Thread by @AbdelBeheri

Thread:

How Solskjær was one step ahead of Guardiola for 90mins!

Man City 0 v 2 Man Utd — Tactics #MUFC

From the off, #mufc showed aggressive intent. What was interesting was how compact & narrow Utd made the pitch vertically in their 4231 OOP. The dist. b/w CBs & forward 3 was maintained for large parts of the 90. This suffocated #mci centrally & denied Gundogan & KDB space.

#MUFC made sure they denied central overload through dropping a CB with #MCI's ST to prevent him space to receive and run at the defense. This was instantly shown when Maguire followed Jesus deep, giving him no space to turn. Lindelof shifted the line to cover Maguire.

#MUFC pressed high but they were very organized. They prevented City from building up through the middle by making the LW & RW tuck in very narrow.+ MR10 marked Cancelo. #MUFC press trigger was Zinchenko. They forced #MCI down left as they can win the ball wide using AWB & Scott.

MR10 marked Cancelo. When MR10 went out to press he always kept an eye on Cancelo's position & covered him by angling his runs. If Cancelo moved outwide to receive the ball when MR10 pressed. Fred moved out to press him. This forced Cancelo to go back to his CBs multiple times.

#MCI adapted to try to get out of #MUFC's press by moving Gunodgan wide left and KDB dragging Fred with him. The aim was to provide more angles for their CBs & Zinchenko to get out.

#MUFC in possession tried to buildup in a 2422. The double pivot moved asymmetrically to drag out #MCI in a very high press. This was very significant as it broke #MCI's press in half. DJ & MR10 pinned FBs high back & AM9/Fernandes dropped in the wide space left to receive &turn.

AM9 was very crucial to the plan as his ability to hold off defenders & keep the ball was greater than Fernandes. #mufc knew Rodri was going to mark Fernandes to prevent counters so they relied on AM9 to drop in the space created by separating #MCI backline from the high press.

Note: This goes un-noticed but it should be mentioned. Maguire's ability to carry the ball and dribble helps #mufc a lot to move out of press. When City pressed aggressively, Maguire always helped break the first line so Fred can lose after that. It's what the Pastor does.

#MCI out of poss. looked to press #mufc in a 442 with KDB pushing up. Gundogan & Rodri push the #mufc double pivot when the 1st line pressed the CBs. The wide players pressed the FBs when the ball moved out wide. This left City's at a disadvantage in midfield with Fernandes free.

In-possession #MCI were in 3133, #MCI filled the gaps between #mufc last line and 2nd line to receive but since United were very compact, all these gaps were tightly marked. Notice: KDB, Gundogan, & Cancelo.

#MCI tried different mechanisms to try to get access to those areas & get KDB & Gundogan on the ball. They switched the in-possession formation between 3133/343/334. However, the compactness in United's 4231 plus the narrowness of Rashford & James only left them the wide areas.

Since #mufc afforded #MCI only the wide areas. #MCI to create overloads there & then apply the switch to the right with Mahrez & isolated him with Luke Shawberto. Mahrez then would either cut in and take on Shaw or wait for an overlap.

#MCI also tried ball over the top since #mufc continued to press high with a high backline using Jesus and Sterling. However, Lindelof and AWB were excellent in recovering and denying them a clear shot or intercepting the ball.

2nd half #MCI changed their pressing scheme to prevent the overload in midfield when United buildup and stop their counters. However this left them exposed on the flanks as the narrow shape the wide players adopted left Shaw free. #mufc

https://twitter.com/AbdelBeheri/status/1368825428824240132?s=20

Illustrated here. From 442 pressing shape to 4123 shape. #MCI canceled the midfield overload but created a wide overload on their own FBs. This is where United second goal came from. City changed this pressing back to what it was after conceding the 2nd goal.

United's shape created a disadvantage for City either way they tried to press. #mufc

Guardiola then took Cancelo off as he was completely ineffective. Instead of looking for central areas, he tried to take advantage of the wide areas #mufc were leaving him by using Walker.#MCI forward 3 became narrow & allowed overlaps (ie. Walker). He also has the recovery pace.

Solskjær responded by bringing Matic on & switching to a 433 with 442 OOP. The interesting part was switching James left to give Walker issues and Scott moved right wide on Zincheko. This removed #mufc earlier central compactness & covered the wide areas.

The Williams change was just Solskjær wanting to take Fernandes off. #mufc switched to 532 OOP for a minute by that didn't change anything.

City forward players looked exhausted from running the length of the pitch after United when the counter. Jesus and KDB didn't even try to press until Guardiola shouted at them. I thought this was funny. #mufc

Final thoughts: United looked very meticulous and thought out in this game - as they do in all the big games. Even when they lose a big game, United always looked to have had a solid plan. However, vs the smaller teams, it seems Solskjær allows him a higher degree of freedom.

I think Solskjær believes and trust that these players are much better than the smaller oppositions so he expects them to use their imagination and quality to get over them. It's a valid way of going about it but some of the United players don't have the quality and imagination.

As such, #mufc look so lost in the smaller games sometimes. The principles & structures are still there. They don't change but there are no specific roles & ideas that they are trying to implement in those small games. I think Solskjaer should be more rigid in his approach.

Until, he gets an upgrade on certain positions and the quality of the XI jumps up. Then, he can allow them that freedom him wants to them to have. This is my thoughts anyway. Hope you enjoyed this thread.

End.

@utdarena