Yearning to mimic the glory days under an old star, Manchester United looked to break their four-year trophy drought with a win in this final. But Villarreal had other ideas. As a compact defensive block met an aimless offensive setup, over two hours of sparring in a grueling finale saw the Spaniards round off the […]
Manchester United’s possession structure and wing dynamics presented a tough challenge for Aston Villa to contend with throughout the game. Villa were able to go ahead after some poor individual defending from United, but the away side quickly turned it around in the second half with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood, before Edinson […]
After a first half of poor passing quality, one team tinkered to resolve such issues, while the other wallowed in self-pity. A goal, crafted in Poch-Esque fashion would be consumed in the harsh dose of José Mourinho reality, as Tottenham Hotspur blew their lead to a revitalized Manchester United after the break. Tactical analysis and […]
United took an instant lead through a Bruno Fernandes penalty and continued to put the pressure on City with aggressive defending in the period after. City eventually gained control for the remainder of the first half but could not break United down. City were shocked again early in the second half as a United transition […]
Neither team was able to find the cutting edge to score in this match, but that was down to good defensive schemes as much as anything else. United were proactive in preventing Chelsea dominance in the first half, but then fell back in the second half. The home side had the better chances but were […]
Real Sociedad have one of the best defenses in LaLiga, but their pressing and high defensive line was blown away by the speed of Manchester United’s counterattack. United dominated the first half hour with an unexpectedly well-executed pressing trap game plan. After their first goal, they stepped back, defended deeper, and picked off la Real […]
Boring, low-quality stalemates are not supposed to have twenty-eight shots within the game! Despite this deceiving shot count, neither Arsenal nor Manchester United were effective at breaking through each other’s similar defensive setups, which led to wild shots, poor decision making in the final third and zero goals. Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker. […]
A matchup between the red halves of Liverpool and Manchester, number one and two in the league, raised expectations, but failed to deliver the battle that we all craved. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s game plan in United’s 4-4-2 shape created both advantages and disadvantages, whilst Liverpool still found themselves out of sync, resulting in a goalless […]
Manchester City invoked an extremely fluid formation, which saw them buildup in a nominal 3-2-2-3 shape. The freedom of the front five made it nearly impossible for Manchester United to get near the ball for the better part of seventy minutes, with the guests eventually snatching their first goal, settling back into a comfortable defensive […]
Aston Villa brought good counterpressing, quick free-kicks and a narrow defensive block, but Manchester United withstood their rampant opponents to go level on points with Liverpool. This high intensity and entertaining affair brought the best out of few, but Paul Pogba’s role on the left turned out to be too much to handle for their […]