3 things Man United should change against Aston Villa

Erik Ten Hag is in the endgame now. While he may say that the board has decided to stay with him, the Manchester United manager knows the pressure is on him. The Red Devils will face a daunting challenge on matchday 7 as they face a resurgent Aston Villa with Unai Emry at the helm.

United is currently 13th in the Premier League table, with just 7 points. They have only won 1 match out of the last 5. If the Dutch mastermind is to change the team's standing in the PL table and his personal status with the board, he'll have to muster up something special against Villa.

Let's look at what changes he can make to beat Emery's Villa, who is 5th in the PL race and are coming fresh off defeating Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

3 things Man United should change against Aston Villa

#1 Stability in Defense

United have been leaking goals left, right, and center, which has become a glaring issue. Constant rotation in their backline due to injuries and topsy-turvy performances from Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt have rocked United. The duo has been unable to play from the back, which is important to the Dutchman's playing style; no wonder United lacks fluency while transitioning from a defensive setup to an attacking one.

It’s crucial that United find their footing against Villa. While Diego Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui have more of an offensive mindset, de Ligt and Martinez need to make sure that Andre Onana is tested as little as possible against the likes of Ollie Watkins. They will need to focus on communication to avoid the mistakes that have cost them dearly in recent matches.

#2 Casemiro needs to find his Real Madrid form:

United brought Casemiro in from Real Madrid last year to bolster their midfield and stop opposition attacks right at its inception. However, the 32-year-old defensive midfielder, a stalwart at Los Blancos protecting and supporting Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, cannot imitate the same in Ten Hag's 4-2-3-1 system.

This has led to Ten Hag losing confidence in the 5x Champions League winner. While Kobbie Mainoo has been firing on all cylinders in the midfield, the former Ajax manager has been forced to experiment a lot in that position, turning to Manuel Ugarte and Christian Eriksen because of Casemiro's inconsistency. When it comes to Emery's Villa, they try to win the ball as early as possible; thus, Casemiro and Co. need to up their game if they aim to provide the link between United's defense and offense.

#3 Finishing

United’s attacking woes are showing no signs of changing. Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund have failed to find the back of the net consistently. With only 17 goals from Hojlund in 47 appearances, United's attack looks blunt. On the other hand, Rashford needs to act like a seasoned player rather than portraying a "young kid on the block" image. He has 12 goals in 53 appearances under Ten Hag in the last two PL campaigns. These are not the stats of a big club's main offensive player.

If United want to reach double digits on the PL table in terms of points, they'll need Rashford and Hojlund to finish whatever chances they get.

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