Thread by @utdarena, THREAD:Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal — AnalysisI will keep adding to this thread. [...]

THREAD:

Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal — Analysis

I will keep adding to this thread. Please RT this one so that others can see the beginning if that is okay with you. :)

Let's go!

Initial Problem

Here is the team lined up for KO. Now, this is almost never an issue except that our midfield is actually interesting. Fred is deeper than the others despite it not being a position he is well-suited to. This caused a continuous problem which will be clarified.

Scott or Fred?

Here, Scott comes deeper to make himself an option for de Gea. This *could* be forgiven except that he does it again when Lindelöf has the ball. Scott should've been further to the right but his natural inclination was to come deeper — where he should've started.

In my opinion, Solskjær was wrong to play Fred in the deeper role. Firstly, Scott is more inclined to sit so a DM role, positioning wise, suits his archetype. Secondly, Fred's strengths lie in having positional freedom and catching players by surprise. Neither is possible now.

I assume the reason Solskjær wanted Fred to play deeper is because he gave away too many right-footed passes when he played as a RCM vs Leipzig. So, Ole could have played him deeper so that he doesn't give those passes away.

The problem? It's not about positioning with Fred.

The reason Fred gives away easier-to-make passes is because he is a bit technically erratic. This means we'll see him complete harder-to-make passes whilst turning the ball over with easier ones. Playing him deeper just meant there were less players to recover.

Pogba – Target Man

This is a tactic used by Solskjær and Mourinho before him (w/Fellaini). Both Pogba and Fellaini, due to size, become targets for the long ball. Here, Pogba goes out to the LW to receive the long ball from de Gea which ended up being inaccurate.

Pogba – Bad Decision

Here, Shaw passes to Pogba and he makes a run ahead. Rashford, likewise, calls for the ball. This was an easy pass for Pogba as it just required a little 3-4 yard pass to the right. Instead, he turns left into traffic and is tackled.

Fred – not a DM

The term ‘showing yourself’ means “making yourself an option for a pass”. Here, Fred — the deepest midfielder — runs forward out of position to do so. Now, he does retain possession. However, the decision was still wrong; he constantly moved out of position.

Passing – Short

Firstly, it's good that AWB overlapped Mason. That was nice to see once more. Here, Mason looks for Bruno with a pass he would make more often than not but falls short – it's not the easiest though.

We did this a lot nevertheless.

Counterpress – Poor

Here, Mason sees Aubameyang collect the pass but instead of blocking off the direct route — what he should've done — he tries to anticipate Auba moving back to go. The result? Aubameyang turns him and Scott ends up out of position.

This is the same mistake Bruno Fernandes made against Brighton. We got them into a dangerous position and instead of Bruno telling Rashford to press, who was poor in that sequence, he anticipated a pass himself and let the direct route for the Brighton player.

Short Passing – Poor

This was a common occurrence. Mason makes this pass almost every single time. He had two passing paths – one directly to Rashford and another that lets him turn. Instead, he passes it nearly straight forward and it results in a turnover.

Individual Pressing – No!

People praise individual pressing because it shows effort. Rather, in the majority of cases it's not intelligent. Here, Bruno presses individually when he should be following Elneny. The result? Bruno ends up out of position and Elneny gets the ball.

Fred – Nice

Here, Fred drops into his pressing stance – knees bent, hands tucked – and he anticipates movement perfectly, winning possession as a result. This is Fred's strength and he needs positional freedom to do it.

Scott or Fred?

This is yet another example of both Fred (correctly) and Scott (incorrectly) showing themselves for Lindelöf. Scott was not playing at DM. He was playing as a RCM. Yet, he kept on drifting there in the first minutes and he should've been told immediately.

Mason Greenwood – Turnovers

Mason did not start well at all. This is his third turnover already and this one was the worst. He is looking for Shaw who is out of frame but just at the top. Pogba has made a run which pulled Arsenal back. This is an easy pass for him. However…

…he ends up hitting the Arsenal player closest to him and it results in Willian recovering possession and driving at our defence. Both Shaw and Pogba were out of possession and Shaw had to make a recovery run to stop Arsenal's high transition.

Wan-Bissaka – Poor Pass

This is yet another example of how poor our passing was. Aaron is relatively free – he has another space move or pass. He attempts a risky pass to Bruno and underhits it. The result? Turnover.

Consequence of AWB's turnover

Due to this, Aaron ends up out of position and Arsenal filter the ball to the left. Now, Lindelöf ends up out of position as he needs to cover that side. Then, Maguire has to step across.

This was really poor.

Bruno and Mason

Arsenal transitioned quickly but Lindelöf held up Aubameyang and he played it back. Bruno should be covering space but Mason still hasn't tracked back. So, Bruno has to leave his space and close down a player.

He tells Mason this afterwards.

