Manchester United - Newcastle

Not happy with the result, but I don't think we played badly. It's still the same thing - our entire team played pretty well and Memphis and Januzaj did well creating opportunities and dribbling past players but we don't have a a good goal scorer in Rooney right now. Despite the Rooney problems, I'm not particularly worried with this draw as things like this will happen and it just wasn't our day. 

1) Rooney

Again, will try to limit my posts about Rooney, otherwise would take forever to write. My problem with Rooney is that he's a hard worker at everything on the pitch except at being a striker. Look at Harry Kane play - he's all over the pitch and has insane work rate but he's still playing like a forward. Neither Kane nor Rooney are scoring but Kane is playing well, creating chances and he's the center of the Spurs attack.

Here's one where Rooney is crazy deep, trying to be involved in the play but not necessary.

We get the ball and now Schweinsteiger is looking up to see if he can make a long pass but Rooney is nowhere near the Newcastle center backs. Look at how far up the Newcastle center backs are - we should be punishing them for pushing up so far by playing balls over the top.

2) Set piece defensive organization

We look really solid defending against open play, but I thought we looked a little shaky defending set pieces. It seems like our players aren't entirely sure where to go.

Example 1:

Newcastle take a throw in in our half and manage to find a player completely unmarked in the center. That just shouldn't happen off a throw in. Mata was forced to go centrally to defend it but that left the Newcastle player completely open (the red question mark). 

There were too many things off to say it was one person's fault and I think this is more of an team organization issue but I think Smalling, circled in blue, should have been more central to cover the throw in towards the center. We already have three players versus two of their players on the left, Smalling didn't need to go there to help. This would have allowed Mata to stay with the wide Newcastle player.





















Darmian is in a decent position to cover that player, except that you see the next second below, he has to go forward and stay central to cover a runner. That left the Newcastle player on our right wide open and now Smalling has to make up a lot of ground.

Example 2:

This isn't directly off a corner - it's after we fail to clear it and they send it back in again. I think that messed up our defensive shape and organization, just look below. We have three players bunched up (circled in red), defending one player, while there's two Newcastle players at the far post who aren't really well marked. The closest player to them is Mata and Mata isn't going to be defending any headers well.

If the cross went far post, they would have gotten a free header. 

3) Mata too central?

In my opinion, LVG clearly wanted Mata to play more centrally, with Darmian pushing forwards and pretty much playing right back and right wing himself. This was fine since we have so much possession and Newcastle were rarely a threat. 

I'm fine with that - Mata drifting centrally suits him and he's better doing that. The problem I have is that I think Mata needs to stay slightly wider when we're defending.

Look below, Mata is in the center and Newcastle have the ball on our left. Mata isn't defending anyone in that position, he's more or less there to receive the ball if we get the ball back. I think he should be near the red circled area, just in case the Newcastle left back makes a run and they switch the play. 

He can still run centrally when we get the ball but I think he's leaving too many gaps on our right side when we're defending.

Just to show you what I mean regarding our attack, here was a formation I saw often when we were attacking and I liked it. Mata is basically playing in the 10 position, very close to Januzaj to make those quick flicks and passes between them. Darmian is wide right (red arrow), ready to run forward if he senses that the ball will go wide to our right.

4) Mata misses the deep run again

Not trying to pick on him, but he's not defending these runs well.

Below, you see it's obvious the Newcastle player is going to run forward but Mata is just slowly jogging. You can't tell by the picture but Mata slows down his run back and looks around, instead of just running straight back to defend the run.

Here's the result, Mata is behind the runner who receives the ball and Smalling is drawn out to defend it.

The thing here is, if you look at stats, things like this will add to his total distance ran which makes people think he's adequate defensively on the right. If he had just ran straight back, he would have either prevented the pass or intercepted the pass way and he would have only needed to run half the distance.

5) Schweinsteiger tired second half

I noticed one weird thing when the second half started. For some reason, Schweinsteiger was playing very far out to the left. I think this was an LVG instruction to provide some cover for Shaw so Memphis could stay forward more, which also accommodates Mata cutting in centrally from the right. 

I think he was supposed to go wide left in defense and centrally when we had the ball except he was too tired to make the central runs. Likely why LVG took him off at 55 minutes.

See, here, he's out wide and way too close to Shaw. He should be making a run towards the center circle so we have an option to pass to in the center. Since he didn't, our only option was to go wide.

A few seconds later, he's still too wide, leaving a massive gap in the center and our player with the ball has no one to pass to. I'm not sure, but if you look at Blind on the right, I think he's telling Schweinsteiger to run centrally. 

