Manchester United kickstart a vital month with an unconvincing win over Leeds United

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Sunday’s result against Leeds United is by far one of the biggest of the season for Manchester United.

Over the past week, the media have swarmed onto rumours of discontent within the Manchester United dressing room, with several questioning the captaincy future of Harry Maguire with the potential that Cristiano Ronaldo might take the armband.

The rumours then trickled into the press room when Ralf Rangnick was asked about the possible shift in captaincy.

“I must say this is absolutely nonsense […]  Harry [Maguire] is our captain and will stay our captain until the end of the season and there is nothing else to add on to that”

With the Red Devils’ game against Leeds United only days away, headlines were filled with these rumours instead of focusing on what is arguably the club’s biggest rivalry, when behind the scene, players were fully focused on what would be a massive game for the club.

The first half of the game was what would be expected on paper, a top-four team seemingly dominating against a relegation-threatened opponent with United even scoring their first set-piece after 139 attempts. Who was the scorer of the goal? The feature of the rumours, Harry Maguire.

Another major talking point from the first half is the Ronaldo chance. Many have claimed in recent weeks that the reason for the 37-year-old’s goal drought this season has been a lack of creativity from other players, but the chance showed it seems to be much more than that. This has now started to lead to questions being asked about where the side go from here to find goals.

The 10 minutes that followed from half-time showed why questions are continually asked of Rangnick’s men. In a seemingly very comfortable lead, United suddenly found themselves pegged back by two goals in the space of 24 seconds.

The first was a result of a misread cross turned shot from Rodrigo which realistically David de Gea has to do better with. The second though, showed exactly why United have struggled this season.

Bruno Fernandes found himself under pressure from Adam Forshaw who won the ball back well, and at this point, United seemed to switch off with little to no marking in the box upon Dan James’ entry into the area which resulted in Raphinha slotting home albeit under some pressure from Luke Shaw.

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Now whilst it was a well-worked goal by the Whites, by no means does that mean that Rangnick’s men should have been in the position to concede. With little to no options for Fernandes and a knowledge of the intense press a Marcelo Bielsa team utilises, there should have been at least some preparation for a dispossession, yet there was not.

This has been the case all too much for United this season and it is rare that there is a game where at least one goal is not spoken about where the side defensively, could and more importantly should do better.

The Red Devils eventually regained their two-goal lead late on in the game through well-worked goals from Fred and Anthony Elanga, which leads to two conclusions on the game and shows what United must do going from here.

It is no secret that defensively United need improvements, and in the long run, a partnership of Raphael Varane and Maguire could be a defensive stronghold, though it may be a case of changing formation that really excels Rangnick’s side to another level.

Sunday showed that whilst in parts the 4-3-3 could be a success for the Red Devils, Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka at times could be liabilities in the system, more so Wan-Bissaka than his left-sided counterpart.

The 24-year-old excelled defensively in his time at Crystal Palace and has shown glimpses of this too during his spell in Manchester with it clearly being his most important asset and Sunday highlighted this further. When out of possession, the right-back could often be seen jogging back, even when Leeds were in attack on his side and with the Whites’ goals both coming from his side, questions have to be asked.

This opens the question of a potential switch to a three or a five-back formation. Rangnick has been open to the idea of using this system during his time at RB Leipzig so a possible change to this would not be out of the question and would potentially put Wan-Bissaka in a more comfortable, defensively reliant role than the one he is usually in now.

The other conclusion focuses on the other end of the pitch. With Ronaldo’s goal drought and the growing popularity of Elanga, it would not come as a surprise if the young Swede is given more of a chance in the upcoming weeks with a longer run of games starting in the squad.

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The next month sees the side face the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, fellow top-four contenders Spurs and two Champions League fixtures against Atletico Madrid, meaning it is more than fair to say that this month’s outcomes will decide the fate of this squad for the rest of the season.

United’s stars will have to start showing up more consistently if they are to continue to fight to earn back their reputation as a major side that threatens for trophies in both England and Europe.

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