Man Utd Great Brian McClair Slams 'Risky' Playing Out from the Back: “It’s Polluted Football"
Man Utd legend Brian McClair believes his former club having a glaring problem – playing out from the back! United boss Erik ten Hag is a big fan of the now world-renowned style of play, with goalkeeper Andre Onana used as a pivotal starting point for patient build-up play which relies heading on defenders.
Brian McClair and Jim Rosenthal//Getty Images
Pep Guardiola is credited with making the style so popular, firstly as a player with Barcelona, then as manager of the Catalan giants in La Liga and then Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
The style has worked wonders for Guardiola at Manchester City. They have dominated the Premier League and a won staggering six league titles in the past seven seasons.
McClair Criticises United's Defensive Approach
But four-time Premier League McClair is adamant United need more ball-playing defenders to fully embrace the tactic.
“Defensively they (United) need to improve,” McClair told SportsBoom.com.
“I’m not a fan of playing out from the back like they do. This (style) is all based on an amazing Barcelona team, it’s something for me which has polluted football.”
“It’s happened all over the place, taking risks for no reason. I just don’t get it at all.”
Concerns After the Community Shield Defeat
City beat United on penalties in the Community Shield final at Wembley to secure their first silverware of the season last Saturday.
But McClair admitted he watched in disbelief as United’s defenders tried to be too clever with the ball in their own box.
I think the most pertinent thing about the Community Shield (against Man City) was the way United played out from the back
McClair
“The players looked uncomfortable doing it and like they’d rather not have the ball.”
“At one stage Jonny Evans ended up dribbling a ball out for a corner. It mystifies me, it really does.”
“I know some teams do it, but watching (Man) City and Liverpool, well they’ve also not got a problem knocking the ball long.”
“I revert back to a quote from the great late Sir Matt Busby when he said, ‘you can’t score from inside your own penalty box, only in the opposition’s penalty box’. At United it’s looked uncomfortable for certain players for a while.”
New Signings Could Improve United’s Defence
“But you never know, that might change with these two new players (defenders Matthijs Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui).
Centre-back De Ligt and full-back Mazraoui have both joined the Red Devils this week, having both previously played for Ten Hag in his successful Ajax side.
McClair added: “Both of those players may well be better football players in terms of receiving the ball and receiving the ball in the final third than maybe Harry Maguire or Jonny Evans is.”
“Jonny is slightly different because he’s at the stage of his career where he’s probably not going to play every game.”
“But defensively they need to get better – and clearly the players who have been at the club for a long time.”
Key Players for Ten Hag's System
I think (Lisandro) Martinez and (Luke) Shaw are going to be very important.
Brian McClair
“When them two are fit there’s no issue on the left-hand side of the pitch.”
*Read Brian McClair's Premier League score predictions for each game week of the Premier League season on Gambling.com
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.