FA Cup 2019/20: Manchester United vs Wolves – tactical analysis

In the FA Cup third-round replays, there was a clash between two Premier League teams: Manchester United and Wolves. In the previous game, neither side scored any goals, resulted in a nil-nil draw. This time, they moved to the Old Trafford, for another game to decide who to progress through.

Manchester United recovered from the loss against their rival, Manchester City, they had a four-nil victory against Norwich at the weekend. Since they did not have an advantage in the English League Cup, they also prepared the FA Cup games seriously. Ole Gunnar Solskjær played Nemanja Matić and Juan Mata, which was vital to their victory.

Wolves had 34 points in the league, just three behind United. Their form dropped slightly after the epic comeback against City. Despite participating in the continental competition, Nuno Espírito Santo still started a very strong team.

In this tactical analysis, we will show you how United progressed to the next round. It is an analysis that focused on tactics.

Lineups

United lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Harry Maguire returned from injury, partnered Victor Lindelöf at the centre of the defence. Since Paul Pogba and Scott Mctominay remained sidelined, Fred and Matić played as the defensive midfielders, while Andreas Pereira was on the bench.

Nuno’s team played in a 5-4-1 formation. With Patrick Cutrone leaving the team, Pedro Neto remained as a suitable option to replace Diogo Jota, who was unavailable for the game. Romain Saïss, Conor Coady and Leander Dendoncker played as the back-three on the pitch.

Wolves’ defence

In general, Wolves defended in a 5-4-1 block, they tried to force United going to the flanks instead of playing at the centre. Usually, João Moutinho will step out early to close of the defensive midfielder. Since then, Mata or other United players would exploit the space between the lines, so Rúben Neves would stay deeper to cover the space. With this approach, they covered the centre and denied short penetrations.

The following example demonstrated the block of Wolves. When Matić holds the ball, Moutinho stepped forward, with Adama Traoré covering Fred. The passing lanes to Mata or Daniel James were quickly closed by Moutinho and Jiménez. Therefore, he did not take the risks and played the ball to Maguire.