Christian Eriksen:
Seriously, where would United be without this man? Eriksen’s presence from game to game isn’t one that slaps you in the face, but it’s absolutely crucial to everything Ten Hag is trying to instil in his team. His range of passing is sublime, his press resistance second to none, and he has an eye for goal to tie it all together. He’s played out of position virtually all season as a deep-lying playmaker and has still been United’s best player of 2022-23 thus far. Arriving on a free transfer, Eriksen is the player Paul Pogba was meant to be. The Dane represents one of the best pieces of business they’ve ever done.
Marcus Rashford:
‘Like Manchester, Rashford is red’ rang around the walls of Old Trafford several times on the night, and understandably so. United’s star man is back. Rashford’s head is up once again and he looks completely reborn under Ten Hag. It’s been an incredibly difficult few years for him battling injury and inconsistency, while also breaking into the team in one of the club’s most difficult periods in recent times. However, there’s no sunshine without rain, and the redemption arc looks stronger than ever. When Rashford is running at you full pelt, throwing in his colourful pallet of skills and letting half an eye take a look at goal, you’re in trouble. The goal he scored to put United 2-0 up shows just how dangerous he can be when on form. The next step for him now is obviously to turn this into a consistent feature of his game. But from what we’ve seen of the 25-year-old under Ten Hag, it’s becoming easier and easier to believe that it will happen.
David de Gea:
For all of the discourse surrounding De Gea and his lacking ability to play in a possession-based side, watching Martin Dubravka for United served as a timely reminder that you shouldn’t take the Spaniard for granted. It also shows that, while still not perfect, De Gea has improved with the ball at his feet. The veteran stopper provides a much more calming presence behind his defenders and rarely makes such silly mistakes. In a time where everyone is desperate for goalkeepers to do everything from saving, to passing, to being penalty-takers, De Gea is perfect at doing his job and nothing more. He’ll rack up plenty of points for United in the second half of the season, as he so often has done.
