Maheus CuHa is the biggest and most expected version of MU this summer. But with expectations is always a risk. The problem comes from the competition habit and the performance of the Cunha.
There is a remarkable statistic about Cunha last season. The Brazilian has spent up to 77.1% of the play time to … walk. This is the highest rate of the Premier League among the minimum players playing 1,800 minutes.
That does not mean that Cunha is a lazy player. Because in a match, not all contributions are involved in sprinting or pressing opponents. Some players walk more than other players to take advantage of the time to read the match, save strength and maintain tactical discipline.
However, when looking at the top 5 most walkers of the Premier League last season, behind CunHa is Virgil Van Dijk (76.6%), Murillo (74.3%), Erzi Konsa (74.2%) and Ola Aina (73.8). All 4 people are central defenders, the position that allows them to play “static” to judge the opponent and read the match.
As for CuHa, it seems like standing outside the high pressing trend of the Premier League teams. Of course, the Brazilian striker is not a “lazy maneuvering” model in a negative sense. CuHa is very good at keeping the ball, moving smart and choosing the time to press and accelerate. But no one forced Cunha to run a lot, even coach Vitor Pereira did not dare to do it to Wolves's most personality player.
But in MU is different. The leisurely play of Cunha is completely different from Ruben Amorim's height and space control philosophy. In the 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 diagram of the Portuguese coach, the striker is not only the scorer, but also the first “shield” of the defensive system. If the Cunha continues to maintain the low frequency of operating when there is no ball, he will become a weak link in the system that is in need of high synchronization of Amorim.
In terms of operation frequency, Rasmus Hojlund is the type of striker that Amorim waited. The Danish player is ready to press frantically, burns all the energy for 90 minutes, and do not forget that Hojlund performed the number of balls 10 times more than the last season.
Conflicts will arise from here. Amorim will not accept such a high walking rate for a player. CuHa will have to adjust the gameplay, but how to adjust to another is another story. And even increasing the frequency of operating as required by Amorim can reduce the danger of the Cunha due to loss of strength. In Wolves last season, Cunha shone brightly with 17 goals, 6 assists is thanks to his way.
If Amorim pampered CuHa like Vitor Pereira, he would probably contribute to damaging MU's Pressing system. Considering the current context, the Portuguese coach will put the highest collective benefits. Any star must fight for the team. And how Amorim “reformed” CuHa next season will decide the success or failure of this contract.
The blockbuster transferred or was just a “walking ghost”, the difficult question was in front of the Cunha.
