Taking the bait: How Leicester’s press and clever turnovers exploited Manchester United’s midfield

With a spot in the last four up for grabs, Manchester United travelled to Leicester City in the hope of making another semi-final. The two were already in a fight for second place in the Premier League but with some silverware there for the taking, the FA Cup was a different ball game. In this tactical analysis, we will look at the tactics of Manchester United and Leicester and our analysis will show the main reasons behind Leicester’s win as they joined Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton in the semi-finals.

Lineups

The Foxes started with their 3-5-2 formation, with Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho leading the line. Timothy Castagne and Marc Albrighton started as wing-backs with Ayoze Pérez, Wilfried Ndidi and Youri Tielemans starting in central midfield. The back three was made up of Çağlar Söyüncü, Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana with Kasper Schmeichel starting between the sticks.

As for the visiting side, Dean Henderson started in goal again, having an extended run in the first team. Alex Telles replaced the impressive Luke Shaw while Nemanja Matić, Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek all started in midfield in what appeared to be a diamond as opposed to the traditional 4-2-3-1 formation. Anthony Martial returned to lead the line, with Mason Greenwood starting down the right as well. With the lineups done, we will now move into our analysis.