I Analysed EVERY Man Utd game… Is Ten Hag Actually Good?

when brenford full on West Ham and wolves have scored more goals than Manchester United in the Premier League this season I think we've got a problem so I went back and watched all of the goals under Eric tenh plus most of the shots to try and figure out what the problem is I'm statman Dave welcome today we're going to be diving into some serious statistics and Analysis if you like that make sure you smash the like button also subscribe if you knew anyway let's get this party started last season ten hog set Manchester United up in a 4231 the transition to a 361 when United won the ball this came with movement from Christian Erikson who would drop into the defensive line either to the left of the center backs or the right of the center backs or more frequently in between the center backs to get on the ball and dictate the play from Deep Christian Erikson was very much a roaming playmaker for Manchester United last season was involved at the base but it would also move into the final third this shape allowed casemiro to play as a sole holding defensive midfielder or number six and either fullback would join casemiro dependent on which side of the pitch the ball was on take the left side the right back would tuck in and support casemiro the shape was arguably kind of a little bit like a diamond at times uh with the Wingers holding the width the two fullbacks coming inside and Bruno Fernandez given a real free role in that number 10 position the progression of course came from either outside Center back or Christine Erikson really breaking the lines with his flat passing his links with Bruno Fernandez was really good last season take the goal that they scored against Arsenal which we'll have a look at later on Christian Erikson completed more Progressive passes and more passes into the final third than any other Manchester United player last season and his role in buildup was crucial to get united into the final third talking about Bruno Fernandez he was the creative Hub created more chances than any other player last season in the Premier League with 98 coming from open Play which is more than any player managed in the entirety of the 2122 season BR fern his role within the side was to get on the ball and be kind of super direct us usually utilizing his passing combinations or through Balls to the Wingers to get behind the opposition's backline but creating a lot of opportunities and having a free role in United attack of course other players had big roles last season Marcus rashford scored 30 goals in all competitions and played his minutes either as a wi player you know driving on the inside from the wide positions or alternatively making those runs in the backline as we saw before dribbling driving at the opponents and usually being supported by a fullback on the inside or on the overlap Manchester United style of attacking play last season was very much Wing play you know utilizing both flanks um independent of who was on the pitch be it Bruno Fernandez playing whyde be it Anthony Alejandro gacho Marcus rashford or even Anthony alanga the United structure again was quite fluid in a sense of when Christian Erikson had played the pass into the final third he would try and get him self into the inside Left Channel again creating this really Advanced attacking structure for Manchester United in a similar way that 316 structure was throughout everything United did well offensively and the big part about the transition as well is Manchester United had a solid transitional nature and could defend well against the Counterattack with the really key triangle of the back of Martinez Raphael Varan and casemiro one of the big features of Manchester United's play last season was after an attack had broken down with casemiro winning the ball back and then instantly looking forward and breaking through United scored a lot of goals with casemiro simply winning it and playing forward and breaking the opposition where it hurt as they moved to their build-up structure United shape was good there was a lot of freedom with Bruno Fernandez and Wing play would create a lot of opportunities defensively Manchester United played a bit of a midblock they drop off the opponents and look to sit a little bit deeper in a very much a 4-2 31 structure with camiro Erikson the back four made up of the right back and of course the two center backs and left back and Anthony um and Marcus rashford would sit in quite a narrow uh defensive structure and United would allow the opponents to play and then they break through in fact if you look at Manchester United's defensive stats last season they kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League but conceded just the third most goals you take 40% of the goals that United conceded last season of course came in games against Liverpool brenford and Manchester City shows how impressive it was a lot of good attacking stuff last season and there was a real growth and ideas where Manchester United could utilize different players and grows in an attacking football team this season Eric tenh has moved to more of a 4141 structure or 433 the ideas at the start of the Season were to get Mason Mount Bruno Fernandez and casemiro into Midfield allowing Mason Mount and Fernandez to play as fre eights a United very much building with a 4141 structure at times we'd see fullbacks moving into Midfield and joining Casmir at the base allowing United to build in a 