Manchester United vs Leicester City Post Match Analysis

[StriderHiryu]

 

^ I'm going to be doing my match analysis for the game tomorrow night LIVE at 7PM, but in the mean time, I am going to give you a preview of what happened in the game. Once the stream is done, I will also post the full video above!

 

 

^ A lineup that sends shudders down your spine. No Vardy and no Ricardo mades this lineup look awful from the get go, and many of us were expecting a long afternoon...

 

 

^ Man United went super strong. This was probably their strongest lineup, with maybe a tossup between Garnacho and Rashford for the left wing.

 

 

 

^ I was asked to cover the body language of the players as they came out for the game. I don't think it was too bad, but at the same time, I appreciate the point that the players didn't look totally up for it. Winks who played well but was frustrated all afternoon, already looks upset before a ball has been kicked!

 

 

^ A look at the average positions and passing networks of the two teams. This tells us quite a lot about both teams. Man United are a transition team, going for direct long balls, and support these passes by committing many players forwards. Leicester on the other hand, try to move up the pitch together and control the ball in the middle of the park. However, you can see from our netowrks that we aren't committing enough men forwards and this don't look too hot in terms of scoring goals.

 

 

^ This is the shape we have been using under both Cooper and Maresca, a 325 shape. Note Justin's high position on the right hand side, which simply does not work, and will be covered later.

 

 

^ United on the other hand try and play direct balls vertically through the pitch and then attack with their fast forwards on transition. They don't have much control of the game, hence a fairly even amount of possession for each team, but can spring a break at any point in time.

 

 

^ You know it, I know it, even James Justin knows it. He is being hung out to dry because of the system we play under Cooper. He had a really poor game, but I think that no matter who we had in this position, we would see the same outcome. The system simply does not work.

 

 

^ We have conceded most of our goals this season down our right hand side. This is because of a systemic issue we have under Cooper. In this example it's not so bad, but is a warning sign. Man United compact the ball down one side so they can switch the ball out to the other side. In this example it wasn't such a big issue, but as I will go into in the video, this caused issues time and time again, leavin Justin exposed and leading to him being utterly frustrated when taken off.

 

 

^ Jumping round a bit, but this compounds itself with United' third goal. Faes has pushed up high for the set piece, with Justin sat back, but on transition, Eriksen takes a ton of players out of the game with a clever pass, Justin has no idea who he should be picking up and Garancho finds himself free to take a shot, from which he scores.

 

 

^ Man United didn't score from this sequence, but is some of the most compelling evidence I can show for how poor this system is. WIth JJ up so high, a fast turnover leaves Garnacho in acres of space and if was more composed, this would have been another breakaway goal against us. But I want to stress this isn't just a JJ problem, this is a problem with the overall system. If you tune into the video I am going to show you multiple examples, including how this was a problem even in preseason.

 

 

 

^ However, if Justin had a bad game, I would argue that Viktor Kristiansen was even worse. Already guilty in some of the clips above, he made many mistakes during the game that would prove to be costly.

 

 

^ Viktor Kristiansen, who had an awful game, fails to deal with a routine punt up the ball from Hojlund. He get's lucky in that Amad doesn't take full advantage, but the ball goes out for a throw-in...

 

 

^ Look at poor our setup is from the resulting throw-in. Man United have a 3 on 2 situation with easy passing triangles. Meanwhile we have packed our box, marking no one in particular. Yet despite all of the players we have in the box, Rashford is free.

 

 

^ The sequence continues and it's a goal for Manchester United. It's a great strike by the United man, but it's a catalogue of errors that lead to a poor goal from our perspective.

 

 

^ More poor defending. Again it comes from the right hand side. Buonanotte and Justin get caught ball watching, with no one looking out Mazraoui who has pulled off to the wing. He has time to pick a cross, which Fernandes attacks, eventually coming off Kristiansen for an own goal.

 

 

^ Another mistake from Kristiansen. This time he at least deals with the Man United clearance, but after he receives the ball back from Hermansen. He plays a poor pass into the middle of the park. I think he is trying to play a diagonal switch, but the pass is cut out, and we are lucky to get away with not conceding another goal from the mistake.

 

 

^ So what about going forwards? We had scored in every game so far this season up until this game. Why weren't we able to break United down?

