Talking Tactics: Ten Hag's plan leaves Man Utd susceptible to Wolves' attack

Erik ten Hag enters a crucial period of his reign as Manchester United manager, in which there can now be no excuses. 

The Dutch coach has admitted this week that he has his strongest line-up available to him, following an injury-hit campaign. 

New investors INEOS will therefore be looking for signs of improvement from his struggling side. 

Ahead of United's crucial trip to Wolves tonight, we look at the areas in which Ten Hag and his team must improve. 

Defensive returns

After the FA Cup victory against Newport County last Sunday, Ten Hag was asked if the Wolves match could finally see him name his strongest team. 

He said: "It could be, potentially, maybe for the first time as long as I was manager that we can pick a team from a squad that is probably the strongest."

That could be both a blessing and a curse for Ten Hag. On one hand he gets the opportunity to work with his best players. The flip side is that he must now deliver better results. 

In the 4-2 win in South Wales, the 53-year-old was able to bring Casemiro back into the side, to form a midfield partnership with Kobbie Mainoo. 

Ten Hag will hope this extra midfield solidity, allied with the return of key defenders such as Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez, will make his team more secure. 

Only four Premier League sides have conceded more shots than the Red Devils this season and three of those are the promoted clubs from the Championship. 

Tactical issues

The above statistic is clearly a worrying trend, with United looking consistently susceptible to counter-attacks. 

This would seem to stem from their own attacking patterns, which rely on Ten Hag's teams creating overloads which leave defensive players out of position. 

This imbalance created with inverted full-backs leaves space on the flanks to exploit. 

The central positions that the full-backs take restricts the ability of Ten Hag's midfielders to make forward runs and ensures the inverted wingers are often stuck in very wide positions. 

Ten Hag is far from the only manager to utilise this tactic but there is a big difference in using someone like Trent Alexander-Arnold infield, compared to Aaron Wan-Bissaka. 

The opportunities are falling to the wrong players at United, which is borne out by the fact they rank 17th for the percentage of shots on target. 

At a club that possesses a lot of attacking talent, something has gone badly wrong when only bottom two Burnley and Sheffield United have scored fewer goals. 

Wolves test

Everything points to Wolves causing problems for United, as they are both solid defensively and adept at swift counter-attacks. 

When the sides met at Old Trafford back in August, Ten Hag's team were extremely fortunate to emerge with a 1-0 victory. 

It could be argued that the manager's tactics have simply not worked this season but in his pre-match news conference, he seemed to be banking on his returning players making a difference. 

He said: "I am quite positive that we now have our players back, although some need minutes and match rhythm but I think the line into this game is good." 

With the Red Devils having failed to win any of their last four away league games, their fans will hope that Ten Hag's hunch is proved right.