This is the third of a four-part preview on what to look at teams in the remaining fixtures from a tactical perspective. The Premier League is returning on 17 June! We have missed English football for quite a while since the COVID-19, most teams would have a full squad because of this long break.
This tactical analysis is mainly giving a brief analysis of the team style of plays. By looking at their strengths and weaknesses, we provide you with some hints on what to focus on in the remaining fixtures.
In the third analysis, we investigate the tactics of Manchester United, Wolves, Sheffield United, Southampton and Watford.
Manchester United
Expected points: 48.2 (4th)
Points: 45 (5th)
United were having a fluctuating season under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, but winning three Manchester Derby out of four was really some exciting results. They were a bit unstable this season, losing points to bottom half teams such as Bournemouth, Brighton and Newcastle. However, a big signing in winter upgraded the team a lot – you know who I am talking about: Bruno Fernandes.
With Fernandes joining the team, United often deployed a 4-3-1-2 or a 3-4-1-2 formation. The 1-2 triangular shape upfront was the key, as Fernandes always played as an attacking midfielder behind two strikers.
As a result, this generated more variations when the front three swapped their positions. Anthony Martial, who was also available to play as a winger, tended appeared at flanks to take the ball. This undoubtedly stretched the defence as the United formation lacked wingers. You could see the Everton backline is being stretched as Séamus Coleman approached the Frenchman.
In these cases, Fernandes was clever to exploit the horizontal gaps between defenders by his forward runs. If Fernandes was receiving the ball out wide, he instructed the wide defender to make an underlapping or an overlapping run. Since Daniel James, Martial and Marcus Rashford all possesses pace, they were likely to receive the through balls when running behind the defence.
United scored seven long shots this season, a lot higher than the league average of 4.6. Huge credits should be given to Mason Greenwood, who outperformed his 4.03 xG by scoring five goals. We would expect the 18-year-old to be a potentially super-sub in the remaining games.
Despite purchasing an expensive ball playing central-defender: Harry Maguire, United were not playing out from the back. Instead, they were strong in the offensive transitions as the front players were pacey. The Red Devils had eight goals from the counter-attacks – only lower than Leicester City’s 10.
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