Why Lindelof is struggling so far this season and Man Utd's surprise solution

Manchester United invested heavily in their back line this summer with a view to improving their underwhelming defensive record from last season.

United's defence ranked way down in 11th in the Premier League after conceding 54 league goals. That tally was bettered by the likes of Newcastle United, Wolves and Leicester City.

The arrival of Harry Maguire for the hefty fee of £80million was meant to sure up United's defensive problems, yet so far Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have failed to follow up on their clean sheet from their opening day victory vs Chelsea.

In fact, that 4-0 win remains their only victory in the Premier League this season after a poor defeat at home to Crystal Palace was sandwiched in between two draws vs Wolves and Southampton. The defeat to both Palace and the draw against Southampton brought into question the defensive qualities of Victor Lindelof.

The Swedish international has suffered an up and down two years since arriving at Old Trafford from Benfica for a hefty £30m back in 2017. He failed to impress then manager Jose Mourinho but became a regular under Solskjaer after the Norwegian succeeded the Portuguese coach in Decemeber.

However, he was singled out as the player at fault for allowing Southampton's Jannik Vestergaard to outjump him on the edge of the six-yard-box last weekend in the Saints' equalising goal. At 6ft6in, the Southampton man is a towering presence in the box and difficult to beat in the air, therefore justifications could have been made for Lindelof losing that particular aerial duel with his opponent.

Yet, his failure to action what should have been a routine header from Palace's long clearance up field last weekend at Old Trafford was much harder to defend. With Maguire not in a position to sweep behind Lindelof, it was crucial that the United defender won the initial header. However, he somehow managed to surrender his dominant position and allow Jeffrey Schlupp to better him in the air.

A recurring error within his play and one of the main reasons he lost out in that aerial duel seems to be due to his decision to use both feet to jump into headers. When doing this, his jump can be fairly slow with an average height in terms of ground clearance. It seems some teams are aware of this vulnerability and are now targeting the United back line with high balls.

Note as the ball is heading towards Lindelof's vicinity, he should be the favourite to win the duel vs Schlupp who stands at just 5ft10in.

However, he jumps into the air with both feet initially flat creating very little spring behind his leap. Schlupp's jump generates much more power giving him a height advantage.

The Palace man wins the header, putting Jordan Ayew through in on goal to hand the visitors the lead.

It's not the first time the Swedish international has been guilty of errors at crucial periods resulting in goals against United. He misjudged a header vs Huddersfield early into his career in 2017 which put Laurent Depoitre through to score the Terriers winning goal in a 2-1 defeat.

With Lindelof seemingly unable to shake off his susceptibility to defensive errors, particularly in the air, the door may be opened again for outcast Phil Jones to step in and try to reignite his Old Trafford career.

Jones has still yet to feature this season and looked a likely candidate to leave the club this summer.

Yet, Solskjaer decided to keep the defender for cover, instead allowing Chris Smalling to join Roma on loan. While he has flattered to deceive in recent seasons for the Reds, the former England international is still just 27-years-old and just coming into his prime.

Even during his most recent 12 months at the club, he surprisingly could still better Lindelof in terms of defensive duels won, interceptions made and notably, aerial duels won. He even bettered his team-mate in terms of passing accuracy, an area of skill most associated with Lindelof.

Further investment may be required in January in order to find a suitable defensive partner for Maguire, but in the meantime, Solskjaer may be required to turn to Jones if United want to avoid sides exploiting their current defensive vulnerabilities.