Danny Higginbotham believes Manchester United MUST create more time and space for Angel di Maria – otherwise the club's record signing will never be able to show his true ability
The former Real Madrid man has struggled to settle at Old Trafford, after completing a £60million switch last summer, and was removed at half-time of the Red Devils’ recent 2-0 Premier League victory over Sunderland.
But ex-United defender Higginbotham believes fans should not blame the 27-year-old, and insists Louis van Gaal’s side are not set up to the star’s strengths.
“It’s very difficult to bring the best out of Angel di Maria with the way Manchester United are playing,” he told Hawksbee and Delaney.
“Di Maria had the most assists in La Liga last season with 17, four clear of Cesc Fabregas, and look at what he is doing in the Premier League with Chelsea.
“What you have to do when you have players like Di Maria is get them time on the ball and space.
“Every time he gets the ball he has someone really close to him and more often than not he is facing his own goal. You need someone on the pitch to stretch the game.
“In football, when you don’t have the ball, you want to make the pitch compact. When you do have it you want it as big as possible. With Man United, whether they’ve got the ball or not, it’s always compact.
“You’ve got Wayne Rooney, Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie up top who always want to drop deep. You’ve got wingers playing on opposite sides who want to come infield, Di Maria with his left foot and Ashley Young with his right. All of a sudden, you’ve got four of your most attacking, dangerous players, in the space of about 15 yards.
“If I’m playing against that, I’m going to be delighted. When you play against the top teams and you’re one of the lesser teams you always show them into areas where you have plenty of players, usually inside.
“The last thing I would want is Di Maria one-on-one against me. That’s the problem Man United have at the moment.
“If they have a player up top like James Wilson or Marouane Fellaini, who can stretch the game in a different way, all of a sudden the likes of Ander Herrera, Di Maria, Juan Mata are going to get that vital extra time to make things happen.
”Manchester United have a great squad but they have a large majority of players who don’t want to make that run in behind, they all want to come really close.
“The opposition can then have one player who is effectively marking two players. The way you’re going to get the best out of Di Maria, Mata and Herrera is to create more time on the ball.”
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