Burde ha scoret flere

MIDFIELD DUOS

A return to domestic competition and a home FA Cup game against Reading; United facing Premier league opposition for the third round on the run.

Personnel

In: Smalling, Buttner, Cleverley, Anderson, Valencia, Hernandez and Young.

Out: Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Carrick, Rooney, Kagawa and van Persie.

Key points

• United played well in patches and had plenty of chances. They were unable to sustain any long period of pressure on the Reading goal, with chances coming in clusters in those short periods when they were able to exert some pressure.

• This pattern changed when van Persie replaced Young. His approach was to drop deeper as Welbeck and Hernandez had begun to play very square to each other. This change made the difference as Reading did not know how to deal with van Persie’s movement.

• Anderson had a good game. He was dynamic and creative throughout despite Anderson and Cleverley perhaps not being an ideal combination.

• Nani had a good half, and Valencia, moving forward from deep on the overlap looked far more dangerous than when occupying a higher position.

First Half

United started this game in the familiar 4-2-3-1 shape. Jones was at right back, Smalling and Vidic as centre-backs and Buttner at left back. Cleverley and Anderson played in the half back positions. In the advanced four Valencia started wide right and Young wide left. Welbeck played slightly behind Hernandez in the central area. Reading formed up in a 4-4-2 with Hunt and Le Fondre as the front men.

United started this game brightly with Anderson and Cleverley very mobile players and right from the start they moved well, on and off the ball supporting each other and those around them. The chalkboard shows their positions being fairly square to each other; this is not quite how it was. Their average positions may have been about level, but actually they tended to rotate, with one pushing forward and the other sitting deeper. They then switched, the deeper player moving forward and the forward player moving deeper. Welbeck and Hernandez, further forward in the central spine of the team did much the same thing.

The advantage of an Anderson/Cleverley combination is also the disadvantage. As mobile players they can be caught out of position and if they both push quite high (as they did on occasions), this leaves space behind them in front of the defence.

After an initial push in the opening five minutes the pattern of the half was quickly set. Some of United’s approach play through the centre of the pitch was excellent, seeing a progression of the ball through to the edge of the Reading box. This generally involved a series of quick short passes between the midfield two and those ahead of them and often involving Young and Valencia. All these moves tended to break down on the edge of the United box, either as a consequence of resolute defending or a poor final pass into the area. United’s attacking play was fairly narrow, with both Young and Valencia coming narrow to join in. On the left Buttner often moved forward to overlap Young, whilst on the right Jones tended to stay deeper.

The other key pattern in the half was a familiar one. Reading didn’t actually pose a great threat when they had the ball, but they did manage to keep the ball at times and so took the sting out of the game. Again we would comment that they were able to do this because of the lack of a natural ball winner in United’s midfield. This is a problem we have highlighted many times in the past. The consequence of this is that United find it hard to develop a period of sustained pressure. Rather pressure on the Reading goal was sporadic with United finally breaking up Reading’s play deep in their own half and then making labored efforts to move the ball forward. Once they had crossed the halfway line they looked threatening and were unlucky to go in at half time without scoring.

United had numerous good chances, but failed to score because of a combination of a poor final pass around the box or good goalkeeping; Federici was having an excellent night. However, United’s approach play remained sound.

Just before half time, on 40 minutes, Jones was forced to leave the pitch with an injury after challenging for a 50-50 ball. He seemed to jar his knee in the tackle. He was replaced by Nani. Valencia moved into Jones position at right back and Nani played wide right in an attacking midfield position.

Second Half

Initially little changed after the break. There was an push forward and a period of more sustained high tempo play from United driven by Anderson. He played well and was all action moving into the inside right channel, and combining with Nani, who was also playing fairly narrow. The consequence of this was the space in the wide right area which was now available. Valencia was playing as a fairly high full-back and he took full advantage of this space to surge forward regularly on the overlap. Valencia had a good second half in this role, and looked far more threatening than he has done in recent months running from a deep starting position.

After the initial push came a lull and this prompted Sir Alex to make his first change. On 65 minutes he brought on van Persie and removed Young. Welbeck now moved to the wide left position with van Persie dropping into the position behind Hernandez. Prior to this change Welbeck and Hernandez had been playing fairly square to each other in the second half, although this was something that had happened a number of occasions earlier in the game.

From the moment he was introduced van Persie was dropping deep on the right hand side to pick up the ball, turn and start moves, whether combining with Anderson and Cleverley or Welbeck and Hernandez. His movement was far more dynamic than anything seen earlier from Welbeck or Hernandez and Reading did not know how to deal with him. This dynamism also saw an increase in the general tempo of United’s play.

Boom! On 69 minutes United scored. Fittingly perhaps this goal came from the United right. Valencia had advanced on the overlap and crossed early to Nani. Nani controlled the ball instantly and with his body square to the goal fired a sharp shot home.

United continued to push.

Boom! On 72 minutes United scored again. This time Nani was the provider. He sent over an early cross which Hernandez met at the near post out-sprinting the closest defender to head home precisely and sharply. At 2-0 United now looked comfortable.

Perhaps United relaxed a little, or perhaps Reading stepped up a gear? They now played a higher line and also made early passes. As such they had some success with Anderson and Cleverley getting pulled out of position. Anderson in particular had done a lot of running; perhaps he was now getting tired. On 80 minutes Reading got a goal back with McAnuff scoring after United had failed to defend decisively. A ball into the box was only blocked by Smalling and the loose ball ran free for McAnuff to shot past De Gea. This was hard on De Gea who had made a number of excellent saves. United had gone to sleep.

Sir Alex responded by bringing on Carrick to replace Anderson. In terms of positions a straight swap in theory, but actually under this circumstance a minor change, in the sense that Carrick sat deeper and screened the defence. Reading continued to push forward (enjoying a number of set piece opportunities), but United were able to see out the game.

Conclusion

This was a fairly comfortable win. United should perhaps have scored more, and the late Reading goal did result in a few nervous moments towards the end, but generally it was a fairly routine win.

Anderson had an excellent game. He was fluid in his movement and creative, feeding the ball wide to overlapping players, running on with the ball into the final third and playing rebound passes with those in front of him. Valencia had a good second half overlapping from a deeper starting position. Nani was lively, if at times as frustrating. On balance this was his best performance for some time.