Arsenal vs. Manchester United – Tactical Review (Part 4)
Moreover, the players on the wing could not support the team as they sat too deep into their own half. This way it was hard for Manchester United to exhibit counter attacking tactics.
Whenever the Red Devils found themselves on the break, they were deprived of men and they were often outnumbered by Arsenal’s defenders.
With Luis Nani and Park Ji Sung playing deep in their own half, Arsenal’s full backs and midfielders had ample time to move the ball around in their own area.
The North London side is famous for being dangerous with the ball and Sir Alex Ferguson allowed the Gunners to keep possession of the ball – 67% in the first half (for Arsenal).
When Manchester United was failing to find the back of the net, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to bring about changes in his team. The Scotsman is famous for changing things around and has done so throughout the season.
Manchester United was able to make a comeback win against Blackpool since they were winning 2-0 in the first half and Manchester United scored three goals in the second half to secure all three points.
With this sort of a reputation, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to bring about a few changes. However, this time the magic did not work out for the Premier League leaders.
Sir Alex Ferguson decided to substitute the Brazilian midfielder, Anderson, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nani-c27299 plays on the left flank. Antonio Valencia played on
the right wing position where Nani featured earlier in the game.
There were many drawbacks of this substitution. With Park Ji Sung in the midfield, it simply meant that United was missing out on Anderson’s defensive abilities. It took Arsenal only a single minute after the substitution, to find the back of the net.
As Arsenal played their passes around Manchester United’s 18 yard box, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380. Park Ji Sung didn’t do much to stop Aaron Ramsey from making his run into the Manchester United box and simply
watched him as he shot the ball into the back of the net.
On the other hand, Michael Carrick tracked back and took care of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jack-Wilshere-c17463’s run and then came forward to close down Aaron Ramsey as well. It was hard for the Englishman to take down the Welshman after covering Jack Wilshere inside the penalty area and
the shot was simply unstoppable, even for a goal stopper like Edwin Van der Saar.
A few minutes later another awkward substitution took place which robbed Manchester United from all their holding midfielders. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 striker, Michael Owen.
It was quite a surprise to see http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Owen-c25355 make way for Michael Carrick as it meant that the only distributor in the game was taken off for another striker.
With this substitution, Manchester United was playing too much attacking tactics. Sir Alex Ferguson was a man down and it was desperation time for the visitors.
Tags: