continued.....

Around that time, more and more clubs were keeping an eye on Sabitzer. United's scouts, among others, would praise the tactical versatility the Austrian possessed, but doubts remained as to what made him particularly special.

Sabitzer is not a line-breaking passer, nor consistently successful in one-on-ones. What he can do best is to push his team out of their own half and then pick his spots once the team has advanced down the field.

The fact that Sabitzer scored five of his nine goals in the 2019-20 season via shots from outside the box was in part the result of his positional understanding and movement behind the attacking lines.

He might have more in common with United midfielder Donny van de Beek, who is currently recovering from a knee injury, than Eriksen, because the Dane is able to read the field better and expose defensive weaknesses faster than Sabitzer.

Sabitzer, though, can be the dynamic midfielder who is constantly pressuring from behind and comfortable playing in all zones on the pitch.

Following the £14m move from Leipzig to Bayern, he was only rarely able to shine - making just seven starts for the Germans this season.

He had a string of starting appearances in the second half of the 2021-22 season but would never be the anchor of Bayern's midfield, contrary to his roles at Leipzig and the Austria national team where he had been the one dictating possession.

It will be a test for Ten Hag to integrate Sabitzer into his evolving side.

The Austrian does not possess the CV to be a leader from the start, even less so because he is considered a temporary replacement for Eriksen.

United made a clever last-minute decision on deadline day and arguably found the best short-term solution available - now Ten Hag has to find a way to make it work.

That is some deal you guys have pulled off. We were after him at Spurs a couple of years back before he went to Bayern. He's silky and has a real eye for a pass. To get someone his ability in as cover for Eriksen at the last minute is astounding business.

Annoyingly it does seem United finally have their shizzle in order. It is amazing how quickly a good manager with a clear vision can stabilize a whole club.

He's obviously coming highly motivated trying to kick start his career. If his ability matches his ambition it could be an inspired signing

I look forward to seeing him in action as I think I've only ever seen him in an international match? Fingers crossed he can step up but that's a good read there

Could be a smart move if he slot into the team quickly.

Thanks for sharing, Elvis.

There is an article about him on the Athletic which goes less into his profile as a player and more into his history. Apparently, he was focused on developing his career in the moves he chose as a youngster, even deliberately not trying hard in a trial with Bayern Munich because he believed that staying in Austria was the right thing at that stage of his career.

Given we’re down to 3 senior CM’s for the next few weeks he’s definitely gonna be getting lots of game time.

Sounds like a good player but different to Eriksen and we’ll have to adapt accordingly. Maybe it’ll mean we see less of Casemiro’s offensive play (which has been pretty impressive) as well as less control of the ball overall. Hopefully adapting from Bundesliga to PL doesn’t take too long as he is needed quite urgently.

I saw clips of his performance against us in the CL a couple years back and he seemed to like pinging some balls out to the left wing which Rashford would love.

Also being 4th choice at Bayern behind those 3 players isn’t really a bad thing. They’re 3 fantastic players.

From what I've seen of him he's probably going to be our third best CM after Casemiro and Eriksen, which sort of tells us how far we've dropped in recent years given he's 4th in line at Bayern - Bayern's 4th choice midfielders are better than our 3rd & 4th choice players... We need a lot more strength in depth in a few positions if we're going to compete on multiple fronts.

I think this could be quite a savvy signing, and I do wonder if both him and Weghorst might end up signing permanently. They could be very shrewd, low cost squad options beyond this season.

Doesn’t Musiala play further forward closer to Bruno’s role? Meaning Sabitzer was actually 3 choice CM for Bayern as he is now for us?

Bayern have also had strength in depth for years in midfield where that’s been a terrible area for us since before Ferguson left.

It seems to me from what I read that his role is more of a Bruno/VdB than a direct replacement for Eriksen. This may be a savvy signing but make not mistake, the loss of Eriksen is a bitter blow.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 14 minutes ago
Doesn’t Musiala play further forward closer to Bruno’s role? Meaning Sabitzer was actually 3 choice CM for Bayern as he is now for us?

Bayern have also had strength in depth for years in midfield where that’s been a terrible area for us since before Ferguson left.
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Yeah, they also have Ryan Gravenberch, who was ahead of Sabitzer in the pecking order.

Thanks for that Elvis, interesting reading. I'm sure Erik will know who to play where. From what I've read I don't se why he can't be a direct replacement for Erikson, albeit in a different style.

He should be able to help our counter pressing in a way Eriksen can’t.

M52

The issue seems to be that EtH clearly likes to have a player who can control the ball from deep and help dictate play which was why he was so desperate for FdJ as well as getting in Eriksen.

Sabitzer sounds good but he is quite different and will mean us having to adapt without that. But it is at least promising to see the club can react in the market very quickly and seemingly bring in someone quality and not just some big name on big wages like we’ve seen in the past.

In terms of positioning, Sabitzer sounds like he’d be used more like Gravenberch was at Ajax. Playing higher as an 8, but having the mobility to get up and down the pitch. But it’s difficult to try and map these things onto his Ajax team because of the difference in their abilities to build up from the back. That’s still an area we are lacking, so having two cm’s deeper to help build up play is preferable.

Let’s hope we get third time lucky from Bayern after two duds.

Hargreaves’s might have had his injuries but he played a part in us winning the league and CL in ‘08.

I came across this video earlier, my first thought was how Rashford could thrive on those early diagonals, a pass our wingers used to receive from Paul Scholes on a regular basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvW21PavFek

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
I came across this video earlier, my first thought was how Rashford could thrive on those early diagonals, a pass our wingers used to receive from Paul Scholes on a regular basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvW21PavFek
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I can't open the video but if it's the same one I saw earlier he does seem to like the LCM to RW diagonal. That could benefit Antony too as well as Rashford if he finds himself on the right.

It’s the game against us in 2020, there are a couple of diagonals to the left too, one is an assist.

Should be titled AWB destroyed Man United back in 2020.