Fun Fact:

I am only 4:58 minutes into the game(!) and yet I have noted all of these issues already.

Let's continue.

Rashford – First Touch

Here, Rashford receives a pass from Fernandes. However, his first touch isn't as clean as it could be. The CB comes around him and tackles him well as a result. Generally speaking, the first touch is harder to master when holding the ball up.

Covering

Rashford was hit hard during the tackle. So, Mason pulls across into his position and Bruno covers Mason. It ends up in a 1-2-2 set-up. This is fine in this situation and whilst it could've been better (1-3-1) it showed adaptation which is good.

Lindelöf – Foul

This is more of a general analytical point: these fouls — shirt grabbing — occurs *A LOT* in football. However, the majority of them either aren't seen (like this) or go unpunished. Offensive players often have to exaggerate to win fouls.

De Gea

Arteta and his coaching staff clearly think de Gea's command of the box is still an issue — it isn't his strongest aspect. However, the corner feel short. Also, with Scott, Pogba and Maguire there we have players who can easily beat them aerially. I was fine with this.

Maguire – Aerial Ability

Maguire is one of the best CBs in the world aerially. He reads flight incredibly well and is strong enough to constantly win duels. His win % is usually in the 76-82% range which is amongst the best in the world.

Holding – Poor

This was poor from Holding and the referee. Rashford is clearly away on a transition and Holding tactically fouls him to prevent that. He has no intention in getting the ball because the ball isn't even there anymore.

Yet, there was no yellow card here.

Holding – Poor II

We can see Holding in a central position with the ball. The ball goes past him and THEN he shifts into Rashford. You can see Holding's left foot distance to the grass line for a reference point.

This was a clear yellow card which was not given.

Scott McTominay – Positioning

He did this throughout the game. He is a RCM who is constantly showing himself as a DM. It resulted in a lack of balance. This should've been corrected immediately but it wasn't. I'm just on 7:37 minutes and it's happened almost every time we built.

Scott McTominay – Positioning II

This happens straight after. He is tucked in again but let's say it's OK for the sake of argument. Here, he should be showing himself into that space to receive a pass. Instead, he's hidden.

McTominay and Fred should've swapped by now.

Diamond

Here, the diamond shape is nice. There isn't an inherent problem with it though it could be better. However, notice Scott and Bruno. This happens quite a bit with Bruno in that he drifts. Scott covered his position higher up. This shouldn't happen and shows impatience.

Fernandes often drops into these positions and then tries to either play deeper incisive passes over the top or he just recycles and moves up. Essentially, he makes the game a route-one game and it prevents build-up. It has its benefits but it usually ends in wasteful turnovers.

Scott McTominay – Good Decision

Here, Aubameyang is marking Lindelöf. So, McTominay shows himself centrally as Fred is marked. That's good. I like it. He receives possession, Aubameyang closes in and he passes it to Lindelöf who now has space to build.

This was good.

Lindelöf to Scott

Here, Victor tells Scott 3-4 times to go to the right. Scott proceeds to move forward and Bruno ends up filling in on the right.

This was either not corrected by the coaching staff or Scott wasn't listening and I know Scott listens to the coaches.

Bruno Fernandes – Poor

A few tweets back I said Bruno usually tries big passes from here. Mason knows that so he makes a run. Bruno tells him to hold his position. Mason listens and pulls back to the left. Bruno then tries a very difficult pass and turns it over.

Bad decision.

Pressing – Poor

Here we are in a 5-man press. There's nothing wrong here especially since the ball is going backwards. However if you look at the second image you'll see how Rashford, Pogba and Bruno all have three players to guard – a poor press and Arsenal beat it easily.

Pressing – Poor II

You can see Rashford (right) questioning the others. Even though he has a point he should've been closing down Holding to make it harder for him. Instead, he stops the press — something that should never occur — when you are so high up the pitch.

Chemistry

Here, Scott wins the ball after Saka tries a badly-timed flick. Then, he drives to the box and wants to find Rashford at the back post. However, Scott doesn't clear the first man and Rashford never made the run. It lacked a lot of chemistry.

Fred – Poor Pass

Fred collects the ball and just stands on it. He waits and waits. Then, he slowly turns towards Pogba, completely projecting his intentions, and it results in a turnover.

We had 6(!) players ahead of the ball here. It was such a poor sequence.

Fred – Poor Decision

Fred is the *deepest* midfielder. When you are transitioning defensively you *never* dive into challenges as if you don't win the ball you're out of position and you're the last line of the midfield.

Fred dives in and Partey flicks it through his legs.

Fred – not a DM

Fred tracks back and Saka makes a run. Fred has to either track him or fill the defensive space. He leaves him — Lindelöf gets dragged — AND he leaves the space. The result? A dangerous pass into our box.

