premier League, the two will meet at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 10 August.

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However, after the tie against Arsenal, it was confirmed that Rasmus Højlund had sustained a six-week hamstring issue which rules him out of the clash next weekend. This gives Ten Hag an interesting predicament as Højlund was originally the only traditional No. 9 schedule to be fit to play in the fixture.

Against Betis, Jadon Sancho played a “false nine” role, a position that Bruno Fernandes had filled towards the end of the last campaign. The tactic worked well. Sancho scored but was ruled out for offside and played well.

However, United’s new signing, Joshua Zirkzee, returned to training at Carrington late last week but is yet to train with any of his teammates.

Ten Hag was asked recently who will play up front against City, and he admitted that he may have to use Sancho as the false nine against the player’s former club.

“I think we have to assess next week where we are, and they are in two very different situations,” Ten Hag told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “Jadon is in a pre-season, in the tour. Joshua had played in the Euros, then had his break and now started training in this week.

“So next week we have to assess those, and we will pick a team that’s capable to win the cup in the last game [of pre-season] against Manchester City.”

Further, Ten Hag was asked if, in preparation for the City game, he was going to play a strong team against Liverpool or opt to field a more rotated team considering the fact that the Betis win was just a few days ago.

“It’s always about finding the right balance in this,” he replied.

“We have to prepare for the season, but we understand that we have to give a performance and that we represent our club and that we represent Premier League football here. So [we have] to find the right balance in this.”

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