How did Erik ten Hag beat Pep Guardiola in the Manchester Derby?
Manchester United-Manchester City: Tactical Analysis (a thread)
- United's excellent shape out of possession limiting City
- Guardiola's change in the 2nd half
Manchester United-Manchester City: Tactical Analysis (a thread)
- United's excellent shape out of possession limiting City
- Guardiola's change in the 2nd half
Manchester United's shape out of possession is what stifled Man City and cut off the passing lanes in the middle so City couldn't progress the ball centrally. Fred stuck to De Bruyne, Eriksen on Rodri and Casemiro on Bernardo with Rashford-Fernandes tucked inside the half-spaces
It meant City couldn't build up through the middle as the passing options from defence to midfield were cut off with Rashford-Fernandes tucked in to take care of City's 8's floating or dribbling or the wingers dropped very deep for the ball. Bernardo did start dropping deeper
With United's players in the middle in close proximity it restricted space and blocked off passing lanes in the middle with the wide forwards deployed to keep an eye on them floating . There were instances when they did this but Casemiro didn't follow them to not be dragged out.
Where City did have the ball was wide with Cancelo-Walker to ball carry into space. Cancelo did this well early on but not enough to be penetrative, whereas Walker had plenty of space but the ball would normally go to Mahrez for cross then Utd to easily defend
What City could've done is utilise this better by having one of the 8's create an overload wide depending on which side the ball was on or positionally rotate to drag one of the man to man central midfielders in Casemiro or Fred wide
City got one of their 8's or De Bruyne in particular in space and into the game whenever he could drag Fred wide and spin away using the press against him to his advantage and bringing others into the game
Whether it was Walker and Rodri playing a 1-2 or De Bruyne these were the occasions City found space the most when they utilised the press high up the pitch to quickly pass and move up the pitch
This was how City created their 1st goal too with De Bruyne getting into the same crossing position to play the ball for Grealish because it dragged Fred out wide and the full-back occupying the winger De Bruyne would interact with through quick passes
City I felt just didn't move the ball quick enough in the 1st half possibly when a switch was on to combat United's excellent shape out of possession the pass would be backwards or safe, not urgent enough to exploit the space wide
With Rashford and Fernandes tucked in it also meant they could latch onto loose passes or press Akanji-Ake on the ball to create opportunities which is how the Fernandes chance happened
The plan was clear: soak up pressure, block the middle, force City wide to cross then quickly play through the counter press and get Bruno Fernandes to play the hollywood pass for Martial or Rashford to latch onto
It's a testament to how far United have come with the comfortability in passing through the press vs City. Then with City committing men in the press getting the ball to Fernandes to play the urgent ball through takes out City's committed players. It created the Rashford chances
It is the absolute correct thing to do at this moment in time but it is strange to see David de Gea when receiving the ball sometimes resorting to kicking the ball long often to a City player as opposed to building out from the back and finding a pass
In future if United want to continue to develop as a team you feel as though they'll need a keeper better with their feet as it just creates an unnecessary way to give the ball to opposition
What Guardiola changed in the 2nd half was instructing Walker to play more inverted picking the ball up in midfield with the central options cut off it created an extra body in midfield and a method to progress the ball centrally
It also gave United's central midfielders an extra man to pick up with a slight change in structure with Rashford off and it was City's best period of the game even though they still didn't create much
What Mahrez was often doing in this period too was dropping into the half-spaces and with Walker creating an overload pushing up it's what created the numerical advantage for the goal. They should've done this more in truth
I don't actually think there were too many changes for United to comeback ,more of an ability to last in the game and ride through difficult periods which again is the psychological improvement of this team, showcased by Wan Bissaka's dribbling for the build up of the goal
The introduction of Garnacho certainly stretched Man City and allowed United to exploit Man City committing a lot of men forward, he excellently ran the channel and utilised Walker bombing forward fearlessly taking on his man
United's out of possession shape reminded me of when they stifled Arsenal except from when Gabriel Jesus had the ability to dribble past them, but thanks to this disciplined shape and their dangerous transitions as Pep commented they won the game
End of thread!
As always likes/comments appreciated would love to know what you think as there were lots of interesting points. As always will cover this more in my substack: dharnish.substack.com
As always likes/comments appreciated would love to know what you think as there were lots of interesting points. As always will cover this more in my substack: dharnish.substack.com
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