Again, a minute later, he's still weirdly out on the left and we don't have anyone playing in the middle.

It was definitely a good decision to take him off. He was great the first half but during the start of the second half, he just looked so lethargic.  

6) Memphis and Shaw miscommunication

This is something they'll need to work out in training. Sorry for the weird pictures, the video I have only shows it from this terrible angle.

They're back in our left corner defending. Memphis sees that the player he is marking is going to make an overlapping run. Memphis should follow the player's run by running behind Shaw. 



Instead, he gets a little lazy and just points at Shaw to go cover him instead. Switching players like this can be okay, but the problem here is Memphis is too far from the player that Shaw is marking. If they're going to switch players, Memphis needs to be closer so Shaw can actually defend the run that Newcastle's number 18 is making.

 The result is that Shaw had to defend two players and he got beat. If you look back at the first picture and look at where the blue arrow I drew for Memphis is pointing, it's exactly the right position to defend that overlapping run that Shaw is unable to defend.

 7) The Chicharito impact

I thought Hernandez made a big difference to our play when he came on. Look at him right here, he's right on the Newcastle defenders' shoulders, forcing them to play deep. This allows Mata, circled in blue, to have some space "in the hole" and Hernandez is even pointing to get the ball to Mata. 

Now Mata has the ball and he has the time to turn, very dangerous position and he has two strikers to pass to. One of the Newcastle defenders defending Hernandez is drawn out and has to close down Mata. The other Newcastle defender defending Rooney also is drawn out. If Hernandez wasn't on their shoulders, they would already have been pushed forward and marking Mata already.

This actually resulted in a great pass from Mata to Rooney that almost resulted in a Rooney. All this was because Hernandez just stayed forward and didn't drop deep - he was willing to let Mata do the work in the hole. 

I would really like to see Hernandez get a start with Januzaj, Memphis and Mata supplying him. I think we'd have a really exciting attack with great movement, tricks and pace if that happens.

Some final thoughts

I was actually pretty happy that Darmian was subbed out for Valencia. He did a ton of running down the right side, basically played both right back and right wing and we have a long season. He'll need the rest and I don't want him injured.

Playing Swansea away next week, should be interesting as I think they're a pretty high possession team too. I'm interested to see how Blind handles the physicality of Gomis - I think he'll be just fine. I really want to see Hernandez start up front for us but I doubt he will as Rooney seems to be untouchable no matter how he plays. 

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

No Champions League games

Just a notification that I won't be writing up analysis for CL games, midweek matches are no good for me due to work.

Aston Villa - Manchester United

Sorry it took me so long to post this, weekday matches are always difficult for me due to work. 

Anyways, glad to see another relatively solid win. In general, I'm quite happy with our current team right now - we look solid defensively, we have a solid midfield with plenty of depth, and we have some good attacking players who can change a game and everybody seems to have a great attitude. 

1) Some Rooney stuff

You're probably going to see quite a few posts about Rooney. Like Valencia and Falcao last season, I think he's currently the weakest part of our side. He just doesn't fit in with the rest of our attackers - poor touch, poor movement and slow. 

Here's one way a forward playing too deep can affect our defense. 

Example 1:

Below, the person circled in red is Schneiderlin pressing the Aston Villa center back (Richards). Rooney is playing so deep and not pressing their back line that Schneiderlin has to go forward to press them. That leaves a gap in our midfield while Rooney is kind of in the middle of no man's land - he's not helping to press them but he's far enough forward where he's not contributing to our midfield.

Example 2:

Here's another one. Rooney is once again neither pressing their center backs nor deep enough to help in midfield. This gives Richards a really easy pass into the Aston Villa midfielder. 

And now, Schneiderlin has to go forward while Rooney is still in a useless position - if Rooney was further forward closer to Richards, at least he would be cutting out the easy back pass. Now, he's just in an awkward position.

Unrelated:

Apart from him losing the ball with terrible touches so often, here's one that frustrated me. 

Rooney gets the ball in a great position. The Aston Villa player to the right of Rooney is their last defender. He has some great options - pass out wide to Memphis along red arrow, or take the ball and dribble it along the black arrows. He has plenty of space and if he beats the Aston Villa defender, he's through on goal.

Instead, he passes the ball straight back to Herrera, who, as you can see, has two Aston Villa players ready to defend him. 

This is why LVG didn't include him when he listed players like Hazard and Aguero who can change the game. 

