Tactics Lover. Football Writer. Weekly Analysis. ✍️ : @sportinglife @skysports @fotmob @thebusbybabe DM’s open Newsletter: https://t.co/JF7HOL49Bf
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Newcastle's press was excellent, it kept pushing Liverpool back. The key component was a full-back pushing up from defence to close down a Liverpool defender (Quansah) on the ball, just behind them meanwhile the midfield 3 matches up with Liverpool's midfield 3 
Plymouth Argyle's midfield four surrounded, Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliot. What this basically meant was there was no access to the middle of the pitch for Liverpool's defence, they couldn't progress the ball centrally. Nyoni was in the right place just behind their midfield.. 
The 3 forwards pin whatever defence it is back, often joined by Trent Alexander-Arnold, meaning it's a 4v4, 1 player in Szoboszlai joins in the pockets. It's really difficult to mark against because there's almost always 1/2 players that join the 3 up top, it stretches defences 
Southampton clearly did their homework, a big problem for United was whenever they would move the ball side to side. Soton's front 3 marked United's centre-backs and a full-back (Walker-Peters) would close down the United's wide full-back giving them no room wide or inside 
One tweak Arne Slot has used effectively is dropping a striker close into build-up, often this is Luis Diaz. It means it provides an extra player for Liverpool to pass to in build-up with Gravenberch-Mac Allister marked, the Colombian can drag players out of position 
United's compactness was crucial in nullifying City, the front three tucking in and being compact in Amad Diallo and Mount/Fernandes meant there was less space for Gvardiol and Gundogan. It also helped in managing the two roaming 8's in Foden and De Bruyne 
I felt like most of the game was based around whether or not Man Utd could break Ipswich's press. For different reasons it was sometimes successful but often not, though at the very least you could see the players were doing what Amorim wanted to do even if the execution was off 
Amorim's Sporting CP side use a 3-4-3 system to break teams down, but the manner in which most of their goals are scored come from one pattern in particular involving the full-backs who are essential in order to make an Amorim attack function 
There are still problems when Manchester United press high, the problems arise when a striker presses the goalkeeper and the press behind becomes disjointed. As the attack presses it's far too often the case that it leaves one midfielder (Fernandes) covering 2 players 
Manchester United's patient, calm, build-up structure led to them progressing the ball successfully into Palace's half on multiple occasions leading to chances. As United built up in a 3-2 with Dalot inverting, the space was found on the edges, outside Palace's 3-2 attack 
Liverpool kept finding gaps in between Utd's structure, aided by the movement of Szoboszlai, United's press would get dragged to one side, with Szoboszlai roaming freely it dragged Casemiro and a winger out wide allowing for a pass inside to Mac Allister to be played 
In the same manner vs Fulham and the cup final, the build-up from United was calmer and crucially under pressure they found a way to suck a Brighton full-back in and play it inside to find a midfielder in space, attracting Brighton's forwards with a player down the line 
Man Utd's pressing structure was interesting and aggressive, Fernandes would press one of the centre-backs, with Mount covering a midfielder and Diallo wide, Fulham did the right thing by dropping a midfielder in Smith-Rowe but Casemiro would follow him 
Leny Yoro isn't really a defender who you'll see engage players often, his strengths lie in anticipation and immediately sensing when a player is attempting to make a run near him, to track the attacker, marshal his run and wait for the right opportunity to make a tackle 
I felt as though it was a clear instruction from Tuchel to push Kim high and aggressively tight on Vinicius whenever he dropped in to receive, and for the most part it was working in terms of stealing the ball from him. It was just tough his mistake was so costly 
It was interesting to me that Barcelona chose to press Real Madrid high up the pitch with Cancelo pushed up, as time and time again Real Madrid found it easy to play through this high press. Finding a midfielder to break through the lines to give it to Vinicius or Rodrygo 
City began in their familiar 3-2 build up, with Akanji-Rodri as the middle two. Largely I felt like Real Madrid learnt from the last UCL game at the Etihad as I was impressed with their structure without the ball, as the forwards dropped off to compact the centre 
A reason United started brightly was Wan-Bissaka's urgency to get up front and overload Liverpool's left hand side, Mainoo would join in and use his dribbling abiliy whilst Rashford pulled wide, it dragged Gomez out so United could make use of the half-space in between CB and RB 
What's interesting to note is just how flexible Inter Milan's system and formation under Inzaghi is, there is constant movement from the players to keep width, moving Atletico around, keeping the same shape but with players moving in different positions, using many rotations 
Aside from Fernandes's set-pieces just being delivered in the right area, the plan was for Varane, Casemiro to disrupt markers, with Maguire overpowering Kamara and getting on the end of the cross which worked, United have been woeful at set-pieces and this seemed rehearsed 
Leverkusen completely stifled Bayern Munich with their structure out of possession, allowing Munich's back 3 to have the ball and surrounding Goretzka-Pavlovic with the midfield two and attacking wingers tucking in, narrowing the centre of the pitch as much as possible 