Manchester City – Manchester United: Ten Hag’s Plan Perfectly Executed (1-2)

Manchester United were underdogs here, but they arrived with a gameplan to stay compact and hit Manchester City on the counter-attack in their 4-2-2-2 system. This plan was executed perfectly, and two United academy products in the form of Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo were able to score the decisive goals.  

Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.

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Manchester United arrived at Wembley with hopes of salvaging a trophy from an otherwise dreadful season. Manchester City meanwhile were looking to complete a domestic double after securing the Premier League title last weekend.

Pep Guardiola’s side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, with Kyle Walker, John Stones, Nathan Aké, and Joško Gvardiol in the backline. Rodri was the deepest midfielder, with Kevin De Bruyne and Mateo Kovačić ahead of him, while the frontline consisted of Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden.

Erik ten Hag went for a 4-2-2-2 shape in this game, with a back four of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphaël Varane, Lisandro Martínez, and Diogo Dalot. Sofyan Amrabat and Kobbie Mainoo partnered in central midfield, while Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford played out wide. United played without a conventional striker, but Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes were the most advanced players centrally.

United’s compactness

As expected, City dominated the ball in this game, while United looked to play on the counter-attack. Despite City’s high possession share though, they rarely threatened United’s goal in the first half. This was in large part due to a well-executed defensive scheme from United.

City generally attacked in 2-3-4-1 or 3-2-4-1 arrangements. Much of this depended on Walker’s movements. In some early scenes in the game, Walker was pushing up on the right wing, with Bernardo Silva dropping deeper in the right halfspace.

This led to a 2-3-4-1 shape, as Kovačić would also remain deep in the left halfspace. Gvardiol held the width on the left throughout the first half, allowing Foden to move into the left halfspace while De Bruyne occupied the right halfspace.

Eventually, Walker and Bernardo Silva swapped places, with the latter returning to the wing. Around midway through the first half, there was another slight shift in City’s attacking structure, as Walker began playing more as part of a back three, leading to a 3-2-4-1 structure with Rodri and Kovačić in the double-pivot.

United’s improved compactness helped them to resist City’s attacks. 

Regardless of their structure, City were struggling to break United down. Ten Hag’s side defended in a 4-2-2-2 shape, with the front four playing extremely compact and close to the central midfielders.

United have faced some issues in the Ten Hag era with defending in a man-oriented approach, and the subsequent spaces that can open in midfield as a result. However, as was hinted at in their recent game against Arsenal, Ten Hag seems to have embraced compactness over man-orientations a bit more of late, and United benefitted from this against City.

The front four were able to congest City’s second line of buildup and make central breakthroughs extremely difficult. Amrabat and Mainoo still sometimes pursued De Bruyne and Foden in a man-oriented fashion in certain situations, but generally maintained a good defensive connection.

Even when Amrabat or Mainoo were dragged into wider positions by their direct opponent, the deployment of McTominay and Fernandes in their roles became useful. Both players possess strong defensive work ethic and decent defensive instincts as natural midfielders, and they demonstrated that in this game with their ability to drop back and cover the central spaces when Amrabat or Mainoo got dragged wider. This was particularly noticeable with McTominay, who did a good job of covering this space, especially when Rodri tried to make driving runs through the center.

Transition threat

Aside from an improved defensive game thanks to increased compactness, United also demonstrated a more coherent attacking approach here than they have for most of the season. This was aided by City, who lacked a bit of their usual defensive intensity.

The basic idea for United first and foremost was to exploit City’s high defensive line. This was accentuated by the presence of Fernandes and McTominay, who naturally dropped into midfield positions in possession.

The idea here was to drag City’s center-backs forward, creating more space to exploit in behind the defense. Garnacho and Rashford had the job of making runs into the channels between City’s center-backs and fullbacks.

This plan turned out relatively well for United. Early on, Walker’s recovery pace was needed to bail City out on a couple of occasions against Rashford. City were finally punished on the half-hour mark though, as Garnacho chased a pass over the defense and pounced on a misunderstanding between Gvardiol and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to put United ahead.

United’s possession phases often saw one or both of Fernandes and McTominay dropping deeper, while Garnacho and Rashford tried to stretch the defense. 

Less than ten minutes later, Mainoo capped off a wonderful team move to put United two goals ahead. Mainoo was once again a key player for United with his composure in central midfield. United did not have much possession, but Mainoo made the most of the ball when he had it, finding good solutions and helping United’s defense get a breather by retaining the ball.

The return of Martínez to the United backline was also very noticeable in United’s possession play, as well as his excellent partnership with Varane against the ball. Martínez’ technique and ability to pick out line-breaking passes was seen on a few of occasions in this game.

Doku versus Wan-Bissaka

Guardiola knew that changes were needed at half-time with his team two goals down, and he brought on Manuel Akanji and Jérémy Doku for Aké and Kovačić. City now attacked with a 3-2-4-1 shape, as Gvardiol returned to the backline alongside Walker and Akanji, with Stones pushing into midfield.

Doku would play from the left wing, and it quickly became apparent that one of the deciding factors of the second half would be the duel between Doku and Wan-Bissaka. City sought Doku at every opportunity, and their attacking plan revolved almost entirely around his one-versus-one ability.

For the most part, Wan-Bissaka was able to contain Doku, or at least limit the damage he could do to United’s defense. Amrabat was also important here, as he worked extremely hard to close the right halfspace for United and provide cover to Wan-Bissaka in these one-versus-ones.

City’s threat did increase in the second half. After a first half in which they only managed three shots, they second half saw them with sixteen attempts, and they forced much more emergency defending from United.

Guardiola added extra firepower to the attack with Julián Álvarez replacing De Bruyne who had a tough day. Meanwhile Ten Hag made his first changes with just over fifteen minutes remaining. Jonny Evans replaced Martínez who was feeling the effects of a lack of match minutes this season, while Rasmus Højlund replaced Rashford, with Fernandes moving over to the left and Højlund playing up front. The Danish international was impressive in his cameo, holding the ball up strongly and earning United some breathing room further up the pitch.

City were able to set up a nervy end to the match for United, as Doku’s shot slipped past André Onana at the near post to make it 2-1. However, United were able to hold out in the final minutes to secure the club’s thirteenth FA Cup trophy.

Takeaways

City were below their usual level in this match, and were made to pay for it. They struggled to make breakthroughs in possession against United’s compact shape, and were overly dependent on Doku to create something in the second half. Against the ball, they were too easy to play through in transition.

In this match, United produced a performance level not seen from them this season. Against the ball, Ten Hag’s defensive scheme showed improved compactness, which they reaped the rewards of. Going forward, they were incisive and clinical with their attacks.

Whether this will be enough to save Ten Hag’s job remains to be seen after such a poor performance in other competitions this season. What is in no doubt though is that Ten Hag delivered a great game plan in this match, giving United fans quite possibly their best day so far of the entire post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

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