Thread by @Footballcohol1c, [Long Thread] Hi, I'm analysing the West Ham 1-3 Man United game.I'll [...]

[Long Thread]
Hi, I'm analysing the West Ham 1-3 Man United game.

I'll be looking at a bit of tactics & the key moments of the game through edited images, so I urge you to go through them all.

If you like it, please RT & follow me for more PL content! I’ll be very grateful.

I will be adding things on the go. The thread will be complete in the next 30 mins but a lot of stuff should be out in the next 5 minutes.

West Ham lineup: 3-4-3.

Lineup from L to R:
Fabianski, {Cresswell, Ogbonna, Balbuena}, {Masuaku, Rice, Soucek, Coufal}, {Fornals, Haller, Bowen}. When out of possession, wing backs joined the defense and made it a back 5

Man United lineup: 4-2-3-1.

Lineup from L to R:
Henderson, {Telles, Maguire, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka}, {McTominay, Pogba}, {Martial, van de Beek, Greenwood}, Cavani.

West Ham theme for the first half: win the ball back in midfield & attempt to transition quickly to create a counter-attacking chance. We will see a few instances below. Balbuena winning the ball back from Martial seemed to be the most common occurrence.

Bowen disallowed goal 8’: from a West Ham perspective, Balbuena quickly nicks the ball off Martial and lays it off to Coufal. He plays a simple ball over the top but Bowen is too early in his run. Simple idea, quick transition & good finish - but a good defensive line from United

Nitpicking here a little but from a United perspective, I am not convinced by Henderson’s positioning. I think he can come off his line to narrow down the angle but he chooses not to. And even then, I don’t think his positioning is very good. Very easy finish for Bowen. Thoughts?

Another example of West Ham’s theme of quick transitions. Here, McTominay’s loose pass is intercepted by Cresswell & they quickly transition to Fornals through Masuaku. Fornals has an easy pass to play Bowen through on goal but he hits it straight to Maguire.

Now, the big West Ham chance that changed the game. Again, it comes from winning the ball back in midfield. The quick transition from Bowen’s excellent dribbling & poor Man United defending. Pogba plays the ball into Cavani who, under pressure, gives the ball away to Bowen.

So this is where Bowen picks up the ball. It doesn’t seem very threatening for Man United. Bowen is still in midfield with McTominay & Telles (both circled) in close vicinity. Not much of a threat, right?

Wrong. Bowen dribbles past both McTominay & Telles like they are not there. Excellent from Bowen & very poor from McTominay & Telles. He is now in a threatening position and can put the ball in a lovely area for Haller & Fornals.

And Bowens, with his weaker foot, does just that. He puts in a nice cross in a lovely area. However, Fornals heads wide. From there, he really should have done better than that. Wan-Bissaka & Maguire take up decent positions to block the cross but Fornals should still be scoring.

And now, the floodgates opened up. West Ham were completely on top & Man United were nervous, giving the ball away cheaply & looking defensively vulnerable. In almost a replay of the Fornals headed chance discussed above, Fornals hits the post.

AGAIN, West Ham win the ball back in midfield. AGAIN, Pogba has the ball & this time he tries playing a quick one-two with Martial. However, Balbuena gets the better of Martial (AGAIN) & intercepts his pass.

Balbuena’s interception reaches Bowen (AGAIN) & this is where he picks up the ball.

And AGAIN, McTominay & Telles don’t do enough to stop Bowen from getting into a potentially dangerous position on the wing. Bowen reaches this position and he is in a position to pick out some teammates.

Bowen picks out Haller with a grounded pass, who lays it off to Fornals. This one is significantly harder than the previous chance he had & he toe pokes it through Wan-Bissaka’s legs only for it to hit the woodwork.

And now, West Ham get their deserved lead. The goal comes from a corner but a quick look at the move that led to the corner shows that it again comes down Man United’s weak left side. This time, Maguire & Telles both get dragged towards Haller, leaving their left side open.

Now, while defending the corner, Man United’s players are divided into 2 categories: zonal markers & man-markers. The zonal markers (circled red) have to win the first header & the man-markers (circle yellow) have to mark the opposition players.

However, West Ham’s Rice manages to win the first header & directs it to a lovely area. But before we look at that, notice how Telles (circled), one of the man-markers, is ball watching, unaware of Soucek’s movement behind him.

Rice’s header is directed perfectly at the back post & Soucek’s undetected movement means he has the simple task of tapping in from less than a yard out. Goal & deserved lead! West Ham 1-0 Man United.

West Ham continued to threaten & Man United continued to look shaky. West Ham created another big chance. This starts with Maguire losing an aerial duel with Haller.

However, the second ball falls to Lindelof but his poor attempted pass is semi-intercepted by Haller’s flick. The ball falls kindly to Fornals who plays a lovely first time pass to put Haller completely through on goal.

Haller does everything right. He rounds off an onrushing Henderson and shifts the ball to his right to avoid Maguire’s slide from blocking his shot. It looked certain he will score from here but he, fortunately for Man United, slips/trips.

