Man United need to stand firm
There are many reasons for Manchester United to be steady in Italy tonight. Firstly, the fact that coach Solskjaer has not kept a solid seat at Old Trafford will be a great motivation for not only this strategist, but all M.U players to try. No one wants to have a big incident in the middle of a stressful start to the season, so they can't get up and throw everything away.
In addition to Solskjaer's future, the situation in Group F in the Champions League is not at all stable for Man United even though they are still at the top of the table. With the current gap of points between the 4 teams, if any team fails in tonight's match, the position will be disrupted. Maybe, it will not be until the final round that Group F will determine the 2 names that have entered the round of 16.
That said, it shows that M.U's top spot is very fragile at the moment. Anyway, they are still leading and need to maintain that advantage until the end of the group stage. Last season, M.U flew high after winning both PSG and Leipzig but then bitterly declined to play in the Europa League due to the loss to Istanbul. That scenario is not allowed to be repeated.
3 central defenders are fine, should be maintained
Bad news for M.U fans, before the match, center back Lindelof was injured during practice and could not start in tonight's match. Thus, the 3-center-back system like the win over Tottenham last weekend will change a bit (if still used). Maguire could then play on the right and Shaw could drop to the left as a centre-back.
It was not until now that Shaw got used to the position. Last season, Ole used the English defender over once in this role and Shaw did very well. The breath of life reached Solskjaer as soon as he received news that Lindelof could not play.
Atalanta will attack
Another talk about Man United needing to stand firm. Solskjaer's team will have to face great pressure from the home team Atalanta. In the first leg between the two teams, Atalanta was bitterly reversed. If they want to definitely advance, Gasperini and his team must win points against Manchester United.
Atalanta are the team that plays with the motto of scoring more goals than the opponent to win. Therefore, when falling into a difficult position, Ilicic and his teammates will have to bet on their own fragile defense.
As for Man United, they saw how loose the connection in Atalanta's defense is. This is an opportunity for Ole Solskjaer's defensive - counter-attacking style of play to be effective. With high-speed attackers like Rashford or Ronaldo, the opportunity to penetrate the opponent's defense will always appear firsthand like in the first leg.
The match between Atalanta and Man United will take place at 3:00 a.m. on November 3 (Vietnam time), live on FPT Television.