325 structure but of course injury of course United a lot a lot of problems this season which has seen the emergence of not only Kobe Mayo but the poor form of Anthony has seen Alejandra gono move on to the right hand side the structure is decent the pressing is very very poor we've already done a video on that so if you not checked that out make sure you go and look at that because we dive in and create our own statistics based on Manchester United's pressing structure but the other issues for Manchester United of course has been the injuries to not only Luke Shaw but Martinez as well meaning the Manchester United having to feel players that are not as comfortable on the ball as previous Seasons what this means for buildup is that they really struggle at certain times casemiro is a ball-winning midfielder he's not a playmaker like a Christian Erikson or let's take a chabby Alonzo or a busc a player that's going to get on the ball deep and going to dictate he's going to break attack and then look for a killer pass so the problem Manchester United having this season building with one defensive midfielder as it's very very easy for the opposition to press casemiro at the base of Midfield then squeeze the rest of the team back which usually leads the ball dropping back to Andrea Nana and then him going long and breaking through United's buildup is very very poor you haven't seen Mason ma make too many appearances for Manchester United and maybe it would have changed there what I would like to have seen is maybe upgrading the likes of Christian Erikson that roaming playmaker to a player that can get on the ball deep progress united through the third and then they can attack the structure is better for what ten Hogs Ajax did really well of course they attacked with a lot of underlaps coming from the cental Midfield areas to really stretch the opponent what that would mean for Manchester United you have a lack of uh sort of focus on Bruno Fernandez in the final third making them far more unpredictable but actually what we've seen this season is a lot of wing play we've not seen a lot of third-man runs we've not seen a lot of underlaps we've not seen a lot of positional goals where man united dominate the ball and then use superiorities to break their opponents down but simply what we've seen at Old Trafford this season is a lot of play from the wide areas where Man United however they do it usually let's say a long ball from andreon Nana getting to the wide areas and then the fullback supporting uh you know let's take the right hand side Doo Doo's been really good at overlapping and underlapping the have you know the nominal right winger on this side to get on the ball and get crosses away but you haven't seen a consistency of Manchester United we've not seen them dominate in the final third when you look at the fact that they've only had 51% possession this season you got to start looking at different areas of the pitch for why Manchester United simply aren't scoring enough goals injuries have been a big problem for Manchester United this season but if you look around the Premier League at the likes of un 's Aston Villa or alternatively an POA call glue Spurs or even desery Brighton there's a clear style of play we take that concept further and look at chabby Alonzo's by lusen when some of the best goals they've scored this season have come in the Europa League with their second Team all those teams that I've just mentioned there have less resource than Manchester United but all have a very clearly defined game plan independent of who's playing they play that style of football and it's seen by the effectiveness of each team given their resource in their current divisions Manchester United are a big work in progress ten haen recognition for his deployment of positional player Ajax but what actually is positional play positional play is a philosophy that's been popularized by Pep Guardiola that seeks to use the zonal positioning of players to gain an advantage over their opponents as look to create at least one of three superiorities numerical qualitative and positional the most common method of chance Creation in a team deploying positional play is the overload underload methodology where a team will build down one flank and overload it dragging the opposition over to stop progression the positional play team will then look to exploit the extreme width and quickly switch the play to the underloaded flank either through short passing combinations usually through Midfield or through a big long pass regardless its methodology usually creates at at least a qualitative overload with a dynamic attacker in a 1 V one with a Defender when doing the research for this video we sat down and watched every single one of Manchester United's goals under Eric tenh har as well as most of their shots and what came out comparing this season to last season were a few problems in short man united are about as effective from Corners free kicks and penalties but despite wanting to be more of a transitional team this season man united are scoring fewer goals from turnovers counterattacks and considerably fewer from positional play there's also a greater Reliance on individual quality to create chances whil as casemiro is far less influential in fact last season casemiro's turnovers led to as many goals as United scored from the penalty spot but this season casemiro's turnovers have led to just a single goal but most worrying is the positional Play Goals