2) Carrick still learning to play with Schneiderlin

It's been a while since we had another midfielder who can cover the defense like Schneiderlin can. I've noticed that this has allowed Carrick a little more freedom to go forward and join with the link up play more, rather than being only a deep lying playmaker. However, Carrick sometimes just automatically goes deeper when he should be going forward because Schneiderlin is already covering for him.

Here, Carrick, instead of running back, should be making a forward run along the blue arrow to give Darmian more options for passing. We don't have any players in that right central midfield area (the area the blue arrow is pointing at) and it's because Carrick should be in that area. Schneiderlin has central mid area well covered in case we lose the ball.

Since Darmian only has one pass, he passes it down the line to Mata. The problem is Mata is well marked and his only option is a back pass to Darmian. If Carrick had made the forward run, he would be in the blue circled area, which is perfect to receive a pass from Mata.

 3) Mata again with poor defensive instinct

Here, the Aston Villa player is about to pass the ball wide for their fullback to run onto. Mata knows that and he starts making the run back along the blue arrow. So far so good.

Except after a few yards of tracking back, Mata inexplicably checks his run and looks backwards for the ball. He needs to continue running along the blue arrow because there's no way he's going to intercept the ball if it goes over the top. 

And this is the result. 

Darmian was too far forward and the moment the fullback is caught out, the wide midfielder has to be covering for the fullback position. Mata will make it difficult for Darmian to contribute to the attack - if Darmian can't trust Mata to cover for him, he's not going to be making those overlapping runs that fullbacks need to make. 

4) This is why you need to practice your off foot

Here's Januzaj on the ball during a counterattack. He has Memphis up top, Rooney in the middle, Mata on the bottom to pass to. All three of those passes are easily made with the right foot. 

Except Januzaj is left footed and outside boot passes when the ball is rolling forward are very difficult to make and he couldn't get in a comfortable position to make it with his right. He ends up getting tackled because it took him too long to release the ball. 

Also, look at the first picture. Rooney is the furthest back of our three attackers and he's supposed to be our forward leading the line...

Some final thoughts

I'm not sure Memphis or Januzaj are going to be very successful playing "in the hole" if Rooney is playing striker. He just drops back too deep and they have no forward to pass to and not enough space to work with. I really hope to see Hernandez or Wilson play up front with this exact team and see how our number 10 player, whether it's Memphis, Mata or Januzaj will perform then. 

Also, loving Darmian. He really does remind me of Neville - he's an defender first and foremost, but has enough skill and technique to contribute to the attack. 

Thanks for reading!

Manchester United - Tottenham

Welcome back to the new season everyone!

Pretty happy with our transfers over the summer, finally got a proper right back and Darmian looked so solid today. Romero looked a little nervous but we kept a clean sheet and he had some decent distribution with his feet and good saves. I thought Depay looked pretty good considering it was his first game in the English league. Young continues to perform well and Smalling has done enough to convince me that he's a good defender.

Just reminding everyone that my analysis here isn't comprehensive and I treat it more like how a coach might go over video replays with players to point out their individual mistakes. I also try to stay away from pointing out the good things since there's not much point to it as we know we have quality players and a quality club :)

1) Small mistake by Darmian

I was very happy with Darmian today and this isn't a huge mistake but I would still expect LVG or the club staff to mention it when they go over the match afterwards.

Below, Kane has the ball and you see Smalling and Blind are the furthest ones back, nothing too dangerous yet.



Eriksen makes a run forward and Smalling and Blind step up to play him offside. However, Darmian screws it up by not stepping up and it almost led to a goal. There's absolutely no need for Darmian to try to mark Eriksen as Darmian is behind Eriksen already and there's no way for him to mark him properly from behind. 

2) Mata has no defensive instinct

Mata has pretty good work rate but the problem is, he often runs to the wrong place when he's tracking back and it doesn't end up contributing to our defense at all.

Spurs are attacking here and Kane has the ball. Darmian is closing him down to mark him. It's not a comfortable position right now but at this moment, Darmian prevents Kane from going to Kane's right so Kane can only go to his left. Mata, circled in red, should be running along the red arrowed line to mark Chadli's run.

Except for some reason, Mata runs in the other direction. There's absolutely no reason for Mata to run centrally as even if Kane had someone went to his right, there's no way Mata can defend him from that far behind. Now Chadli is completely unmarked in the box and Mata is no where near him.

