3-5-2 - There's hope for Manchester United yet.

Article by Howard Jones

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Louis van Gaal's got plenty right, let's not forget that.

Since taking over the reins at Manchester United, the team have scored 17 goals in 5 games, almost three times the number they've conceded. OK, a 7-0 thumping of a mediocre LA Galaxy side helps boost these stats a little!

Of the 6 goals United have let in, one was a wonder goal from Roma's Pjanic and one was a debatable handball against the same team.

It's the other 4 goals, however, that expose the frailties of United's current 3-5-2 system.

• Against Real Madrid, for example, centre-half, Michael Keane, was dragged-across to the right to cover a long-ball played into Gareth Bale. Bale's pace and trickery then dazzled Keane and enticed him into making a clumsy challenge which led to a penalty. Wing-back, Antonia Valencia, was nowhere to be seen. A more defensively-minded player would have retreated to assist Keane, particularly when it was Valencia, himself, who'd conceded possession to Madrid some 20 seconds earlier.

• Against Liverpool, a neat ball between centre-back Phil Jones and wing-back Ashley Young saw Raheem Sterling win a penalty from Jones's rash challenge. Young could see the situation develop around him. He could see the defensive line was too deep to play offside but, instead of retreating to thwart Sterling's run, he simply stood still. Again, a defensively-minded wing-back would have read this and dropped back to shepherd the ball out of play.

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• Against Swansea, centre-half, Tyler Blackett, was forced across to the left to track a player that had got goal-side of Young after a neat one-two. This forced Smalling across to the same side to cover Sigurdsson but it was too late. Sigurdsson managed to slot the ball across to the unmarked, Ki Sung-Yeung, who was then free to drive the ball home. This goal could also have been avoided with a defensively-minded wing-back who had stayed deeper when the one-two was made.

• In the second-half of the same game, United switched to a 4-4-2 formation and adopted a nice flat-line for a Swansea cross, only to see Young's poor positioning (in his unfamiliar left-back spot) enable Routledge to peel-off behind him and find Sigurdsson for Swansea's second.

So, as you can see, there's a familiar pattern to these goals which sees offensively-minded players like Young and Valencia expose their defence from wing-back positions.
During the World Cup, van Gaal played Daley Blind as wing-back with either Daryl Janmaat or Dirk Kuyt on the other side. Both Blind and Janmaat are natural defenders for club and country whilst, attack-minded Kuyt had the necessary work-rate and discipline to adapt to the role.

In fact, with Kuyt, the Netherlands didn't concede a single goal from open-play in the knock-out stages of the tournament and, in turn, van Gaal's policy to use wing-backs saw them through to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

For Manchester United, players like Luke Shaw and Rafael will certainly be better-equipped as wing-backs because, like Blind and Janmaat, their mindset is to adopt defensive positions when the team aren't in possession. They can then rely on their pace to hit teams on the break when United get the ball back.

Until these two players are fully-fit, van Gaal should stick with 4-4-2 as his centre-backs don't have the legs to convert to wing-backs and his attackers clearly don't have the discipline to defend in these positions either.

So, roll-on the return of Shaw and Rafael. And, who knows, perhaps Blind will sign for United before transfer deadline day too?

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