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United v Southampton

Tactical analysis by manutdtactics.com, twitter: @manutdtactics

United returned to Premier League action with a home game against Southampton. They were looking for a win to extend their lead at the top to seven points.

Key points

• United played well in patches here, particularly in the first half. In the second half they failed to cope with Southampton’s aggressive pressing.

• The second half performance was a worry. As has often been seen Carrick struggled to perform when denied space. Anderson and Rooney stayed too high and as such did not help Carrick out.

• Kagawa had a good first half and then faded, this is a repeated pattern.

• United went very deep in the last ten to fifteen minutes, again a repeated pattern.

• De Gea’s confidence is a continuing concern.

First Half

United started this game in a 4-2-3-1 shape with Vidic partnering Smalling in the centre of defence and Jones moving over to right back. Anderson and Carrick anchored the midfield. Ahead of that pair Welbeck took up position on the right and Kagawa on the left with Rooney behind Van Persie. Southampton matched United’s shape.

With only three minutes gone Southampton took the lead. Whilst it’s fair to say that the goal came so early that the game had not really taken shape its worth looking at this goal in some detail as it was a brief glimpse into the pattern of play later in the game. Southampton pressed United as they attempted to pass around at the back. In doing so they panicked Carrick into a poor back-pass which resulted in their winning the ball close to United’s goal. De Gea rushed off his line but his challenge lacked conviction allowing Rodriguez to fire home as he seemingly jumped over the ball in attempting a tackle. The key points to make are that United were ponderous in bring the ball out from a deep position and Southampton pressed Carrick.

After the goal Southampton continued to press United. It was noticeable that for the first few minutes Anderson and Carrick were fairly square to each other and this did not help United to play out from the back. If anything it helped Southampton, making it easier for them to press. But after a few minutes Anderson moved forward and United began to play around the press. They did this by playing simple one touch passes and moving well for each other off the ball. Now it was United’s turn to press as they found themselves playing in higher areas.

(Saken fortsetter under)

Boom! After eight minutes Rooney scored an equalizer. United pressed Southampton as they took a throw-in on their left. Welbeck won the ball and moved it on, after a sharp exchange of passes Kagawa played a simple ball straight into the path of Rooney who ran through to shoot past the keeper.

By now the pattern of the half was set. When United played simple first time passes they looked good, kept the ball and moved Southampton around creating spaces. Anderson looked particularly good when breaking forward and feeding Welbeck or Van Persie. Kagawa playing mostly in a wide position was also frequently involved, and showed great awareness of his teammates positions. The front four were fairly fluid with Van Persie and Rooney frequently swapping and Kagawa and Welbeck often moving inside. Carrick tended to stay deeper. For a while it looked as if Southampton might be overrun, (Kagawa hit the post after eleven minutes after a typically sharp one touch move, again after a high press by United), but this didn’t quite happen because firstly Southampton kept their shape well, and secondly United tended to over complicate moves and regularly tried a more difficult pass when a simple one would do. As a consequence moves broke down and United often lost possession.

Whilst United were in the ascendency for the rest of the half Southampton relieved pressure by keeping the ball well when they had it. This was as a consequence of retaining their shape but also because they were brave enough to move for each other off the ball.

Boom! United scored again on 23 minutes. This time the goal came from a set piece. The free kick was delivered by Van Persie from the inside left channel. This is an area Van Persie loves to occupy anyway, and he has been known to shoot from these positions. This time however he spotted that Evra on the far side was free. The Southampton defence had not picked him up and immediately prior to Van Persie immaculate delivery Evra ran narrower immediately behind the last Southampton man. He wasn’t picked up and was able to re-direct the ball with a h4 across goal for Rooney to finish first time from close range. At this point United were probably worth this lead.

The remainer of the half followed much the same pattern, although it is worth making particular reference to Kagawa’s play. He hasn’t often been used in a wider position, but here he occupied the right side for most of the half. He played well coming forward, but the most remarkable aspect of his play was his defensive discipline. He dropped very deep at time but covered space in front of his full-back well and was able to break up Southampton’s attacking ply on several occasions. His defensive play was certainly far more accomplished than has been the case when he has played in more central positions.

Second Half

At the start of the second half Southampton re-doubled their pressing efforts. At halftime they made two substitutions introducing Lallana and Davis in place of Puncheon and Ramirez. Their 4-2-3-1 shape did not change, but they played a higher line and did not let United’s centre-backs or half backs settle on the ball. They denied United time and space in their own half and hurried United into surrendering possession. Clearly they had had an instruction to approach the second half in this way United struggled to cope with this pressure. Carrick and Smalling had a particularly torrid time in the first few minutes of the half.

Basically the Southampton front four now hunted in packs, but always kept their shape and ably assisted by those behind them kept a wide formation across the pitch. Consequently United couldn’t switch wings to break the press and as their play was now ponderous they found it difficult to move through the centre of the pitch. United’s players were now tending to dwell on the ball, rather than releasing early passes and this just invited Southampton to press.

Sir Alex’s response to this was to remove Smalling and replace him with Ferdinand after 62 minutes. Ferdinand looked more composed and brought more composure to the back line. Now when United did beat the press they looked fairly good again and created a number of chances. But Southampton continued to be in the ascendency so on 72 minutes Sir Alex removed Anderson and replaced him with Rafael. Jones now moved into the midfield, sitting fairly deep alongside Carrick and Rafael went into the right back position. This all made United more solid at the back, but created a lot of space in front of Jones and Carrick. Rooney did not really come deep enough to occupy this space and this allowed Southampton time and space to continually remount attacks.

(Saken fortsetter under)

Kagawa had by now largely faded from the game and so on 83 minutes Sir Alex made a further change introducing Nani in his place. This was a late change and Nani did not really have time to find his feet in the game, but perhaps Sir Alex thinking was that the threat of his pace and trickery might prevent Southampton from over committing in the last few minutes.

Despite going very deep in the last ten minutes, United did look slightly more composed in the last ten minutes and were able to see the game for the win.

Conclusion

United got a win here, but only just. They played well at times, but in the second half they were unable to beat the Southampton press. This is a concern. We would expect Real Madrid to play a similar game plan to Southampton’s. They tend to play 4-2-3-1 as Southampton did here, they tend to defend well and counter attack, but significantly they also tend to press intelligently.

United need to work harder on and off the ball and keep it simple.

Southampton should take great credit from this game and can be considered unlucky not to have taken at least a point from the match.

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