Thread by @utdarena

Thread:

The reason why our possession occurs more on the left-hand side and why it is problematic.

Firstly, offence and defence both have three phases which teams create tactics for when they play. Leaving aside the defence, the offensive phases are:

Phase 1: Build
Phase 2: Progress
Phase 3: Create

Phase 1 usually occurs in the defensive third and the beginning part of the middle third, Phase 2 occurs in the middle third for the most part and Phase 3 occurs in the attacking third whilst it can occur from deeper areas.

Let's remember these three when reading on.

Our build-up often starts with the GK who passes it out to either CB. Then, the CBs carry the ball around 10 or so metres until they pass it to the FBs. Now, this is where the first obstruction occurs.

Wan-Bissaka is not proficient in Phase 1 (Build) which results in him passing laterally to Pogba or backwards to Lindelöf more. When he does find Greenwood, Mason, himself, tends to pass it back or to Pogba as well. Neither is proficient at building from the right.

When the ball comes to Pogba his natural action is to move the ball along. Why? The ball has come from both the RB or RM so instead of repeating that play moves it to the left which is a common occurrence. Here, Pogba often passes it to Matic.

Matic contributes to our left-side assymetry in two ways. Firstly, he is possession-dominant. This means he likes to have the ball at his feet. Secondly, his passing angles are not expansive as he is weak on his right side. This means he often takes the ball to the left.

Who receives it on the left? Shaw. Shaw is, likewise, possession-dominant and is proficient with the ball. He can take it under pressure and progress it which means he is both active and valuable in Phases 1 and 2 of our possession.

What occurs from this is that the ball tends to drift to the left-hand side more. This is aided by the fact that if Shaw passes to Rashford then Rashford, likewise, progresses the ball and does so even from deeper areas. Shaw and Rashford do what Wan-Bissaka and Greenwood don't.

This impacts Bruno Fernandes as he, too, wants to receive the ball to feet. So, he ends up drifting to the left as a result. Once he receives the ball he has four good options around in him Shaw, Matic, Rashford and Martial — who also drifts to the left at times.

Once we have finished our build up phase and are in our progression phase the same problem occurs on the right. Wan-Bissaka cannot progress the ball into dangerous areas which results in him just giving the ball to Pogba. The same occurs with Greenwood.

Well, what about Fernandes coming over? The reason Fernandes hardly drifts over to the right is due to Pogba. With Pogba there there's no need for Bruno to drift as there is nothing Bruno can do from there that Pogba can't. Fernandes brings more value as an option for Pogba.

Looking through our games with Greenwood starting it becomes clear that if we are not in Phase 3 — create — then Greenwood is hardly involved and the same happens to Wan-Bissaka and it is due to a lack of quality on that side from both.

Let's imagine we bought Jadon Sancho and, entertain the thought, let's say we bought Hakimi too even though he is moving to Inter.

Every time the ball is played on the right those two would build and progress themselves. Neither of them need a third player to help them.

We have this in Shaw and Rashford. Both of them can build and progress with neither of them needing a third. Rather, they are merely benefitted by further options. Wan-Bissaka and Greenwood, on the other hand, need that support and they use it often.

This means our play down the right usually ends across our midfield line as the ball gets played back to Pogba who eventually moves it to the left. Whereas, our play down the left usually ends up further up the field into the likes of Rashford, Fernandes, Martial or even Shaw.

Before we discuss the next part let's discuss what a ‘pressing trigger’ (PT). A PT is when a particular action has been done by the opposition which triggers the ‘go’ button in the other team's mind to press. For example, the ball moving to Wan-Bissaka is a PT for pressing teams.

This makes Wan-Bissaka a ‘press victim’ (PV) which means he is a player that is seen as a weakness when the ball arrives at him. This makes it easier for pressing teams to isolate him. This results in United not wanting to use him as much which ends up emphasising the left:

Why? Because a pass to Shaw is not a PT nor is Shaw a PV. He's competent on the ball in that he can gather, face and play — the three phases of receiving a ball and progressing it. Wan-Bissaka's gather is a problem and his facing is a problem due to his lack of awareness.

Then, we have Greenwood. Despite his talent in the final third his skillset isn't rounded enough to play in deeper roles in an independent manner like Rashford does. Him growing into that is a different issue entirely. As of now, he is a weakness.

Phase 1:
— Wan-Bissaka is a press victim
— Greenwood is uninvolved

Phase 2:
— Wan-Bissaka cannot progress effectively
— Greenwood cannot progress effectively or is uninvolved

This is seen in my Possession Value model which frequently gives them low values.

Does Sancho help this? Well, he should as he is competent in all three phases of possession as he builds, progresses and creates at high levels. However, he will still need support from a RB who is competent enough on the ball.

If this happens then it will allow our possession to become more symmetrical which increases our threat as a team. It also stops the more intelligent teams from overloading onto our left and centre which is what West Ham did recently to good effect.

Where does that leave Wan-Bissaka? Personally, I don't know. If we have games with 55% possession or less then his skillset is valuable as he has a lot of defending to do. However, when we have 65% possession then he doesn't have the facilities to facilitate our play.

Summary:

• possession is of three phases: build; progress; create
• we are deficient on our right in all three
• we overload on the left as a result

Conclusion:

To move to the next stage we need to fix this problem which requires Solskjær to make big decisions.