Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick has told Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane that they will face a big “test” against Erling Haaland in this weekend’s Manchester Derby against Manchester City.
The Red Devils have shown significant improvement in recent games after a terrible start to the season, but it remains to be seen if they’re really ready for a team as good as City.
Erik ten Hag looks to have made some progress with these players, with Chadwick highlighting the improved defence as being key to Man Utd’s recent run of form.
Against City goal machine Haaland, however, Martinez and Varane will surely face their biggest test of the season so far, and one that they’ll need to pass if they are to have any hope of getting a result at the Etihad Stadium.
“Erling Haaland has had an amazing start to the season, but United have tightened up in defence, so it will be interesting to see how the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane pass this test,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside.
“The obvious threat is Erling Haaland – he doesn’t always have a huge impact throughout the game, but he’s scored a huge volume of goals. Particularly in that game against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, he didn’t have the best performance but he won it with an absolute worldie of a goal.
“He’s the main threat in terms of goal-scoring, but De Bruyne is so important as well, he’s such a complete player and will be looking to play those balls into Haaland.
“But they’ve got threats everywhere, Pep Guardiola has an embarrassment of riches with the likes of Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish – you just hope it’s one of those days where it doesn’t quite happen for them.
“United will have to score, though, because I can’t see City not scoring on the day.”
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