Written by Paul Micheal Ezeoha
Tottenham Hotspurs became the latest side to lift the Europa League trophy, thanks to Brennan Johnson's goal in the night.
With this fit, the White Lilys have guaranteed a spot in next season's UEFA Champions League, while their opponent, Man United, will have to grapple with the distressing fact of losing out on European competitions next season.
Accordingly, Tottenham's victory over United means that they now extend the number of wins against them this season to 4 good times.
The score line doesn't give a good account of this tie, as United were far away the dominant side. In terms of ball possession, Man United had the highest value with 73%, while Tottenham managed to secure only 27%, thanks to overly defensive oriented tactics which later paid off. Also, when we look at the shot metrics, United still pipped their opponents with a large margin. They had 16 attempts with only 6 being on target. Tottenham on the other hand made only 5 attempts, and only 2 were on target.
Spurs had the highest XG ratio of 1.01, and United, 0.97, even though they made the least number of attempts. This fact is simply a reflection of United's blunt attacking line - a major catalyst for a poor season, one to which the head coach and his coaching staff must proffer solution(s) to come during next season's pre-season period, if they are to count themselves as one of the major competitors in the English league.
In this analysis, we shall look at how both teams played in this game. Plus, emphasis shall be made on what went wrong for Manchester United.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Line up
Ruben Amorim made only one change to the squad that started against Chelsea last week Friday. Leny Yoro, who has just recovered on time for this game, comes in place of Lindelof at the central back position.
On paper, the Portuguese lined up his men in their idiosyncratic 3-4-2-1 formation.
Here is the starting 11 for this game: Andre Onana, Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Patrick Chinazamekpere, Mazraoui, Mason Mount, Ahmad Diallo and Rasmus Hojlund.
In the course of this game, 4 substitutions were made: Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund were replaced by Alejandro Gernacho and Joshua Zirzee, respectively, in the 71 minutes period, as the coach intend to augment the somewhat ineffective attacking line. Also, Mazraoui and Dorgu came off for Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo in the 85-and-90-minute mark, respectively.
In-possession Structure
Just to make clear: by the term in-possession structure, it implies Man United's shape and tactics during the possession phase of the game. So, these would be acknowledged here.
This been said, we shall delve into business.
For most of this game, Manchester United maintained their default formation of 3-4-2-1. The three central backs consist of Harry Maguire, who played as the sweeper defender, and at his sides were Leni Yoro, the right central back, and Luke shaw, who operated in the left central back position. Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro paired as the two holding midfielders, staying in proximity, working in tandem and positioning themselves relatively close to the three central backs during build up phase, especially when they build up in their own half. The remaining personnels who made up this midfield line alongside these two holding midfielders, were the two wingbacks: Dorgu and Mazraoui.
Ahead of this midfield line were the two number 8s namely Mason Mount, who is no stranger in this role, as he had featured there to great effect during his spell in Chelsea, Amad Diallo, who has adapted to this role under Amorim this season. These players had the freedom to either drop deeper into the central region of the pitch to create passing options in this region or pushing higher up the pitch to occupy Tottenham's defence.
Rasmus Hojlund was the sole number 9.
So, when Man United build up play from their own half in this shape- which they did to a great extent during this game - any of, or both of, the wingbacks would take deeper position(s), depending on the position of the ball during this build up phase. This is so in order to provide passing outlet(s) on the flank(s) during situations when there happen to be no space in the central region of the pitch to advance play.
Furthermore, when the Red Devils advance play higher up, this shape did change into a 3-2-5. Here, the two wing-backs would take advance positions, providing the attacking width for the team, thus forming the front 5 alongside the double number 8s and the striker.
In this way, Tottenham players would be forced to retreat in order to provide defensive support. This would in turn give Man United players the freedom to better retain possession, therefore, they can be able to dictate the tempo of the game and possibly hurt their opponents.
Below, we shall see United in this 3-2-5 shape.
Here, only the front five consisting of the wingbacks, the two number 8s and the striker, and Bruno, one of the holding midfielders, are within sight.
