Murphy thinks Man Utd must enforce ban and slams Weghorst with ‘mum’ insult
Ten Hag coy on Man Utd's links with Neymar
Danny Murphy feels Manchester United must ban David De Gea from kicking short when the Red Devils lock horns with Manchester City in the FA Cup final next week. And the former Liverpool star has also taken aim at Wout Weghorst by saying the Netherlands international is ‘barely quicker than my mum’. Erik ten Hag’s side will go into the match as underdogs as they look to stop their rivals’ charge towards a stunning treble.
United have locked horns with Manchester City twice this season already.
They were hammered 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium at the beginning of the campaign with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden bagging hat-tricks for Pep Guardiola’s side.
But the Red Devils did get revenge with a 2-1 win over City in January.
Murphy, writing for the Daily Mail, has now given Ten Hag advice and feels the Dutchman must ‘forbid’ De Gea from playing out from the back.
“United can’t afford to gift City anything and as the champions are brilliant at pressing, and De Gea uncomfortable with his feet, I’d ask him to kick long. Every. Single. Time,” he wrote.
“It’s not a style that will win the league but in a one-final against the best in Europe, you have to do what it takes.
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“And that means trying to release Rashford and Garnacho and as long the midfielders to pick up second balls, so be it.
“To ask De Gea to play out is asking for trouble so you may as well remove any uncertainty and expressly forbid it.”
And the former Liverpool star then took aim at Weghorst by saying the striker was ‘barely quicker’ than his own mother.
“It’s always difficult to second-guess Pep Guardiola but assuming he plays his strongest team with Ruben Dias and John Stones in the middle of defence, United need genuine pace at centre-forward to unsettle them,” he stated.
“We know Stones likes to step into midfield so if United get a turnover, they need to exploit Dias one-against-one.
“Anthony Martial isn’t quicker than Dias and Wout Weghorst is barely quicker than my Mum, so that means Rashford down the middle.
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“He’ll make Stones think twice about pushing forward.
“Ten Hag has the luxury of having a ready-made replacement on the left if he moves Rashford inside – from what I’ve seen Alejandro Garnacho is a natural winger who can catch pigeons.
“Ten Hag might take this approach but I’m not sure.”
Murphy also feels United would be wise to start Fred for the showdown as well, despite the Brazil international falling out of favour in recent times.
“This is an absolute necessity. When Fred played alongside Casemiro at Old Trafford, United won,” he said.
“When Ten Hag played only one natural holding midfielder at The Etihad and asked Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen to fill in, they shipped six.
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“I am pretty sure ten Hag will start with either Fred or Scott McTominay.
“Otherwise they won’t be able to contain Gundogan and De Bruyne. I’m sure the United manager will recognise that.
“I realise United scored a controversial goal in beating City in January but that doesn’t hide the fact Casemiro and Fred were terrific.”
As for Ten Hag, the Dutchman has insisted he’ll do everything in his power to stop City from reigning supreme.
“When I came here one year ago I said we wanted to win trophies,” he said.
“We have won one – but now we want to go for the highest.
“We have come a long way but this is going to be a project. It is not over one year. We are talking two or three years.
“But when there’s an opportunity to win a trophy, for every player it’s massive.
“I had a count and there are not so many players in our squad who have won the FA Cup. It is huge.
“The FA Cup is all over the world. It is global wide with a huge reputation.
“We have an opportunity to win it. We are realistic that it’s not going to be easy, but I can assure we will give everything in our power to get the cup.”
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