How Tyrell Malacia Will Fit into Ten Hag’s Manchester United | Starting XI, Formation & Tactics

After hijacking Lyon’s deal, Manchester United have signed Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord for a reported 17 million euros as the Dutchman becomes the first signing of the Erik ten Hag era. Join me today as I take a look at How Tyrell Malacia Will Fit into Ten Hag’s Manchester United by diving into the Starting XI, Formation & Tactics that could see the Dutchman thrive at Old Trafford!

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The 22 year old left back is without doubt a Ten Hag player. Despite being around 5 foot 7, Malacia is fairly physical, especially in duels which helps him in attack AND defence. He’s also reasonably quick and a good technical defender. In fact his technical skills as a whole are very good, especially his first touch, close control and wide range of passing. And finally Malacia is tactically very intelligent and has a great understanding of the game. This impressive skill set sees him operate as an inverted full back. Often he takes up very central positions, notably in the midfield area. For Feyenoord, this has worked superbly and Malacia’s tactical intelligence allows him to provide balance to his team’s shape. The left back is very much a supporting player and he does tend to operate from deeper positions where he can influence the play with his passing range however he still makes overlaps when he’s needed like a traditional full back.

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Like a lot of modern full backs, Malacia shines when he’s in possession. He can play pretty much every pass on the pitch, and whilst he tends to keep things to a short or medium length, he can play accurate long passes, notably diagonal switches to the other flank. He’s also a very difficult player to knock off the ball and dispossess. In the final third he’s an unusual full back. Crossing is not his strong suit but he retains an excellent level of passing but again, this suits the role that he plays. His central positioning means he’s not always in a suitable position to cross from however he can receive in that Kevin de Bruyne sweet spot in the half space. When he does he’ll be pressured by defenders expecting the cross but often Malacia responds by faking the cross and slipping a teammate in behind with a through ball. This kind of passing is what you should expect from Malacia in the final third as he adds tempo to his side’s attack. Notably he does this with a well struck pass out wide or a line breaking pass or through ball like we mentioned earlier. But he also adds thrust with underlapping runs to the byline, often followed by a low cross.

Defensively, Tyrell Malacia is a tenacious and dedicated defender. 1 v 1 he’s very good, winning the ball back through tackles and interceptions nearly 4 times per 90 [3.8].
Malacia has good defensive technique, highlighted by his body position when in a 1 v 1. He tends to control the situation by funnelling his opponent one way through his position on the pitch whilst orienting himself so he can make a challenge. He’s also a very clean tackler with exceptional timing which makes him very good at making recovery challenges.

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So what can we expect at Manchester United? Expecting Ten Hag to deploy a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, Malacia will slot in at left back. He’s very much in the mould of a Daley Blind – a very good player in possession with a great passing range but one that doesn’t constantly influence the attacking play. So with that in mind expect him to operate in the defensive unit, either as a third centre back in a back 3 or from central midfield in the double pivot – providing Ten Hag uses a similar structure from his last Ajax side.

But what do you think? Will Malacia be the first choice left back at the start of the season? Let me know in the comments below.

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