Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards shares three main positives he found in Manchester United’s most recent game.
Saturday afternoon saw Manchester United face Tottenham in an action-packed 2-2 draw, where Matthijs de Ligt scored a last-minute equaliser.
Micah Richards shared his opinions on Saturday’s game, speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, arguing that although Utd were unable to take 3 points home to Old Trafford, there are still positives that the team should take from the match.
He focuses heavily on the passion shown by the players for the full 90 minutes, complementary to the determination on the pitch, with many Utd fans also recognising this shift in dynamics from prior matches.
He argued that three positives should be taken from the draw: United’s team spirit and togetherness, resilience under pressure and attacking quality.
Richards explains United’s spirit and togetherness
Richards began speaking, honing in on how United worked hard to maintain a unit throughout the whole of the match.
“I thought Man United showed grit, they showed heart, they showed spirit,” he said. These three things are a massive change from how people once viewed United players’ attitude, with this shift in morale vital in United maintaining their more successful run as of recent.
He further develops his point using Benjamin Šeško injury to illustrate his argument, “Šeško got injured, so they were playing with a man less in the game. Then [Matthijs] De Ligt comes up and scores a goal, you know, an important goal.”
De Ligt’s goal was working to keep spirits alive, putting United back in the game after falling behind in the second half, ensuring United took something from the match instead of letting the team spirit falter and the squad become complacent with a loss.
Richards praises United’s resilience under pressure
Despite being a “man less” due to Sesko’s injury, Richards commends United for continuing to remain in the game, with De Ligt’s goal solidifying the team’s found resilience, with perseverance arguably something the team has lacked within previous fixtures.
Richards continued: “So when you start getting results because of that, you know the changing room is still fighting for each other, and that is a good thing at United.”
This idea that Richards puts forward, with the team fighting for one another, is an incredibly important positive to take from Saturday’s game and hopefully something that follows United into upcoming fixtures, so they no longer accept defeat, which was seen previously in the season and start utilising the chances they’re given.
United’s attacking quality also praised
Finally, Richards shares how United’s attacking contributions to the Tottenham game are something that should be applauded.
Richards singles out Bryan Mbeumo and Amad, showing the depth of capable strikers United have within their squad. “You mention Mbeumo, very good player, Amad as well, so they’ll always score goals.”
This enunciates the options United have in these attacking positions, a huge positive for the team to continue to play to the standard they have been to meet expectations from what football fans expect from a club like Manchester United.
He ends his statement expressing how he believes that United “just need to tighten up now a little bit at the back, but they’ve still got the spirit there.” Creating the idea with a few more tweaks that United will be in a very comfortable position to once again be a club that opposition fear within the Premier League.
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