If Manchester United wish to know what a well-structured efficiency seems to be like, they need to rewatch Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 victory at Previous Trafford. In opposition to a dull press and non-existent cowl on the transition, Spurs ripped Erik ten Hag’s aspect to shreds.
The rotations in Ange Postecoglou’s midfield proved an excessive amount of for United’s organisation with out the ball, whereas a concentrate on attacking the vast areas minimize by way of United repeatedly.
In possession, the rotations between Tottenham’s midfielders and full-backs stretched United’s 4-4-2…
… and created gaps within the midfield line that had been exploited by the dropping Dominic Solanke or the opposite central gamers.
Right here, Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro’s swap creates a spot between Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo as they change their markers, and Solanke drops to supply Cristian Romero a passing possibility by way of that house.
As Romero performs the cross to Solanke, Kulusevski begins shifting ahead…
… to supply a progressive choice to his striker, with Brennan Johnson pinning United’s left-back, Diogo Dalot.
Solanke flicks the ball in direction of Johnson…
… and Kulusevski’s third-man run is discovered by the right-winger. Tottenham’s assault down the correct aspect attracts Manuel Ugarte, which signifies that James Maddison is free on the opposite aspect as a result of United’s right-back, Noussair Mazraoui, has Timo Werner (out of shot) to fret about.
Consequently, Kulusevski switches the play to Maddison, with Ugarte dragged to the opposite aspect.
In one other instance, Kulusevski and Solanke are initially marked by Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez. The Tottenham centre-forward drops to supply himself as a passing possibility…
… and Kulusevski dashes ahead, forcing Martinez and Mainoo to modify markers as Future Udogie is occupying Ugarte.
Once more, the second Tottenham progress the ball is after they swap their positions, to allow them to catch out United whereas exchanging their markers. Nonetheless, Solanke returns the ball to Romero as a result of there isn’t any passing possibility.
As Romero performs the ball vast to Porro, Solanke assaults the house behind Mainoo. In the meantime, Kulusevski drags Martinez deeper and Ugarte has to mark Udogie…
… which suggests United can’t cowl the house behind Mainoo when Porro’s cross finds Solanke. The centre-forward then performs the ball to Johnson down the correct wing…
… and by the point Ugarte strikes throughout to help, the Wales ahead performs it again to Rodrigo Bentancur, who finds Maddison in house.
Maddison then switches the ball to the opposite aspect, earlier than combining with Kulusevski to almost double Tottenham’s lead.
Tottenham’s motion within the central zones saved stretching United’s out-of-possession construction. Right here, Mainoo and Ugarte are initially marking Kulusevski and Maddison…
… however when Spurs transfer the ball in direction of their proper aspect, the Uruguay midfielder strikes throughout to cowl for Mainoo. Ugarte’s shift means Alejandro Garnacho can not decide to closing down Micky van de Ven due to the slender positioning of Maddison and Udogie (out of shot).
Romero performs the ball again to Guglielmo Vicario…
… and when the goalkeeper passes it to Van de Ven, Garnacho is late to the press.
With Ugarte shifting as much as mark Maddison and Mazraoui pinned by Werner down the left wing, Van de Ven comfortably finds Udogie in house.
The dominoes then fall with the correct aspect of United’s defence late to press Udogie and Werner, which permits them to mix down the left wing, earlier than the left-back finds Kulusevski in entrance of the penalty space and Johnson hits the publish.
Moreover, Tottenham’s full-backs and Bentancur positioned themselves well to defend the transition in case United gained the ball again.
Right here, Udogie finds Werner down the left wing after Tottenham play by way of United’s block, and Bentancur strikes in direction of that aspect to cowl.
Bentancur’s positioning affords a security web for Tottenham’s left aspect. When Werner’s cutback doesn’t discover Udogie’s run contained in the penalty space and United begin their attacking transition…
… Van de Ven and Romero can aggressively defend the central house and the correct aspect as a result of Bentancur is monitoring Garnacho’s motion.
In one other instance, Porro and Bentancur drop deeper whereas Tottenham are nonetheless attacking within the aftermath of a set piece.
When the assault fails and United want to strike on the counter-attack, Postecoglou’s aspect are able to defend three completely different lanes with Bentancur’s positioning enabling Udogie to defend the central house.
Tottenham’s skill to defend United’s transitions additionally allowed them to create their very own within the different path. Because of United’s gung-ho strategy when counter-attacking, they’re all the time susceptible when it’s reversed.
On this instance, Udogie’s slender positioning permits him to get better when United win the ball in midfield and assault the vacated house.
Van de Ven strikes throughout to defend Udogie’s place and the left-back enhances that by dropping into the central house…
… which permits him to intercept Garnacho’s cross towards Joshua Zirkzee and reverse the transition.
Tottenham’s transition within the different path finds Kulusevski, who places Werner by way of on purpose…
… however Werner shoots straight at Andre Onana.
Within the build-up to Tottenham’s first purpose, Udogie is in place to trace Garnacho in case the ball is misplaced.
When United win the ball again and begin the attacking transition…
… the left-back is in place to defend in opposition to Garnacho whereas Van de Ven and Romero are defending the opposite areas. Fernandes tries to seek out Garnacho’s run…
… however Udogie’s presence forces the right-winger to play it backwards in direction of Rashford. In the meantime, Bentancur is dropping to help the defence…
… which permits Van de Ven to dash and beat Rashford to the ball — in case Van de Ven is late, Bentancur is already dropping to cowl for him.
Tottenham reverse the transition within the different path and Van de Ven surges by way of an unorganised United defence, earlier than discovering Johnson in direction of the far publish…
… and the Wales ahead scores into an empty web.
“We knew that the primary menace that Manchester United have is on the transition — they’re fairly deadly with the entrance guys they have,” mentioned Postecoglou after the sport.
“We needed to ensure we form of locked them in as we speak and that was the full-backs, and significantly Maddison and Kulusevski to be actually disciplined of their soccer.”
(Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Photographs)
On the ball, Tottenham’s rotations in midfield allowed them to play by way of United’s block, whereas their positioning protected them on the defensive transition, from which they may counter within the different path.
A well-constructed plan and excellent execution from Tottenham — one thing that may’t be mentioned of Ten Hag’s aspect within the final yr.