“A World Class Centre-Back Will Be At The Top Of Ole’s Shopping List” – Luke Chadwick

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It was great to be back at a football stadium on Saturday particularly the fantastic Carrow Road, but it was without doubt the strangest atmosphere I’ve ever witnessed especially considering it was the FA cup quarter final!

I’ve had the pleasure of playing at Carrow Road when it’s rocking and the atmosphere has been electric, how I’m sure it would have been on Saturday under normal circumstances.

The game itself was quite an untidy affair with a real lack of edge to it, which is completely understandable without the fans. United dominated the game without any real cutting edge in the first half, the second half was more open and more entertaining with Norwich having a good 20 minute spell where they scored and created some good opportunities.

The sending off of course changed the game with Norwich unable to get out their own half, then a captain’s goal from Harry Maguire settled it just before the dreaded penalty shoot out. I’m sure Ole would have been delighted to reach the semi-final but the performance would’ve given him plenty of food for thought moving forward.

I mentioned Elland Road as my favourite ground purely for the memory it sparks from scoring against Leeds for United, without doubt the biggest match I’ve ever scored in.

I’ve been back there on many occasions and never repeated that feat, and very seldom got a positive result but I will certainly remember the stadium for that 3 yard tap-in that meant so much.

But I’m still gutted we couldn’t hold on and win 1-0 then my claim to fame would have been scoring the winner – an even better story to tell the Grandkids, perhaps when the time comes I will slightly embellish and say it was a 30 yard screamer!

I think it’s great that Leeds look set to return to the Premier League, it’s a huge club with huge fanbase, and despite the rivalry between the two clubs I think the majority of United fans will be begrudgingly pleased to see them back to be part of that electric atmosphere when the two clubs meet. Also it will be interesting to see how they fare.

They have a world class manager in Bielsa who has got the team playing an attacking, high pressing game which I’m sure will see them be involved in some really exciting games.

That brings me on to United’s own style of play under Ole. In recent years the style has been questioned.

Pre-lockdown, I would say United’s best performances have been when playing counter attacking football, sitting deep and then hitting teams with the incredible pace and athleticism that Ole has at his disposal.

This can only really work against the top teams, as when the lesser clubs play United they want to do the same thing, often resulting in quite dour games.

Recently that has changed, a huge reason behind this has been the arrival of Bruno Fernades, his ability to stay on the ball and play forward passes as helped give United different options, coupled with this, the return to fitness of Paul Pogba and the form of Nemanja Matic it gives United a midfield 3 to rival anyone in the league capable of dominating possession as well as breaking quickly much like the wonderful teams of years gone by.

It was good to watch again on Tuesday. United were on the front foot from the first minute at Brighton, the confidence of the team was clear for all to see. For me, with everyone fit and on current form that was the strongest team Ole has. Great credit to Mason Greenwood to be in that, at such a young age but his ability to make things happen cannot be ignored.

His stats for somebody so young are brilliant and you can only see them further improving. For the first hour United were superb with Bruno’s second goal bringing back memories of some of our greatest teams. I fully expect United to keep this form going and end the season in the Champions League positions and also with some silverware to boot with the FA Cup and Europa League up for grabs. Then the biggest challenge will be further strengthening ready to close the gap on Liverpool and City next season!.

For me United have some great forward options, Greenwood playing off the right is a brilliant option with his ability to go both ways and getting shots in, it offers United a fantastic option moving forward. I think a world class central defender will be at the top of Ole’s shopping list. No disrespect to Maguire and Lindelof (one of the team’s most improved players) but to push for the title and the business end of the Champions League I believe the club need to get another in. Although that’s not easy – we have seen what the signing of Van Dijk has done for Liverpool and we could do with something similar.

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