From talking to Reds, I know Paul Scholes isn’t alone in thinking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should drop one of his “two sitting players” so that Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes can play closer together.
Although it’s a criticism that the Manchester United manager has been subjected to, I can’t argue too much with the league table because I did not expect this team to win the title this season.
Solskjaer has enjoyed the solidity that two holding midfielders brings to his side, especially in the big games, with Scott McTominay and Fred becoming a regular midfield duo.
Meanwhile, Nemanja Matic has only played a bit part role.
I’m under the impression that Solskjaer doesn’t have full confidence yet in his centre-back pairing, and two sitting players offers extra security in front of our defence.
However, against Burnley at home this weekend, I don’t think we need to worry too much about the opposition when we’ve got more than enough players to beat them.
Pogba started on the left for United on Thursday night and impressed before being substituted at the interval. It was a wise decision to bring Donny van de Beek on because Granada were doing all they could to get the Frenchman sent off.
Scholes reckons it would be good to see Marcus Rashford on that left-hand side with Pogba playing closer to Fernandes in the middle.
“Solskjaer likes the two sitting players, I don’t think there’s a need for both of them, they need to get Pogba in a linking role with Bruno, if they do, it frees up another position for a forward player,” the former United midfield said on BT Sport, as quoted by The Sun.
“The awareness and cleverness they both have allows each other to link up. United’s two cleverest players are Fernandes and Pogba so if you can get them close together, they’ll score a lot and provide goals for others too.
“If they have a more dominant centre back, they could have a more attacking midfield.
“A lot of the time, United that attacking, flowing play, I think Pogba could bring that with Fernandes. If you get them in there, it frees up the left for Rashford, there’s no way you’d want to play against that.
“Discipline-wise Pogba isn’t always there at times but going forward he brings something different.”
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