Dharnish

Manchester City-Manchester United: Manchester Derby Tactical Analysis (a thread) 

▪️Amorim's setup out of possession 
▪️United's wide progression 

United's compactness was crucial in nullifying City, the front three tucking in and being compact in Amad Diallo and Mount/Fernandes meant there was less space for Gvardiol and Gundogan. It also helped in managing the two roaming 8's in Foden and De Bruyne 

Whilst one of the 3 forwards tucked in to compact the space of City's 2 midfielders, Martinez stepped out to push up and close down De Bruyne. The work done by United's forwards was important because it decreased space in the middle of the pitch, if Mainoo-Ugarte needed... 

....to mark De Bruyne-Foden as roaming midfielders they could, and wouldn't lose any space in doing so with the forward line tucked in on Gvardiol-Gundogan.  Guardiola pushed his back 3 as wide as possible, but when it went to Nunes pressure was applied 

If there was space found on the edges of United's press, on the other side Martinez could be aggressive on De Bruyne. Limit the space for Gvardiol-Gundogan-&gt;Pressurise the space when wide to Nunez-De Bruyne. It pushed City back and meant they rarely found central space 

United were also brave when City had the ball in deep possession, Mazraoui would push up on Doku, and importantly Hojlund rather than press the keeper (like under Ten Hag) and commit high, it helped mark a player in the middle 

It was interesting to see United use combinations out wide to find the spare man in the half-space in order to progress the ball. As City would press and the middle was marked off, United would play it wide to a full-back, bait the press and find a midfielder in the middle 

As a player would come wide to close down a full-back it left a space for the central midfielder to come over, recieve and switch the ball. Execution has been a huge problem for United in attack, but at the very least vs City there were shades of United progressing the ball 

This is important because as Walker pushed up to close down Dalot, Utd were able to find the spare midfielder overloading wide again, baiting the press. United have struggled hugely under pressure in build-up but the pattern of overloading with an 8 then switching was good 

In addition, when City went direct to Haaland, Maguire won pretty much every duel. The changes helped 2nd half to give Utd more attacking verve, they were good out of possession and had Amad Diallo. Chance creation is still a problem, but OOP and build-up is getting there

End of thread!

Newsletter in bio, would love to hear your thoughts

West Ham-Liverpool: Tactical Analysis (a thread)

How Liverpool dismantled West Ham 🧵
▪️Use of 'false' 9 and roaming strikers
▪️Liverpool's press
▪️Constantly firing balls in behind 

One tweak Arne Slot has used effectively is dropping a striker close into build-up, often this is Luis Diaz. It means it provides an extra player for Liverpool to pass to in build-up with Gravenberch-Mac Allister marked, the Colombian can drag players out of position 

The crucial thing to note, is that Liverpool still have a 3v4 on West Ham's defence because Curtis Jones has pushed up to West Ham's defence, pinning them back meaning they also don't lose an extra attacker up front. 

West Ham's midfield 5 have done a decent job here of narrowing the centre of the pitch for Gravenberch-Mac Allister, but just in behind Diaz has dropped into the half-space, he can then pull wide taking a defender with him, when Mac Allister receives from him, he looks for Salah 

This was how the 2nd goal was scored, as Diaz pulled a man wide and Jones dragged a West Ham defender almost into his own half. It felt as though Liverpool were encouraged to quickly play it in behind with them being much faster than West Ham's back line 

It isn't just Diaz working as the only striker dropping to create problems for teams, because Diaz drops into midfield there is an extra player for West Ham to think about meaning other players (Gravenberch) can run up front. This time, Salah is dragging 2 players wide.. 

Because Salah is in the form he's in, 2 players are quick to close him down, with West Ham dragged to one side, Diaz can make his run from deep build-up to in behind West Ham's defence with Jones joining. Using Salah slightly deeper, a defender follows and he becomes creator 

West Ham's midfield is occupied with the middle, but with Salah dropping in at full-back, Wan-Bissaka has to follow him, with Alexander-Arnold making the run into the half-space, a gap is created with Alvarez having to follow. Drag a defender, push up a player, rinse and repeat. 

By using a forward as part of build-up it gave West Ham problems, as they would have to start marking players up top who were making darting runs. Maybe because it was West Ham, but Liverpool were also brave in their press pushing up a full-back on West Ham's full-back 

The spare man out ball was normally to a full-back for West Ham (Wan-Bissaka) but Alexander-Arnold pushed up high with the rest of Liverpool's attack covering West Ham's defence. As the ball is played up, Gomez quickly follows and retrieves the ball. 

It felt as though Liverpool felt that pushing up the full-backs in the press would retrieve the ball as they knew West Ham's build-up or at least the defence in build-up wasn't good enough to progress the ball, so they could steal it high and they were correct. 

We would frequently see a player drop in Liverpool's attack then quickly watch the ball go in behind with West Ham struggling deal with it.

End of thread! Would love to hear your thoughts, newsletter in bio

Liverpool-Manchester United: Tactical Analysis (a thread)  🧵

▪️United overloading Trent Alexander-Arnold's right wing 

United specifically targeted Alexander-Arnold's side of the pitch, through overloads but especially to drag the full-back way out to press Dalot high up the pitch. Once TAA was pulled out to Dalot he would look to play the pass inside to Fernandes and United were out the press 

It was interesting to me that just like the game at Old Trafford it was Martinez who was the trigger for Liverpool to press, but this time Dalot was used as the out ball wide whilst Liverpool's attack pressed and then the pass was fired into the half-space to progress the ball 

The amount of times United fired the ball in behind to Hojlund makes me think it was a tactic on purpose, regardless of him often being bullied by Van Dijk-Konate. When the out ball was played to Dalot however this was where the success was as a runner could get in behind 

Above was for Fernandes's cross to Hojlund, whilst this is the Diallo chance. The reason this was effective is because Hojlund and Diallo are pinning Konate and Robertson, so Konate can't come over to help Trent and a midfielder is pulled wide by a forward (Fernandes) for a 3v3 

Slot has pushed Alexander-Arnold up in the press with success this season, but by using a spare man wide, this build-up structure from Utd was successful as it bypassed Liverpool's attacking press and forced a midfielder or defender to go mark Fernandes in the half-space 

The aerial route in behind was used again when Fernandes had come wide to link up with Dalot. Trent Alexander Arnold is now faced with a 2v1 with Hojlund timing his run and Konate trying to play him offside. It's not as if TAA can mark 2 players at once 

Reminiscent of Inzaghi's Inter Milan, for the goal, Martinez joined in to overload the right wing creating a 4v3, if you overload one zone of the pitch and fill it with players, short passing combinations can result in space being found 

This kept happening mainly because Fernandes would come wide or just inside for the pass whilst Dalot would pull wide and drag men out, Slot should've held Trent's position back in the press, it was already an issue once he was pressing Dalot so high up the pitch

End of thread!

Would love to know your thoughts, I also had a thread planned for the out of possession work, but couldn't fit it in, if you would like to see it let me know. Newsletter in bio.