it's quite hard to Define what a positional play goal is in compared to the likes of a golf from a set piece or a Counterattack so we defined our own criteria of what a positional play goal is as follows continuous team possession that leads to a goal with clear intention to utilize aspects of positional play last season United scored a decent amount of goals from positional play around 31% of their 58 Premier League goals coming from aspects of this approach but this season that percentage has significantly dropped to 18% with three of those goals coming in back to back games against wolver Hampton wanders and West Ham United in games where Eric tenr could actually select his best 11 to put Manchester United's lack of ability to create through sustained pressure into perspective Manchester City scored more goals in 27 games this season in the Premier League that Eric tenh hard's men have managed in the entirety of his 58 games in the Premier League obviously guardiola's men are the gold standard of positional play Barrett ten hog isn't big Sam allad he used positional play at Ajax you Tre and at Bayern Munich when Pep Guardiola was head coach a good way to compare how off the pace Manchester United are is to compare games against similar opponents Manchester United Manchester City and Arsenal have all beaten Sheffield United this season but two teams control the game recycle possession use Concepts a positional play to win the other team relied on individual moments of quality so let's take a look at those goals first up julan Alvarez versus Sheffield United City not only use an overload in a Central Area they create with width create a 1 V one situation and then have a brilliant bit of rotation to open up the door so we pick up the play with kovic at the base of Midfield City have slightly changed their buildup in Midfield they play with a 325 structure but they have a kind of 68 axis this season which is a bit of a change what that means is for the opponent is they now have to deal with another midfielder rodri's position in this goal is vitally important he takes the attention of venicio Suarez for a second which opens up a passing Lane into Bernardo Silva's feet you can see Man City have formed a diamond around the ball the ball's played into Bernardo Silva's feet it's then laid off to Phil foden City basically have a 2V1 in between the lines with Sila dropping off the line and foden in the inside Left Channel foden simply plays the ball out to Oscar Bob creating a 1 V one with Jaden bogul huge amount of space for Manchester City's Winger the next bit is absolutely brilliant laosa is a kiki move of positional Play It's stopping the play and allowing players to move around it and we see that with Bernardo Silva who makes a great run pulling the defense over which opens up a space for Phil foden as Oscar Bob still is in possession of the football to break into the space in behind the defense and slide it for julan Alvarez to Simply put the ball in the back of the net a brilliant positional play goal that uses concepts of overloading underloading creating 1 V ons and then utilizing rotation and space a great goal moving forward to Arsenal so Arsenal similar thing Sheffield United they're using an under overloading strategy here to create a 3v3 for their best part of their team that's sacka Ben White and Martin erard so Arsenal recycle possession it's on the left hand side and we can see you've got five Sheffield United players have been drawn over to Arsenal's left de R switches the play through William sber and of course erard receives possession with a good positional structure we can see Ben White holding that Wing position sack's moved into the inside right position and erard is sitting a little bit deeper as this roaming playmaker as the play moves forward we can clearly see that Sheffield United are now underloaded on this side you can see that the five players that shuttle down to the left hand side haven't reacted to get over to that side of the pitch which opens up a good little bit of space Ben White to chop inside erard to use His Brilliant passing you've then got sacka in a 1 V one superiority of overload with the defender fantastic ability to open himself up bursts on the outside and cuts the ball back for Dean rice to finish a positional goal with rotation if you take the move back a bit deam rice actually starts on the left hand side as an inside left player moves across KY have drives to that back post and he's the guy that puts the ball in the back of the net a fantastic positional goal and now let's move on to Manchester United um to start things off Victor Lindo has just carried about 35 yards closing the space down um for the Winger ahead of him then United obviously utilize the ball play it back through Midfield at this point United have done the same thing where there's now six players here that United have drawn over to the left hand side of the shape what did Arsenal just do they switch the play it wasn't a direct switch it was a switch back through defense to create a 3v3 out wide United in fact on this right hand side have a 3v2 right now but instead of opening up the play youit to go down the left hand side again it's a bit of a weird pass but also Victor lindoff doesn't really receive very well which leaves them into a position where they've got a 2v2 Sheffield United are absolutely comfortable defending in this situation they've got an overload in the box with their three center backs United