It’s amazing what one report can do. Prior to Monday’s match against Bournemouth The Athletic released a report stating that Ruben Amorim was thinking of changing Manchester United’s formation from a back three to a back four. “The trip to Molineux (a week prior) would go ahead with the usual system but after that changes […]
It’s amazing what one report can do. Prior to Monday’s match against Bournemouth The Athletic released a report stating that Ruben Amorim was thinking of changing Manchester United’s formation from a back three to a back four. “The trip to Molineux (a week prior) would go ahead with the usual system but after that changes would come” the report stated.
The actual shape of United’s formation has always been a red herring but this report took on greater significance this week due to the predominant storyline around midfielder Kobbie Mainoo. The United academy grad had played just 191 Premier League minutes over the first 15 games of the season with many feeling a switch to a back four with a three man midfield would not only benefit the team, but could get Mainoo into the team more.
The release of the team news ended up being anti-climactic with the only change from the Wolves match being Leny Yoro replacing Noussair Mazraou,i who presumably had already left for the African Cup of Nations.
However, thanks to a single report, when the match did kick off, everyone’s eyes were locked on where United’s players were standing on the pitch. Everyone wanted to see if Ruben Amorim had truly decided to make a change and deploy a back four. As this was what everyone was watching for, naturally everyone had different answers.
The truth, as always, lay somewhere in the middle. When the game started, it certainly looked like United were going to be playing in a 4-3-3 setup. But rather than have Kobbie Mainoo or a third midfielder in the team, it was simply Amad tucking inside from his usual wingback role to be a third midfielder with the other defenders shifting over to form a back four.
Ultimately United didn’t play like this. Amad played very high up the pitch. Bryan Mbeumo moved more centrally with Mathues Cunha operating as a traditional number 10. The formation ended up being very fluid. That shouldn’t come as a surprise; it’s always been this way.
We’ve seen United do plenty of different things out of this base formation. We’ve seen Amad push very high up the pitch, playing almost as a traditional right winger.
We have seen both wingbacks push all the way up on the same line as the striker.
We have also seen Amad push up while the left wing back stays deep and Mathues Cunha drops from his left sided number 10 position to form more of a 4-4-2.
A look at United’s average touch location for the first half against Bournemouth paints a picture of United in fact playing with a nominal back four, but in a 4-2-3-1 shape rather than the 4-3-3 everyone expected.
Average position maps are calculated based on where players touch the ball in possession. If teams are pretty rigid, they’ll do a good job of showing their out-of-possession shape as well but that’s not always the case. This was one of those times.
If United were going to play with a back four, they were going to do it in the most Ruben Amorim way possible. One would think, if you were going to play with a flat back four, natural right back Diogo Dalot and natural left back Luke Shaw would take up those positions. Instead, it was Leny Yoro shifting over to right back with Shaw playing as the left center back next to Dalot as the left back – an alignment that could easily shift back over into the same back three/five alignment United have been using recently.
Naturally, once United took a 1-0 lead they immediately fell back into playing with a back five out of possession.
And naturally – as Ruben Amorim does – as soon as United won possession of the ball those wingbacks would shoot forward regardless of where the ball was.
While the average positions in the first half was distinctly a back four, by full time the passing network from Opta shows United firmly playing with a back three.
United’s shape has always been fluid under Amorim but there’s no question the fluidity was different against Bournemouth. Bryan Mbeumo came far more central than he usually does, and rather than Cunha pushing outside to cover his position the two stayed centrally.
United have not made rotations like that this season and for the first 20 minutes of the match, it wreaked havoc on Bournemouth. Right from the jump, United were playing Amad in behind.
United were having a field day getting Amad in behind throughout the first half.
The Ivorian looked unplayable in the early parts of the match, and it was only fitting that he scored the opening goal. Off the ball, United’s press sweltered Bournemouth. At time,s it looked like the Cherries were unaware that it was legal for forwards to aggressively track back and steal the ball from behind you.
United were relentless, ultimately ending the first half with 17 shots – more than they’ve had in nine different matches this year. Their 2.62 first-half xG (per Fotmob) is by far the most they’ve had in a match this year.