Amad in the left half space chips in a cross for Hojlund, whose header went off target.
There were several occasions where this shape in this phase turned into a 3-6-1or 3-1-5-1 shape, as Bruno Fernandes would leave his holding midfielder role to take on more advanced role. In this role, he could shift to any of the half spaces to combine with the wingbacks and other players close by to set up attack from these wider regions, or whip in crosses into Tottenham's box from those areas. Another behaviour of Fernandes when in this advance role is that he could join the front line, operating more as a forwarder.
We've seen United display this all too offensive oriented shape in several of their Europa League matches this season. But during this game against Tottenham, they maintained this shape to a great extent from the 60th minute mark, when they were dire need of an equalizer.
Here is an instance where Man United are seen maintaining a 3-6-1 or a 3-1-5-1 shape.
Mazraoui, who now plays in the number 8 position after swapping sides with Ahad, puts in a cross for Bruno Fernandes, who now occupies the striker role.
Unfortunately for United, Bruno's header went wide.
Although United couldn't score a goal, we could see how Amorim's fearlessness in committing many players to attacking duty occasioned several goal scoring opportunities for his side, irrespective of Tottenham's bus.
We shall now look at United's tactics in these shapes.
A noticeable tactical trend in this game - one we've come to see them execute during several games this season - is the direct link up play from the central backs to the forward players.
Man United are not totally reliant on short passing sequences during build up play, as they could transition into attacks by launching the ball directly to the forward players from deeper regions.
By switching from short passes to long direct passes, the team becomes quite unpredictable as opponents may be caught unprepared to deal with such quick transition of play. This could lead to several goal scoring situations for them.
In the scenario below, we shall see this direct approach led to a goal scoring opportunity for them:
Man United build up play in Tottenham's half. Here their 3-2-4-1 in-possession shape is visible.
Maguire, who is usually the one tasked with the responsibility of initiating these long balls from the defence line because of good ball playing ability, spots the space behind one of Tottenham's defenders. He then loops a through ball behind him for Dorgu the left back to chase.
Dorgu reaches to this pass from Maguire; he plays a cross, but it was blocked by a Tottenham player.
Flaw
Lack of productivity at the final third is a prevalent flaw of United's during this fixture. As pointed out earlier, they had a total of 16 shots, out of which only 6 were on target. Additionally, their XG ratio was a figure of 0.97.
In fact, this is a major cause of their bad form this campaign.
Man United forward-oriented players do not have that killer instinct to finish off several chances created by their teammates, a flaw which eventually caused them the trophy.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS
Line Up
Tottenham Hotspurs lined up in a 4-3-3 formation on paper.
Vicario, Pedro Porro, Van de Veen, Christian Romero, Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr, Bentancur, Brennan Johnson, Dominick Solanke and Richarlison - were the first 11 for this game.
Given the absence of key midfielders, in the persons of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, who could play as a winger and midfielder, two of their most creative players, who are vital to their attacking play - Tottenham were short on attacking personals.
Being aware of this fact, Ange Postecoglou had a clear plan for his players - which is to become rigid and discipline defensively, while seeking to hit Manchester United on the counter.
So, they allowed Manchester to retain much of the ball, while being very mindful defensively.
After the goal, they became overly defensive - committing nine to ten players behind the ball during their defensive phase.
In the picture below, Tottenham have all of their outfield players participate in defensive duty when Man United were threatening.
Although the outfield players deserve accolades for their defensive efforts, many credits should be given to their Italian shot stopper, Vicario, who made 5 important saves to prevent Man United from scoring the goal.
CONCLUSION
Ruben Amorim's men displayed quite cogent structure during the possession phase of the game, but they couldn't convert the chances that were necessitated because of it. This lack of clinicality in front of goal he must deal with if his team is to compete for silver wears next season.
Tottenham of the other hand relied greatly on the defensive capabilities of the outfield players and, mostly, on the goalkeeping brilliance of Vicario, to emerge winners of the Europa League for the first time in the club's history.
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