ACHRAF

First, Lisandro Martinez doesn't seem to be going through his best days defensively. That's one of the mistakes he committed that could lead Tottenham to a dangerous situation. Here, Porro drives Bruno Fernandes wide to open the for Drăgușin to find options.

Pape Sarr shifts across and Ugarte follows. At the same time, L. Martinez jumps onto Sarr allowing Kulusevski to indent behind the space vacated behind. Pape Sarr's dummy run deceives both Ugarte and Martinez which saw Kulusevski receiving and finding Madisson.

Before let's dissect how Madisson is found free in zone 14. Lindelöf was forced to cover behind Lisandro Martinez, Solanke's decoy run dragged Leny Yoro with him. That saw Mazraoui overloaded at the edge of the box by Madisson and Son. So, Kulusevski feeds him alone.

Fortunately, Mazraoui jumped early onto Madisson before he could slide it to Son who was going to face the goalkeeper in a situation where he would probably score himself.

Amorin traces are concrete over time. Overload to isolate becomes one of the patterns Man Utd relies on to create 1v1 situations on the underloaded side. But before, Man Utd's build-up improved a lot bypassing Tottenham's press and generating the situation for the switch.

Here, H. Son presses L. Yoro without closing off the angle on Mazraoui. Once the Moroccan RWB receives, he moves inside with Eriksen dropping off to take Mazraoui's place. Bissouma ditches the idea of following Eriksen and pointing to his teammates to take care of him.

No one responded & Mazraoui fed Eriksen. Tottenham LB, Spence advancing high up the pitch with D. Dalot pushing up on the opposite side created a 4v3 in the last line. So, Eriksen played a diagonal long pass into Dalot's feet. 1v1 vs Porro but Dalot didn't deal with it correctly.

Tottenham pressed in something close to 4-3-3 with Sarr & Maddison occupying Bruno & Ugarte and Bissouma covering between the lines and having an eye on Eriksen who exploited the distance with him and Bissouma to receive, thread, and progress from the middle 3rd to the final

Here, Bissouma shifts toward Bruno leaving Eriksen free to roam. Ugarte's deeper movement drags Madisson, opening the center for Dalot to find Eriksen. Bissouma late on the jump allows Eriksen to thread with Bruno Fernandes who has all the way in front of him to drive forward.

Manchester United's press targeted to set wide traps to regain the ball in a 5-1-3-1 shape. Hojlund initiated the press with a curved run to close the angle of one of the CBs and jump onto the other, forcing him to play wide. Man Utd players behind were swarming to pounce.

This is how Man Utd found the free man. 5 Tottenham players press Man Utd 5 players responsible for the buildup (3+2) with no one stepping up to press Mazraoui in the RHS, L. Yoro picks out the Moroccan. The gap BTL is enough for Mazraoui to switch the play to Dalot on the left.

Maddison and Solanke dropping deep appeared to be the key to bypassing Man Utd press with some of the players from Man Utd side losing concentration or putting more emphasis on controlling Tottenham midfielders by doubling up given their importance in Tottenham's buildup.

Here, Maddison drops deep and Yoro tracks him up. Solanke comes deeper and Lindelof is in pursuit. Man Utd backline is vulnerable given the space behind left in Son's hands against Mazraoui (1v1 situation). Man Utd press was good until Bruno decided to stick to Sarr with Ugarte.

Bruno Fernandes decision to leave Porro free and stay close to Pape Sarr allowed Maddison to feed Porro BTL. As a result: Large space behind to swim into. Porro set Son with a diagonal pass but fortunately, it was in the goalkeeper's direction.

When Man Utd kept close distances from Tottenham players with a good distribution of the personnel & effective press initiation by the strikers, Sprus CBs or GK were forced to play the ball wide, especially to Kulusevski. Then, Bruno, Dalot & Ugarte swarmed to regain the ball.

Space & time are crucial to determine the quality of the press. Being late due to the distance the player has to cover before he arrives at his man means cracks in the defensive system. That was the issue in Tottenham and Man Utd press when one of them bypassed the other press.

Take a look at the distance Kulusevski has to cover to prevent Martinez from passing: Mission impossible. That leads to Bruno traveling to Porro's place vacated due to Dalot's wide position. Bruno receives, combines with Zirkzee, & cuts the ball back. A domino effect takes place.

Tottenham's late in the press & the distances they have to cover lead to the same scene (below) but it happens in Man Utd's def third. Kulusevski distant from L. Martinez, Porro tracking Dalot saw Garnacho swim in space (Sarr has to cover) receiving Martinez's progressive pass.

Despite Porro sticking to Garnacho without jumping onto the wide Dalot, Lisandro Martinez could pick out free options due to the same problem of Kulusevski and distance. As a result, Dalot has space to carry the ball and look for alternatives inside.

Manchester United sustained the possession, patiently circulating the ball in search of a gap in Tottenham's block. Control while having the ball seems to be the new face of Man Utd under Ruben Amorim. Man Utd's press was good at setting wide traps, especially on the right.

Both teams suffered when their press lacked coordination (big distances to cover, misreading of the situation, numerical superiority in the buildup). Man Utd looked versatile with more tools to progress: overload to isolate, progressive passes, and long balls from Martinez,...

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