 

 

^ For me the biggest issue was square pegs in round holes. Fatawu had a good game, but was put on the left. So even though he had the beating of Dalot, he wasn't able to threaten with a strike at any time during the game.

 

 

^ Wilfred Ndidi is anotehr square peg in a round hole. His stats this season are among the best in our team, but is he in the right place at the right time?

 

 

^ These stats are pretty crazy, but do tend to suit a player of a defensive profile rather than an attacking one...

 

 

^ Here was a good opportunity we made for Ndidi. His first touch is actually very good, but he hasn't quite got the composure to find the back of the net, whereas had this been Maddison from yesteryear or Buonanotte from today, he may have been more effective. In isolation I don't think he was that bad, but at the elite level, attacking with a front two often made of Jordan Ayew and Wilfred Ndidi... well not a surprise we didn't score.

 

 

^ Here's another example. Ayew recieves the ball here and with a better pass, could have put Buonanotte in, but he can't quite play the right pass that would get Facundo free, and United deal with the threat.

 

 

 

^ I don't really need to do a second half analysis, look at the stats above. The players had simply given up. No changes at halftime, 1 shot in the entire half with an xG of 0.05. Hard not to say the manager has lost the dressing room with stats like these, especially as though Man United were two up, they had been functional not fantastic.

 

 

^ It's clear we are in big trouble, and with Ricardo out, things get even worse. What do we need to do? What can we do?!

 

 

^ This would be my objective suggestion. We are giving up way too many chances per match and that's why we are losing so many games. But there is another team in the midlands that has a great defence and are doing well, despite not having a star-studded squad. Perhaps they might act as the blue print for how we could play?

 

 

^ Patson Daka!? Has Strider lost his mind?! Well I am trying to be objective here and I would suggest that if we changed our gameplan to a be a midblock counter attacking team like Forest, we might get more joy. With Daka, Mavididi and Fatawu up top we could carry a threat whilst only breaking with 3, allowing us to keep the rest of the team deeper. Our back 4 is pretty poor, but this might give them more protection and tighten things up. With our squad and current manager, I don't see a way forwards playing with a raiding full back up high.

 

 

 

 

^ I am going to leave it a bit light today, but do encourage you to watch the live stream at 7PM on Tuesday on Blue Tinted Glasses as Lox and I can answer any questions you might have. I also have a ton more analysis to show in that stream, none of which portrays the manager in a particularly good light.

 

Hope you have a better week than you did weekend, there's a lot of thinking to do over the international break...

 

 

 

 

Edited 12 November 2024 by StriderHiryu
Oops pulled the trigger too fast

[Izzy]

AND IT'S LIVE!

[Sly]

Brilliant again @StriderHiryu!! I’ll try and catch toy full analysis tomorrow. 

[StriderHiryu]

24 minutes ago, Izzy said:

AND IT'S LIVE!

I'll be honest, a bit like some of our players on Saturday, I misplaced my pass and hit the enter key too quickly!

 

Once the stream has finished I will post the video up here so you can skip through it, but we did a poll today and a lot of the channel viewers wanted it live, so that's the way we are going to go!

 

 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

So Cooper is a pile of shit yea? Yea? 

[StriderHiryu]

Just now, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

So Cooper is a pile of shit yea? Yea? 

 

Sure looks like it...

[RedSoxUK]

Any chance of compiling all the 'fouls' that weren't given as fouls, and fouls that were not given a card? Would be good to see them all quickly.

[StriderHiryu]

6 minutes ago, RedSoxUK said:

Any chance of compiling all the 'fouls' that weren't given as fouls, and fouls that were not given a card? Would be good to see them all quickly.

That could take a while!

 

The referee was not kind on us, but I don't think anyone can say he was the reason we lost that game. That said Dalot fould Fatawu so many times, he could have been booked 3 times over.

[Lionator]

8 minutes ago, RedSoxUK said:

Any chance of compiling all the 'fouls' that weren't given as fouls, and fouls that were not given a card? Would be good to see them all quickly.

Steve is that you? 

[StriderHiryu]

Here's the live stream we did for the game. We showed where a lot of our issues come from, including how some of those signs could be seen in preseason, and try to discuss some constructive things we could try going forwards. There's also a Q+A session at the end.