Things were not perfect though. While Bournemouth struggled to get the ball out of their own half early on, when they did, they cut through United quite easily. Early on they failed to convert these opportunities into scoring chances but the warning signs were there. Bournemouth ended the match completing 12 passes within 20 yards of United’s goal, the most United have conceded this season and the third most under Amorim. 9.06 of Bournemouth’s pass attempts were successful progressive passes, the sixth-highest total under Amorim.
About 20 minutes into the match, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola made a tactical change, shifting Antoine Semenyo from the left to the right and changing their shape to more closely match United’s. Semenyo gave United’s left side fits and he would eventually score an equalizer. United maintained their composure to claw one back just before halftime via a set piece – their 10th goal from set pieces this season. Bruno Fernandes would later add their 11th.
The fluid system put a lot of heavy demands on United’s very young center backs (combined age: 39). Leny Yoro was forced to cover a lot of ground as he shifted from the right-sided center back to an unnatural right back position. The two often found themselves in situations that should be avoidable with good communication, raising questions over how much communication there actually was between them. It was not uncommon to see Yoro (and Heaven) get caught flat-footed or have players just run right by them.
It was a very tough assignment for Yoro who had been out of the team recently due to a drop in form.
Further adjustments to thwart United were made by Iraola during halftime and it showed on the pitch. Bournemouth found an equalizer 40 seconds into the second half and six minutes later had the lead.
Teams adjusting to United at halftime has been a trend this season. Nottingham Forest also reversed a one-goal deficit in the first five minutes of the second half and though that’s the only other time United collapsed on the scoreboard, it has happened in other matches even if the goals didn’t come. There was a distinct difference in the game at the start of the second half against both Liverpool and Tottenham earlier this year. Trailing 1-0 on the opening day of the season United managed just one shot in the first 24 minutes of the second half against Arsenal. A week later, against Fulham, United didn’t have a single shot from open play in the second half.
It took United 19 minutes to register a shot in the second half but then something changed. With just over 20 minutes to go Amorim brought on Lisandro Martinez and Benjamin Sesko for Leny Yoro and Mason Mount. These could have been like-for-like changes as – Amorim has done in the past – but Ruben didn’t stop there. Diogo Dalot moved from the left side to the right. Amad pushed forward into an actual right wing position and Luke Shaw moved over to left back, creating an actual back four!
United’s switch to a 4-4-2 paid immediate dividends. Within 10 minutes of the change, United went from being 3-2 down to 4-3 up – the fourth goal coming from a very direct attack that featured all of Mbeumo, Sesko, and Cunha operating very close to each other.
Those 10 minutes certainly gave back four enthusiasts an opportunity to shout “we told you so” at Ruben Amorim but it wasn’t to last. Five minutes later Bournemouth grabbed another equalizer when they were caught with a gap in midfield and Lisandro Martinez was slow to pick up a runner.
The shift to a 4-4-2 allowed United to get their best attackers into more natural attacking positions but it still left them with just two players in midfield giving them the same problem Amorim’s back three typically gives them. There is too much space to cover and it was impossible take any form of control of the match.
The final 15 minutes (including the 10 minutes of injury time) turned into the back-and-forth “basketball” matches that were so prevalent during Erik Ten Hag’s second season. It was Bournemouth who benefited the most from the chaos, forcing Senne Lammens to make not one, not two, but three sensational saves in the game’s dying minutes to keep a point for United.
The Athletic report cited Bryan Mbeumo and Amad spending the next few weeks at AFCON as the main driver behind Amorim needing to make a change. Amorim’s changes made the match very fun viewing, something we haven’t been able to say about too many United matches recently.
United’s fluidity made for a more entertaining match but it takes two to tango and we must acknowledge the role Bournemouth played as well. This is the type of match Bournemouth like to play. The Cherries love to press teams high up the pitch and try to cause chaos at the back. You are not going to see them give acres of space to United’s center backs the way West Ham and Everton did. United were able to handle the press and thus take advantage of space in midfield and in behind Bournemouth’s defenders. Once Bournemouth adjusted to United’s pressure, the directness of the Cherries gave United problems.
When the match started, all the eyes were on where Manchester United’s players were going to be standing when they didn’t have the ball. I hope they didn’t stay there. If they did then they would have missed a chaotic, but beautiful, football match. A match that can really only be described in one way – peak Barclays.
Category: General Sports
