Against Luton, van de Beek tried to combine with players but was only really able with Mata as they were on similar wavelengths. He made quite a few runs into space but wasn't even looked at as an option at times.

Hopefully, he is facilitated more in this upcoming game.

Van de Beek is an instinctive footballer and if you watch him only for just a few games you'll notice that he has a set pattern of movement into the channels — muscle memory essentially. It was so effective for Ajax as the players were spacially and positionally aware.

If van de Beek makes those runs into the channels then United need to either (1) find him or (2) utilising the space he has created by dragging the opposition player away.

If neither is done it becomes wasted movement and we wasted a lot of his movement a lot vs Luton.

United are not coached to play to runners into the channels unless there is comfort in the pass. This is why Martial often becomes frustrated at not receiving passes when he feels he is free. The passer does not feel comfortable and in 90% of cases it is due to a lack of quality.

The risk with this is that van de Beek might stop making those runs even though they would be effective as long as we followed through with them. Instead, he might just come deeper to collect and waste a lot of quality — the quality he was bought for.

This wouldn't be van de Beek's fault either. Rather, a good coach must facilitate the players’ strengths whilst masking their weaknesses. There is no use in buying van de Beek and not playing to his strengths especially when his strengths are incredibly valuable.