This was really bad from a defensive perspective.

Fun Fact II

I am only 10 minutes through yet I've found all of these issues. I am not picking up on difficult things either. These are all basic to intermediary points that Manchester United players should know.

This thread will be huge.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka – Wow

This is stunning from a physical perspective. Tierney is not only fast but he has excellent acceleration. On top of that, AWB is wrong-footed and has all his weight on his left foot...

…but he still gets the ball.

Questionable

I didn't notice this during the game. So, the ball hits the referee — this shot was going well wide of the goal — yet the ball stays on and arrives at Willian. So, Arsenal kept possession when they would've lost possession. Nevertheless, the referee played on.

Good Defensive Shape

Our diamond looks really good here. Bruno is higher up which lets Rashford and Mason split. Our shape remained good up until Willian tried to find space individually which resulted in a turnover.

Good stuff.

Bruno Fernandes – Poor

This is an easy 5-yard pass. Bruno plays it way too softly and Mason ends up being pressed hard. He tries to play it back but loses the ball. Eventually, Arsenal get a throw and Bruno apologises to Mason for the bad pass.

This was a common theme.

Scott McTominay – Positioning

This is the last time I'll mention this. Here, Scott does what he's been doing since the start of the game. He drifts into the middle of the pitch during build-up and isolates AWB. If this was the plan from Solskjær then it wasn't a good one.

Rashford – Hold Up

Rashford attempts to hold up Holding (excuse the pun) but doesn't do so well. Holding is able to just kick the ball from underneath Rashford's foot. This is one of the big differences between Marcus and Martial. Martial is good at this.

Pogba and Bruno – Communication

Pogba is tracks Partey. Partey drops back and Pogba tells Bruno to switch. This is good as Pogba shouldn't be dragged out of a defensive set whilst Bruno is a free man. Bruno doesn't switch and gets drawn to the ball. The result? Partey is free.

Lindelöf – Communication

Victor tells Scott to go to the right. Scott eventually listens. However, he makes it too obvious that he's creating space and both Aubameyang and Saka read that. So, Lindelöf ends up using the situation as a dummy for him to move left.

*sigh*

This was NOT given as a foul.

Bruno and Pogba as DMs

The result of our inability to build is that both Bruno and Pogba came shorter to collect the ball off the defence. So, we ended up with less potency in the higher parts of midfield.

Matic was on the bench…

Pogba – Poor

Here, Pogba shows for the ball and receives it. However, instead of going to the ball he holds his position and Partey. Partey body checks him from behind and Pogba's touch is too heavy. Then, he makes a poor decision vs Lacazette instead of passing it back.

Fun Fact III:

I am only on 16:17 minutes.

I believe I have made the point about the performance. I could continue from here picking up on all of these things but it would adding to a full cup. Instead, I will analyse some other elements now.

Bruno – Poor

Mason is making an amazing run and Bruno is still looking at Rashford. Mason's run is great and it's a very easy pass. However, Bruno has tunnel vision for Rashford and he delays the pass to Mason which results in Mason being offside.

Pogba – Bad Decision

Bruno is facing the ball so Partey takes up a position behind him. Pogba sees this and closes Partey does. Inherently, that's OK. Contextually, it isn't. Why? He leaves the whole left side open for Arsenal. Rather, he should've just told Bruno to turn.

Pressing – Very Poor

Uhm…what?

Pressing – Very Poor II

Elneny gets the ball in acres of space and he's allowed to jog ~30 yards up the pitch until Rashford eventually starts to sprint. This was ridiculously poor, honestly. Laughable to an extent.

Rashford – Excellent

This is a difficult pass and Rashford nails it. Mason's shot, first time, is good too. Yes, he only has that angle as is the nature of the position but he hits it cleanly. It's a good save on top.

Overall, good football.

Fred – Poor

Remember when I talk about delaying? Fred knows Willian is fast. Yet, he dives into a challenge and Willian goes by him. Fred ends up sliding and picks up a yellow card in the 22nd minute.

He was having a bad game until then and the yellow card made it worse.

OK. I am 22:12 minutes through the game.

I am going to take a break until 6:00pm GMT (two hours). Then, I'll return and continue.

:)

De Gea – Risky

I never noticed this the first time but this was quite a risky first-time pass from David. He completes the pass and it's a decent one but his body position could've been more protective there.

Wan-Bissaka – Projecting

Here, AWB projects his pass to McTominay and his technique is very poor. It results in a turnover and he ends up fouling Saka as a result though it really wasn't a foul.

OK. I am 22:54 minutes through and I'm around 60 tweets deep.

I am going to stop this thread otherwise I'll end up with 150-200 tweets at the end.

Summary: almost every player on the pitch was bad. Lindelöf, Maguire and Shaw played well. AWB was decent. Rest were bad.

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