Thread by @vybhavbadri

The Artful Dodger: A case study on Edinson Cavani.

Match Analysed: Tottenham 1-3 Man Utd

I decided to look at the movement of Edinson Cavani using his performance vs Spurs away, one of his best in a Utd shirt and look at why ole wants him to stay.

In this thread we’ll see:
1.The positions he picks up+ how he stays unmarked
2.favoured runs
3.Corners
4.Him vs the rest
5.Involvement in goals
NOTE: due to character limits, I have used some short forms

1. Positions Picked Up & Method of Staying Unmarked:
Cavani is a CF similar to pre-Pep Aguero. He stays upfront, mostly on the blind side of the opp. CB to the ball. Hence, he is always ready to attack a cross if the play continues down that side.
This is Blindside positioning

This position is commonly taken up by Centre forwards like Haaland, Aguero, and is conducive for attacking crosses as it leaves u with 3 runs while attacking a cross.
1.Run across the defender
2.Peel to the back post
3.Drop off the penalty spot.

Here: AWB's coming forward. Cavani doesn’t come across but maintains his position on the blindside. It allows him to attack crosses if Rashford+AWB get forward but also creates space for them to do so. If he came across, he’d reduce UTD’s box threat while also drawing defenders.

Here: Cavani moves away from play towards the blindside of Dier as the ball breaks. It allows him to be ready in the box for a cross & creates space for the 1v1. Here, Marcus should be direct, going past Rodon and crossing. He messes up but Cavani’s movement creates the opening

STAYING OFFSIDE:
Cavani spends a lot of time upfront. So how does he stay elusive? The answer is Staying Offside.
Cavani likes staying on the Far side CB’s Blindside. If the ball is moving from side to side, he will have to keep shuffling accordingly, attracting attention.

Cavani stays elusive by moving offside. This means that defenders can no longer mark him so will often lose track of where he is as they watch the ball and needn't pay attention to a man who can't receive.
Cavani uses this before coming back onside just before the supply

Here, as the ball moves to the right, Cavani moves up to Dier’s Blindside. however, notice how as the ball moves leftward, he lets the line push up and goes offside in order to drift across unchecked.
Defenders end up unsure of where he is, which is insanely useful in the box.

Here, as Shaw plays infield, Cavani moves up into a blindside-offside position again. He stays there until Rashford receives and clears his foot for a cross which allows him to stay elusive as long as possible before dropping and running across.

Dier was aware this time, but Cavani was still able to create a separation b/w them.
This clip highlights 1 important thing: Why He stays offside
Cavani isn’t involved in Build-up. He doesn’t stay onside as he isn’t likely to receive. U can still be onside if u’re behind just

before the kick but offside before that
Cavani stays offside to lose the defenders attention before dropping just prior to the pass and then making a run.
The cue is a player receiving who might pass or a player getting his head up and looking towards him.

Here, the trick pays off. Cavani is b/w the far CB & FB. After Reguilon’s touch informs him of the space, He doesn’t drop & moves offside. Due to this, Reguilon loses track & gets sucked in, allowing him to move to the back post. Reguilon sees him(0:20) but by then its late.

2.Favoured Runs:
Cavani Likes to Run across Defenders, using his Blindside position, a sharp move & the Element Of Surprise to get in front of them. If he isn’t behind defenders already, he will look to move behind them before darting to sharply get across.
Here is an example;

Cavani isn’t limited though, as here, we can see that Cavani makes the same run. After the ball goes out wide after the poor cross, Rodon cuts his run to the near post & he adapts by going behind Rodon instead.
Its noteworthy how conscious Rodon was of getting across Cavani

rather than merely marking him. He wants to prevent the run across as it’s the key threat.
Here, when Cavani first drops in case Bruno turns (CUE) but then moves to the blindside.
When Dier puts an arm across to stop the threat, he adapts & goes behind him for a first-time ball

3. Corners:
At corners, Utd used inswingers aimed at the spot. Cavani positioned himself at the near post & make sacrifice darts to the near post opening space centrally.
He'd then quickly come back & look to get on the end of knock downs from headers or spillages from the gk

4. Cavani vs the Rest:
When contrasted with the others, its clear to see why Cavani is crucial. Utd really lack a player with box instincts & movements like him & when Cavani is missing, u can see a noticeable difference in Utd’s threat in the box. Rashford particularly

switches off when he hasn’t made eye contact with the passer, which often means he doesn’t attack balls across the 6-yard box for example. Cavani in comparison is sharp & alert, ready to pounce, making runs & always an option regardless of whether the passer is looking for him

5. Involvement In Goals:
Cavani was sharp in this match, having a dangerous chance in the 1st goal, scoring the 2nd & having one disallowed.
In the disallowed goal, Cavani’s constant movement stands out as he is readjusting & making 2nd & 3rd runs depending on play.

He starts offside, moving away from the ball to his far side Blindspot, expecting Fred to play to Shaw. When Fred plays into Pogba, he readjusts & drops to link with Pogba.
Pogba however, freezes 2 spurs players (La Pausa-esque) creating a run & slide rule pass.

The goal isn’t possible without Cavani readjusting depending on developing play & making suitable movements
For the 1st goal, Cavani is offside (again) & b/w CB's before dropping as Fred receives, either for a pass out wide to the 3v2 or for the link up as in the goal.

In the 2nd goal, u can see one important facet in terms of service for Cavani: the early pass or cross.
Cavani picks up clever positions & is normally unmarked. He then uses a sharp bursts toattack the space & get behind the defender which requires quick, early service.

As u can see in this video from YouTube u can see Cavani guiding Greenwood, asking him specifically for the early pass.
in the goal, Greenwood's early cross is perfect service for Cavani before the Uruguayan shows excellent heading to score.

We see this culminating in the goal, where Cavani positions himself on the blindside of Dier, consistently staying behind him. This forces Dier to drop, so he can keep an eye on Cavani more easily & cut the dart across.
That however leaves Cavani in a 1v1 vs Aurier & goalside.

In summary: Cavani is an elite moving and a trademark CF whose movements stand up vs the very best in the world.
His performance vs Spurs was indeed that of an Artful Dodger

His repertoire of positioing, darts, spacial intelligence and ellusiveness made Ole's decision to keep him fairly easy.
It will be interesting to see how the dynamic works with the arrival of Ronaldo, but Cavani is still integral to Man united & will be this season.

Pls do make sure to like, share/RT if u enjoyed the analysis as i am trying to grow further
Let me know ur feedback, any thing u disagreed with etc.
Also do let me know about the Videos i made for the goals as its a format of analysis i am exploring.

I will be analysing Utd and non utd stuff over the course of this season, so do check them out.
for people looking for a blog version:
@threadreaderapp unroll

Everyone checking out this analysis, kindly do check out this clip as well as it is the actual clip.
Due to unforeseen issues it didn't get posted

https://twitter.com/vybhavbadri/status/1435579796075864071?s=19

Everyone kindly view this clip as well, due to unforeseen issues it didn't get posted

https://twitter.com/vybhavbadri/status/1435568941733085187?s=19

https://twitter.com/vybhavbadri/status/1435579796075864071?s=19

do make sure to check this out

Pls do make sure to check this out

https://twitter.com/vybhavbadri/status/1435568941733085187?s=19