This is obviously a very easy thing to spot when we're watching it on TV but that's what defensive instinct is. Mata shouldn't need to think about all this - it should occur to him naturally to run wide to get Chadli's run, especially since he's playing right wing/wide forward. Ashley Young has good instinct, Darmian clearly does, but players like Valencia and Mata do not.

3) Disappointed with Rooney today, he's all over the pitch

I was looking forward to seeing Rooney play as a pure striker again but he seems to drift all over the place, leaving him out of place when we have opportunities to score. 

Example 1:

Here, Memphis has the ball in a good position and he's dribbling towards the Spur's goal. Rooney, circled in red, has to be running forward but instead, he runs back to receive the ball.

If he's going to play as a forward, he needs to be on the center back's shoulders in situations like these. First, it'll give Memphis more space to dribble into and second, if he was on their shoulder, it would have been have relatively simple through pass for Memphis to make to Rooney.

So after Rooney comes short, he gives it back to Memphis and he just stands there. He has to pass and move! You can't just stand still after a pass like this. Look at how impossible of a situation this leaves Memphis - there's almost no options for him to actually create something and he would have to dribble past 4 or 5 players to do anything. If Rooney actually ran forward, he'd take one or two of the Tottenham players with him and that would allow Memphis to dribble it forward more and maybe even get a long range shot off.

Example 2:

I think this one is partly an LVG style thing. He seems to prefer our forwards to sit back a little and allow the opposition team's center backs a bit of space. I noticed that Memphis and Rooney didn't really press the center backs much and I would think that's with LVG's instructions.

In this case, I was urging Rooney, circled in blue, to go forward to press the Spurs center back - we were allowing him to be too comfortable bringing it out like that.

And a few moments later, Carrick makes a nice interception and we counter attack. If Rooney wasn't so far back initially, he would be at around the blue circled area (the Spur's center back is offscreen to the right so Rooney would still be onside). Carrick could have slid a through back to him or he would have had more space to run into. Missed opportunity.

The next moment, Memphis has the ball and I circled Rooney in blue. Yet again, Rooney should be further forward, at either of the spots the blue arrows are pointing to. If he was at either of those spots, Memphis could have created a goal scoring chance with a nice through ball to Rooney. 

These two positions are golden positions for a player playing in the hole like Memphis was. I'm worried that Rooney's lack of forward runs is going to limit Memphis's potential to succeed as one, it cuts down on his opportunities to make assists and two, it decreases the space he has to dribble into since Rooney drops back and allows the opposition center backs to come forward to mark Memphis. 

Example 3:

We're counter attacking here, Rooney drops deep to flick it into Herrera's path. That's perfect, good choice of dropping back. However, I'd expect Rooney to turn around and immediately starting sprint forward, something like along the blue dotted line since we're counterattacking and he's our only forward.

Instead, he jogs back another few yards and slowly turns around, and now Herrera is in front of him with no one to pass to.

We make a few nice passes and we get it to Schweinstager out wide. Except Rooney is still all the way back there (circled in blue)! Instead, Rooney should be in either of the blue circled areas and that would give Schweinstager an option to do an early cross/through ball to create a chance. Instead, Schweinstager has absolutely no options to pass to despite being in acres of space, what a waste of a good opportunity. 

Example 4:

This is definitely frustrating to players. Midfielders need to have strikers to pass to and they don't want their forwards playing so deep they're only a few yards away from them. It inhibits a midfielder's playmaking opportunities and it's uncomfortable to have another teammate be so close and leaving gaps of space to run into when it's not necessary for the forward to track back.

Here's Herrera gesturing for Rooney to go forward more. The ball is in the black scribbled area and Herrera wants him to put more pressure on the Spurs back line. 

Hard to tell from a picture but to me, it was a gesture of frustration and I chuckled a little watching it live. 

4) Let's hope Darmian stays fit

It was fantastic to have a proper right back today and when Valencia came it, we just looked so shaky on the right. Here's one example.

The Spurs player ends up making a really nice pass along the blue dotted line forward, but Valencia should have been in position to stop it. Why was Valencia standing so close to the other Spurs player when the other Spurs player is running away from goal? This is a minor positioning error of only around 5 feet or so - if Valencia was a little bit further left, in the red circled area, he would have prevented that gap for the pass and still be close enough to the other Spurs player to defend him if the ball goes to him. 

As a right back, Valencia has to be aware that there's someone behind him that is open and he needs to position himself to prevent that pass to him. Difference in 5 feet is the difference between a good right back and a former winger. 

Conclusion

Thanks for reading guys, I've been looking forward to the league starting all summer!