recycled the play back through Alejandro gacho he looks to take on the opponent instead of it being Oscar Bob where City have opened up an opportunity for him to slide a pass through nobody's making that underlapping run but there's a 2V1 on a handro gacho which means United have got a recycle possession back to the fullback they've basically played football there for 10 seconds they may as well have not bothered they're back into the same position and it leads to United scoring a goal through an individual brilliant strike from Dogo Doo this isn't something that's being worked on this is not positional this is just Dogo Doo being Dogo Doo of this season that's Manchester United's Player of the Year this is a brilliant goal that gets United to three points but it doesn't come from a constructive move or concepts of positional play just a player that's playing the best football of his career as mentioned ten hog has barely had his best team to select from that's definitely a contributing factor but also ten Hog's tactics have been the problem whilst the overall shape is largely the same ten hog used the central midfielder at the base of the formation usually dropping in between or to the side of the center backs to get a good ball player in this Zone this season man united have moved away from that and using free eights or Advanced midfielders that look to utilize their ability in between the lines this has led to United using fullbacks in their buildup which has been detrimental to their positional play this has led to fewer goals from drawing pressure high at the pitch this is a key method of chance creation last season in fact one of the best positional goals United scored last season was Antony's against Arsenal where Erikson dropped into the center Center back position split the Arsenal Midfield with a pass into Bruno and created a 4v4 on Arsenal's backline but this season a lack of consistency in the backline as well as poor ball players at the base of Midfield have become a real issue for United this inability to play through was highlighted in Manchester United's 2-n win over Everton in particular casemiro struggled in the first 20 minutes he gave possession away six times with sloppy passes when they're really wasn't any reason for him to do so everyone has poor games we're talking about 15 yd passes this comes back to the fact that at Ajax tenh har had reliable ball players at the base casemiro is an elite level Destroyer but not a ball player and United have really struggled with that lack of ball playing midfielder as a number six tag has been once again let down by United's poor recruitment but again ten hog is not blameless he simply needs to use midfielders at the base control games and move away from this idea of being Everton and transitional and back could do a job at the base Christin Erikson Bruno Fernandez could do a job there or even playing casemiro as a center back having another ball player in that deep area allowing United to be much better on the ball alternatively play more ball players and camp in the opponent's half move away from being a transitional team that's relying on players that are a little bit out of form this season we've seen how Manchester City and Arsenal especially have camped in the opponent's half with 10 outfielders in a compact block which allows them to dominate counter press and use positional play to unlock the door it's really really simple play those players back into form before we dive into the statistics and the solution to Marcus rashford's form this season let's take a look at his player profile for me Marcus rashford is at his best when he's playing as an inside forward on the left wing that's a player that's going to penetrate the opposition's line either on the dribble driving through slaming and dancing his way into the penalty area to get a shot away or alternatively getting played in behind the defense by one of his teammates namely Bruno Fernandez who likes that pass in on the inside to the forward running from the outside rashford has the pace the ability 1 V one and that intuition as a dribbler to disbalance his opposition and then drive through and get a shot away for me the best position for Marcus rashford is in that inside forward position on the left so he can test out that space between the positions fullback and the center back or alternatively Marcus rashford is utilized well as a striker but he's got to be playing as a two in my opinion I do like when he's utilized at the kind of back end the games as that central figure to be a direct option on the counter attack but I'd argue that as a center forward he's better playing as an advanced forward with someone to link in behind him Eric tenh did that last season with Manchester United what we'd see is Val VOR dropping into that number 10 area Bruno Fernandez would move to the right and someone like a Jaden Sancho would play out left allowing Marcus rashford to do what he does best and attack those Channel areas with movement in behind the opposition's defense notably we'd see Bruno Fernandez again looking for those passes uh sometimes the outside of his boot to free Marcus rashford or early crosses into the box or balls into the channels but that was a really good use of Marcus rashford when we look at his statistics 43% of the goals he scored last season across all competitions came when he was playing as a number nine Manchester United beat the lights of Barcelona last season with rashford in