Liverpool vs Manchester United

ANALYSIS

Thread.

I'll try to be as brief as possible on this. Hence I'll be looking at 4 major areas.

• General Approach
• Defence
• Press
• Attack

GENERAL APPROACH

Ole very clearly came into the game with a plan to stop Liverpool from scoring and hitting them on fast breaks to get his goal(s).

Whilst this didn't yield expected results, it was an almost perfect plan.
#MUFC created 2 of the 3 total big chances yesterday.

Fred and McTominay were selected at pivot over the pairing of Matic and Pogba used in #MUFC's 1-0 win at Burnley.
Lindelöf made a good shift at CB with Maguire, making Ole's defensive selections near perfect.

DEFENCE

United's defensive setup was very composed yesterday. Top performances from Shaw and Bissaka to stop Liverpool's full backs and wingers freedom proved vital.

Both full backs didn't get dribbled past all game and they won 14/23 duels contested.

McTominay and Fred dropped into the area a lot for defensive duties and really lightened the load for Maguire-Lindelöf by keeping it tight and denying any Liverpool attacker the freedom to operate.

• PRESS

When out of possession, United's 4-2-3-1 reverts to a 4-4-2 to hold off Liverpool. This was constant in several parts of the game.

Pogba (RM) and Martial (LM) dropped to join Fred and McTominay whilst Rashford and Fernandes maintained slightly higher positions for chances to counter.

In these phases, I think United managed the game pretty well.

• ATTACK

This is where a lot of issues lie. United were the most dangerous in front of goal in this game and should have scored a goal or two from the situations they had.

With the ball, here's #MUFC's average positions.

When Cavani came on, he became serious threat for both Liverpool's makeshift centerback pairing, getting Fabinho yellow carded with 5 minutes of his entrance.

United created a lot more clearer chances after he came on.

- Bruno Fernandes.
Fernandes isn't the player who gets a lot of criticism but his decision making yesterday leaves a lot of questions unanswered and he's aware.

Here's a chance to drop the ball through for Martial, he doesn't (he'd normally do this).

Here's another chance to play it into Rashford who's clear to get into the area, he takes an uncertain long range shot.

Not a the worst decision but not the best either.

*insert Rashford's miss*

I'm not going to talk about that. I think enough has been said on that.

SUMMARY
It wasn't a bad performance overall but it could have been better. Pogba and Bruno's big chances missed ( I feel if any of them held onto the ball for a few more seconds they'd finish better - easier said though) & Rashford's declining to pass could have changed the game.

Subsequently, I hope we go back to playing Matic and Pogba in big games. They're more matured and give us a lot of options going forward. We looked really narrow yesterday.

Fulham is next, what matters is getting the necessary result there.

Thanks for reading.

Design inspiration
- utdarena