Before the half ended, Man United did manage to create a chance. I have been very critical of Telles so far but here he shows why he was signed: his attacking abilities. Excellent movement & link up between Martial & Telles resulted in a decent chance. Saved by Fabianski.

Half time. West Ham 1-0 Man United.

Quick analysis of the first half so far: West Ham very good & deserving of their lead. Solid defensively with Ogbonna & Balbuena excellent. Soucek & Rice doing good work in midfield & Bowen brilliant.

Balbuena absolutely bossed Martial in the 1st half - @jackelderton told me that Balbeuna is absolutely sensational while playing on the front foot & he couldn’t be more right. Extremely good reading of the game + intercepting/tackling.

For Man United, Martial on the left, Cavani down the middle played (too) close to each other. Nice idea of interchanging but it didn’t work. VdB moved a little to the right to allow this. This picture below is an average position map that confirms all this. Credits: @WhoScored

Also, Man United were unable to involve van de Beek & Cavani in the game. van de Beek had just 27 touches, the lowest of all the central midfielders - Soucek (28), Rice (30), McTominay (44) & Pogba (71). Cavani had just 14, lowest among all outfield players. Credits: @WhoScored

In order to change things, Man United subbed off Cavani & van de Beek & brought on Rashford & Fernandes at the start of the second half. However, the 2nd half started much like how the 1st half went: West Ham on top creating another big chance.

The move starts like all West Ham moves do: winning the ball back in midfield (Ogbonna on Martial). Cresswell launches a lofted pass to Bowen. Maguire gets dragged to the right to win the duel only for Bowen to get there first. Notice Man United’s disjoint defensive shape.

Why is Man United’s shape disjointed? Wan-Bissaka is pushed up because Man United were in attack. Maguire was dragged to the right because Lindelof, the right sided centre back, was tracking Haller who had dropped deeper. Maguire being out of position meant Telles was centrally.

The loose ball falls to Haler. Telles is too central & there is a LOT of space on Man United’s left. Haller & right wing back Coufal recognise this.

Coufal receives the pass & advances into the box. He can now has options & chooses the best one: puts the ball into the area at the back post for the arriving Bowen.

Everything is perfect so far for West Ham so far but Bowen somehow misses the chance and puts it wide.

And after about 4-5 minutes, Man United finally start improving & get stronger. Maguire plays a lovely pass to put Rashford through on the left who then finds McTominay in a good shooting opportunity. Maguire's good passing will now become a feature of Man United's game.

Martial is injured & subbed off. Mata comes on in his place. And almost instantly, Man United's equalizer arrives. It starts with this clearance from Henderson. Fernandes is alert to this but no one else is.

Fernandes is now in a slightly dangerous position & this gets worse when Ogbonna allows Fernandes to get past him. It still isn't that bad though, it's just a layoff to Pogba who is 20+ yards out.

BUT, it's Pogba. He unleashes an absolutely world class strike. No chance for Fabianski.
Goal. West Ham 1-1 Manchester United

And almost instantly, Man United took the lead. A common theme of this half is Fernandes picking up little pockets of space & playing some absolutely wonderful one touch football. That's what starts this goal as he creates some space for Telles on the wing.

Telles's cross is good but it's nothing special & probably not even intended for Greenwood. But this goal is all about Greenwood's first touch. Absolutely brilliant first touch to create space & finish well. Images won't capture how good that first touch is.

Man United lead & now step up to another level.

Remember when I mentioned Fernandes picking up little pockets of space & playing wonderful one touch football?

Yup, it happens again. Excellent 1-2 b/w Greenwood & Fernandes.

Greenwood should've done better with the finish.

Another instance of Maguire's good passing + Fernandes picking up pockets of space & creating havoc instantly.

Maguire plays a wonderful line-breaking pass to find Fernandes in midfield.

Fernandes instantly turns & plays a wonderful pass to Rashford completely through on goal.

He, however, hits the woodwork. Should have scored - it was a very good chance.

The third goal does arrive. AGAIN, Fernandes is in a good position & plays a first touch pass to Mata.

Mata joins the first-touch party & plays a wonderful first time pass to Rashford.

And this time, Rashford scores with ease.
Goal. West Ham 1-3 Manchester United.

There is not much of note in the rest of the game. West Ham brought on Benrahma to get back into the game but Man United defended resolutely & West Ham couldn't cause them much trouble.

Overall, West Ham would feel they should have got more out of the game but you have got to take your chances. I will drop one of my tweets right after my game for reference. https://twitter.com/Footballcohol1c/status/1335299406413791232

https://twitter.com/Footballcohol1c/status/1335299406413791232

An inspired second half performance from Man United. Pogba's wonderful goal started it all but Fernandes & Rashford were the key players, especially the former.

However, Man United must be careful & not make this a habit. The over-reliance on Fernandes is a problem.

That's the end of the thread. I hope you liked it. With time, I will start bringing a couple of other new features into my analysis (better editing + voiceovers, if needed).

Feel free to suggest/criticise anything. I will be very happy to hear your thoughts!

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