Manchester United Rumors: Manager May Have Found His Long-Term Formation After Tottenham Win

Manchester United bounced back in a big way against the Tottenham Hotspurs, and it may all be thanks to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 3-5-2 formation.

Barely-used Edinson Cavani found himself starting alongside Cristiano Ronaldo as the two-headed dragon on offense, while Bruno Fernandes was kept in the midfield to help pace the situation there.

The tinkering of the formations allowed both Ronaldo and Cavani to give the visiting Red Devils the lead before Marcus Rashford added a bowtie with a goal of his own in the dying minutes to ensure the victory.

Fernandes found a barely marked Ronaldo deep in the box, firing an overhead cross right into a superbly played volley for the first goal of the match at the 39th minute.

Ronaldo would continue to play the hero in the second half, finding a free-ranged Cavani to go one-on-one with Tottenham Hotspurs keeper Hugo Lloris to the second goal at the 64^th minute.

Fernandes found himself in the thick of things, setting up the Ronaldo assist with a wonderful tap right into his control.

Rashford found himself replacing Ronaldo at the 72nd minute and followed in the Portuguese superstar’s footsteps by firing home the game-sealing goal in the 88^th minute off a Nemanja Matic find.

Dropping a third attacker in favor of adding another player at midfield was the game-changing move for Solskjaer. which he hinted at by moving Fernandes down to midfield.

A few weeks ago, it was reported that shifting Fernandes to a central and attacking midfielder position would give Manchester United the flexibility needed to have a consistent presence in midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The final adjustment to a 3-5-2 formation against the Tottenham Hotspurs may be the magical formula to Manchester United’s woes as wing-backs Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka shined greatly in this match, helping give keeper David de Gea his first clean sheet in a long time.

However, this means that Jadon Sancho gets even less playing time than before as he has yet to glean any experience in playing the front three attacking roles.

His game mainly relies on having open space at the wings, but none of that made an appearance in the game against Tottenham.

This may be the norm for a while as Solskjaer secures his tenure at Old Trafford, and Sancho could gain more experience from playing the formation during future practices.

Prior to this match, the Norwegian was believed to be one loss away from being sacked but has since staved that off for now, until at least their UEFA Champions League fixture against Atalanta on Tuesday, November 2.

However, his biggest test could be in the Manchester Derby when they welcome their cross-town rivals Manchester City on Saturday, November 6 as the Red Devils look to barge right back into the top four of the English Premier League.