this position before the World Cup though rashford only scored once in 13 games but after the World Cup often when paired with Val VOR as a second Striker behind him rashford scored 12 goals in 23 games compare that to this season Marcus rashford has only scored once in 700 minutes but the change of shape doesn't get the best out of the England International now in the 433 rashford's Main job as that number nine is to link the play is to drop off the line receive balls to feet and then get himself into the penalty area this doesn't really fit his skill set rashford's skill set when when he's playing as a nine as we mentioned before is hitting those channels it's attacking the space in behind the opponents and I think one of the big things that Manchester United probably need to do is get a second striker in an around him and Manchester United of course have gone into the market and done that they've signed Rasmus holand but we've still not seen um you know kind of a two-man strike force of Marcus rashford and Rasmus holand with let's say Bruno Fernandez wide right casemiro Mayo Midfield and the two players playing in kind of a narrow 42 31 structure that's what I really really want to see that partnership could be really devastating we saw an action in the Premier League against Brighton uh Manchester United have only played the diamond on two occasions of course they beat Everton in a recent Premier League game with a counterattacking display of gacha and rashford running off the backat line but what we not seen enough of of course the other way around playing a diamond in Midfield with Scott Momin casemiro Kobe Mayo Bruner Fernandez at the tip and then rashford and hland operating in the channels if we look at rashford's statistics in that game he had nine shots in the game against Brighton Two On Target which is the most he's managed in the Premier League game this season but he also completed a whopping 10 of his 16 dribbles and in fact the pair actually combined for a goal directly that was ruled out for offside Eric tag is really shooting himself in the foot we've not seen enough of the diamond with Rasmus hland and Marcus rashford playing as two Strikers more importantly the 4231 that we saw last season you know throwing on um Bruno Fernandez on the right wing Gano on the left wing and then Rasmus hland operating behind Marcus rashford as a second Striker again United's attacking structure would be really variable with lots of different pockets of space where different players could pick up you know you could see hland maybe operating inside left Brena Fernandez operating as a playmaker Dogo doow coming up on the overlap providing a 3-2 structure there's loads of options that we've not seen with Marcus rashford and even more frustrating we haven't seen him play in recent weeks as that Striker as man united have taken a lead of games and they're looking to play on the break rashford scored a lot of goals playing 20 15 minutes at the end of games on the Counterattack utilizes his pace and his ability on the Counterattack so how would you fix Manchester United's attack well I think first and foremost we need to understand what Manchester United is man united aren't a transitional team they're not Diego simeon's Atletico Madrid or Shawn D as Everton no disrespect to how those two guys play football but Manchester United are all about control all about attacking with pace and power interchange playing with Wingers and scoring for fun that is Manchester United not a team that sits deep and only has 51% possession against Everton so how do United get there of course course the first big problem United need to solve in the window is buying a new right-sided center back Rafael Varan is a good Defender but a poor ball player not in 2024 can you have someone like rapael Varan in your team that doesn't progress play so number one United need a new right sided Center back that's going to be able to play the passes into Midfield and you allow United to dominate number two United need a new number six that's going to be focused on being a playmaker that can get on the ball in those deep areas and maybe allow United to play this 4141 structure the Eric tenh hara's move to this season kobby Mayo could play this position he could operate as that number six but I think his skill set is much better to be utilized in the final third we all saw what he did against wolver Hampton Wanderers and how he destroyed them for the fourth goal that won man united the game kobby has got bags of bags of talent that I think can be utilized up the pitch so with United if they wanted to build in a similar way with Christian Ericson building in a 3-1 structure for me Bruno Fernandez is the deeper player allowing both fullbacks to to push on inside or outside what I'd like to see more is rashford narrow up and the nominal left Winger be it Luke Shaw or a new signing as United should have done last summer allowing them to hold the width United need an Alfonso Davies type player I'm not saying going to sign Alonso Davies because he's basically going to join Real Madrid we all know that like kilan mbappe who's you know secretly joined Real Madrid we all knew that was happening Davis is going to be the same player so we need a player like him player that's can can command the flank that can dribble that can take people on on the outside allowing rashford to be closer to Rasmus holand and playing as an inside forward in that Central Area so United's build up