Manchester United-Fulham: Tactical Analysis (a thread)
▪️ United's pressing structure
▪️ 3-1-6 in possession
▪️ United's pressing structure
▪️ 3-1-6 in possession
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
With Munoz also dropping to receive the long ball, Mazraoui tracked Iwobi as Fulham looked to beat United's press by playing it to their attackers dropping deep. Mainoo sweeped up but without the ball it was clear Utd were on the front foot tracking attackers even when deep
This was effective because as Casemiro pushes up to join the press and follow Smith-Rowe, it pins Fulham back. Fernandes is on a CB, Casemiro on ESR, Diallo wide on Robinson and Mazraoui backing up the press if Iwobi drops eventually Bassey just hoofs it long for Maguire to head
What this means is Utd are committed in the press and pushing Fulham back with the midfield pushed up limiting their chances of an out ball. It's early in the season and United aren't the best at this press yet so it still led to situations like this with players up the field
It's the 1st game of the season so we'll see how things play out and if Utd's press improves or teams start to exploit it. But there is definitley an upside to going aggressive covering midfielders/attackers dropping and forcing them to play the pass quickly creating turnovers
In the examples below the press has compactly squeezed Fulham's midfield so the only option Bassey has is to go long, you would rather this then Fulham finding space in the middle. The 2nd instance is Leno giving it away for the Fernandes chance
Obviously this is sloppy from Fulham but you still have to force the mistakes with the press. It may be enough to do this against teams in the bottom half as you still run the risk of situations like below happening where players are pushed up and Casemiro is isolated
It was also interesting to see that when Diallo jumps to mark Pereira or a CB, Mazraoui pushed up on both occasions to Robinson, full-backs joining the press didn't happen last season for Utd. It's bold as it does leave the ball on in behind to the forward for the CB's to handle
Ultimately though with United pressing like this, they are better for it (especially at OT) look more aggressive and can cause more turnovers, Mason Mount was huge in regards to this in terms of pressing or covering to mark forwards and the press was worse when he was subbed
United reverted back to the 3-1-6/3-2 build up of 22-23 with Casemiro dropping into the back 3. This build-up is much smoother with Mazraoui in the half-spaces, as a player who can receive, ball-carry or keep it in possession and wait for the gaps to appear
With this formation Rashford can stay wide or Dalot with the other occupying the full-back inverted with Fernandes-Mount-Mazraoui pushing up on the back four. It creates gaps wide for the player to receive and drag out a Fulham full-back with a Utd full-back occupying a Fulham CB
This was happening similarly on the other wing, but Diallo and Mazraoui in the team, it generally means United can move the ball from one side to the other and have 2 players who are comfortable with the ball, won't rush the pass, can drag players out and keep the move ticking
For the moment, it is a good shift for Ten Hag to fully commit in the press, but I think we've seen instances where it will work and when it won't but there is an upside to it as it becomes more refined in the season, it also provides United with more of an onus than last season
End of thread!
Would love to hear your thoughts, obvs it's the 1st game this is just snippets of what we'll see in the season.
Newsletter in bio
Would love to hear your thoughts, obvs it's the 1st game this is just snippets of what we'll see in the season.
Newsletter in bio
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