Thread by @dharnishiqbal

Ten Hag's Tactical change of moving Weghorst in the Number 10 position (mini-thread)

The change happened once Garnacho came on for Sancho on the left with Bruno Fernandes moved out to the right and Rashford down the middle

The following image is a good explanation of the positions Ten Hag wanted his altered front line to operate, in a game where United struggled to build up successfully and the ball wasn't really sticking to Weghorst as the central forward

The change proved unconventionally decisive and played a large part in United winning. What Weghorst offered centrally in the 'number 10 role' is the ability to link up play and attract Leeds defenders whilst picking out a team mate

Sometimes with Fernandes in that role, whilst he is 100% a key factor of Manchester United playing well he can often be snatchy and frantic, whereas Weghorst made the ball stick a little deeper where United needed to slow the game down as much as they could

We saw some of Weghorst's best attributes on show as he would chest the ball down pass it off to a team mate but then most importantly dart into the box to be a presence to occupy Leeds's backline

The other thing the positional changed did was allow for Utd to instead of hoof the ball long to Weghorst to link play up, they could simply go long using Martinez's distribution from deep to try and get Rashford in behind, but importantly in the game as he had largely been quiet

There was a significant number of times Weghorst used his height to chest the ball down link up with a a player and try release Garnacho or Rashford in behind. As Weghorst was in midfield to receive rather than further up the pitch, players were closer to link up with

In a game where second balls were often contested so it would be spooned in the air, in the final 30 minutes him receiving from a loose aerial contest was valuable.

Rather than punting it long to him (which United did often) and then playing runners off him, United had him closer to defence and midfield to help out, but then had Garnacho and Rashford occupying Leeds defensive line to pin them back and try be played in by Weghorst

The ball wasn't sticking to him up top so Ten Hag simply moved him further back 10 or 20 yards and used other players to threaten Leeds. There were a few times he linked up players in midfield and Garnacho was almost in behind just before his goal

For the 1st goal, Sabitzer for the 1st time in the game received from defence turned and was able to find a player who was Weghorst dropping in between the defence and midfield of Leeds. It attracted Mckennie and Adams, whereas one or the other might normally press Fred

Sabitzer was able to successfully transfer the ball from defence to midfield with Weghorst as the link. Fred was free as both of Leeds's pivots were attracted to Weghorst, who can eventually play it back to Sabitzer to switch the play for Luke Shaw to cross

Weghorst after being crucial in the build-up then ran into the box occupying Koch, it created space for Rashford who was left to be marked alone by Wober, with every Leeds defender in the box occupied, Weghorst's box presence made it and easier header for Rashford

Weghorst's height was advantageous in this position too, plucking the ball out of the air, holding off a Leeds player then releasing a United player. Ten Hag wanted his link-up play in the area where United were struggling for control in a chaotic game

For the 2nd goal his pressing with Fred results in him winning the ball and releasing Garnacho who does the rest to finish. The main benefit of having Weghorst in the 10 was to utilise players around him who were finding it difficult to get into the game due to the messiness

I'm not saying for one second, this should be a frequent occurrence, it is merely something that worked in-game that Ten Hag thought United needed to switch and like a lot of Ten Hag's changes this season it paid off massively

End of thread!
Shorter one than normal as the game to analyse wasn't the best with all the chaos

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