structure with Bruno Fernandez um you know moving either Dogo doow inverting to join the nominal defensive midfielder you know a new recruit signed in the new Right Center back operating out there and Fernandez dropping to get on the ball in these deep areas if we actually have a look at Bruno Fernandez Progressive numbers they're some of the best in the Premier League and his ability to dictate the play for deep will allow United to play through pressure one of the big big problems United have found this season is they struggle to play through pressure they don't have a Lynch pin in defensive Midfield to play through and bounce through so going forward if Eric tag wants to continue in this way Bruno Fernandez dropping deep to get on the ball is an absolute must for next season allowing mayo and rashford to operate in the inside channels of course with the fluidity of football and The Interchange of certain positions Bruno is not going to be sticking there H you know we rotate after dropping the ball high so maybe getting into a central Midfield position and United actually building maybe with a two uh 35 structure you know dominating that Central area too many times this season we've seen teams dominate United in the center part of the pitch so why can't United go for six players in that central zone four technical ball players two Strikers allowing United to really score goals allowing both Alejandro gono on the right wing and Luke Shaw on the left wing to provide the threat but United also needs to be interchangeable they need different solutions to different problems s that could be rashford holding the width Bruno Fernandez playing inside but United do need three players they need a new flying left wing back they need a right sided Center back and a ball playing number six it's as simple as that and that would fix Manchester United's issues playing out for the back and thus they would score more goals it would also allow United to be better from a creation perspective with Bruno Fernandez being deep and having Runners such as Marcus rashford um and kobby Mino in the kind of inside ch with hland dropping off it creates more interchange more problems for the opposition and United will score more goals so in conclusion Manchester United simply haven't scored enough goals under Eric tenh this season and the lack of style of play is a big big concern we've seen flashes in it in the 18 months there at ten Hog's been in charge but we've not seen consistency and the issues come when you compare Eric ten har to the likes of Jurgen klopp an bosta kogo and mikola Teta if we take a look at Liverpool klopp immediately got a response from them the gag and pressing was on show very early on in his career they even settled on the iconic 433 about 6 months into his time as a manager if we take a look at the average positions from the 201617 season game against Burnley we can clearly see that 433 structure taking a look at mik Etta's Arsenal 1.5 Seasons into his Reign was around the 2122 season started the season in the 423 31 then cleared out a lot of big names such as ayang and they started to move to the 433 in possession and even though they missed out on the top four the style of play was getting there take the average positions versus Everton we can clearly see Martin erard and granite Jaca as the two3 eight with the two Wingers holding the width of the pitch and lacazette as a false nine and taken this season Posta Cog Glo has got Spurs playing their possession game after just one pre-season and F Nuno spirito Santo Jose Mourinho and Antonio con all managers that play a very different defensive style so it's not like the players already had a basic understanding of his approach and taking the average positions from the game against brenford we can clearly see those Wing backs inverting and the 28s being super free and if we compare that to Manchester United's best performances with their strongest starting 11 which is only actually featured twice this season against W the Hampton wanders and West Ham it looks a lot better but the concern is we're not seeing the shape structure possession game positional goals enough under Eric tenh har but anyway thanks for watching should Manchester United continue with Eric tenh har next season that is the big debate of the moment Manchester United have shown as we mentioned in a few games of what they potentially could be with better recruitment a new right-sided center back a new left wing back that can attack in the final third and a new ball playing number six are vitally important this summer independent of whether Eric tenh har stays or goes at the end of the season I've been stman Dave subscribe if you new like the video we'll see you next time thanks for watching if you've enjoyed this video why not check out some more content on the stman Dave YouTube [Music] channel

Channel: Statman Dave

Views: 126,003

Keywords: statman dave, erik ten hag, ten hag, ten hag tactics, ten hag man utd, man utd, manchester united, man united, mufc, man utd tactics, manchester united tactics, man utd highlights, man utd transfers, man utd rumours, man utd news, man utd team news, Rasmus hojlund, højlund, hojlund goals, man utd pressing, manchester united pressing, manchester united highlights, fabrizio romano, romano, premier league, football, soccer, the athletic, hojlund update, man utd vs liverpool

Id: dH_SL5dBze0

Length: 30min 21sec (1821 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2024