Thread by @dharnishiqbal

Chelsea-Manchester United: Tactical Analysis (a thread)

- Why did Man Utd find so much in the first 35 minutes in midfield?
- United's out of possession off-ball structure looking really good
-Potter's substitution changes the game

With Chelsea's front 3 pressing with Jorginho not too far behind but not really man to man anyone, defender Chilwell and even Cucurella in a back three would race forward to try create turnovers dragging defenders wildly out of position

With Mount playing in the 3 and the press not always being intense and passive letting United have the ball deep in their own defence, Jorginho hovered sort of marking space looking to make an interception or tackle rather than stick tight to a player

When Jorginho wasn't cutting off the passing lane to Eriksen hoping to make a tackle instead. Loftus Cheek was occupied with Casemiro leaving Fernandes free to hover and Chelsea overran in midfield.

This dragged out Azpilicueta trying to cover for the large gap in midfield, as Fernandes exchanged with Eriksen who could play in Shaw darting into the space left by Azpilicueta to shoot wide. The first phase press made it easy for Eriksen to receive and exploit the midfield two

The distances between Chelsea's front 3 and United's defence was alarming as it let Utd easily play out from the back. Chelsea's front 3 were not in close proximity themselves meaning they barely squeezed the pitch or cut off passing lanes. Jorginho again wasn't close to Casemiro

Instead it seemed Chelsea were more keen to use the wide areas as a pressing trigger which only dragged defenders out of position. Jorginho opted to zonally mark space in anticipation of where the ball might go (maybe to Antony) before it was too late to tackle Casemiro

With Loftus Cheek caught in two minds as to whether to mark Eriksen or Fernandes, it let Fernandes receive between the spaces of defence and a scant midfield where Eriksen and Fernandes were available options. As Eriksen really should've played Rashford in here

With Mount-Aubamayeng-Sterling not really tracking back or dropping in when Chelsea didn't have the ball they had to defend in a 4+2 at times or a very staggered 5+2 but with defenders dragged all over the pitch

For the first 35 mins Martinez could use his excellent ability to pass progressively through the lines to find a spare midfielder, with no attacker picking up any of the midfield 3 and simultaneously Loftus Cheek and Jorginho finding it difficult to stick to Eriksen or Fernandes

Selectively, Chelsea would press Casemiro-Eriksen receiving from defence with the midfield pivot, perhaps trying to stop Casemiro distributing as he had some trouble in his 1st game when pressed, but Eriksen-Casemiro found it simple to dictate the game and spray passes wide

It was almost like Chelsea had forgotten the need to press Martinez (Utd's main distributor from defence) and wanted to press Casemiro/Eriksen but not consistently. Even with Sterling-Mount dropping in to create a midfield four here, they aren't cutting off the wide options

On occasion one of Chelsea's midfield two would get attracted to an inverted full-back leaving a little more space in midfield and letting the opposite full-back stretch the pitch wide as Chelsea shifted over slightly allowing for that quick switch of play

United out of possession are really starting to look formulated. We saw it work (to a degree) vs Arsenal, brilliantly vs Spurs and now Chelsea. Pressing in a 3+2 matching Chelsea's back 3 and midfield 2, with the wide wingers on the wide CB's, Fernandes-Eriksen on the midfield 2

With Rashford pressing Kepa, United's 3+2 ensured Chelsea couldn't play it into defence, forcing them to go for clipped balls over the top wide, where the full-back would jump on the winger receiving, squeezing Chelsea into a small space

The disciplined, organised structure out of possession is a massive boost for United under Ten Hag in only 3 months. As it isn't the 1st time they have been able to halt a team building up smoothly from the back by limiting the centre of the pitch, restricting teams playing out

The structure created one of United's best opportunities, with Chelsea trying to play out from the full-backs, the inside midfield passing option was cut off by Fernandes and the forward pass cut off by Eriksen, Chelsea went long to Sterling which Martinez aggressively won

It's worth noting how close United's players are in this off-ball structure going man to man making it difficult for Chelsea

Potter had seen enough and credit must be given to recognise the wide open spaces in midfield sooner rather than later. To stem the bleeding Kovacic came on as an extra man in midfield so him and Loftus Cheek could jump on Fernandes-Eriksen with Mount following Casemiro

This still allowed Jorginho to hover zonally which I guess Potter wanted for him to mop up or intervene as United found it harder to smoothly transition the ball from defence to attack with less space in midfield.

Ten Hag responded in the 2nd half subbing on Fred, probably wanting to win more duels or press Chelsea in midfield a little more harrying them in possession

The 2nd half was a stop start game with neither team really able to sustain attacks cancelling each other out. However, United's improved midfield understanding and good shape out of possession certainly show good signs so early on

End of thread!
As always thanks for reading, all likes/comments appreciated, sorry for the slight delay (tech issues)

As usual will be going through this in more detail on my substack dharnish.substack.com