Getty Images: Gareth Copley
Phew, that was intense.
After an exhaustingly turgid first half, Man Utd with the help of Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee, overturned a 1-0 lead to qualify for the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Without a further due, here are five things we learnt from Man Utd vs Leicester City:
1) Alejandro Garnacho changes the game
For the umpteenth time under Ruben Amorim, Man Utd struggled to break down a team. In the first half, Ruud van Nistelrooy got his game plan right and Utd couldn’t find gaps again.
Alejandro Garnacho’s impact as a substitute, not for the first time changed the course of the game. Simply by getting the ball wide to the Argentinian and have him running at James Justin gave the attack penetration.
2) An awful first half, a better second
Eerily similar to the Southampton victory, Man Utd were worryingly bad, they eventually changed the game in the second half, but Ruben Amorim has to figure out why Utd lack so much insurgency and need the fear of failure to turn the game around.
Credit to Utd for keeping going and turning it around, but we’ve seen the first half performance far too many times.
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3) Not enough movement in attack
It feels as though the players are in the right position in Amorim’s 3-4-3, what we aren’t seeing enough of is any manipulation of space in attack. Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo started either side of the striker, but a huge problem was the little movement from both players.
This system requires runs in the half-space and wide from the full-backs and the attackers either side of the striker, the lethargy is far too much from the front line.
4) Zirkzee and Hojlund Assessment
Both the young strikers have the burden of being Man Utd’s lead striker early in their careers, at the moment Josh Zirkzee off the bench is at least having somewhat of an impact.
For Rasmus Hojlund the ball doesn’t stick, he wrestles too much with the defenders and his confidence is seemingly stagnating.
Zirkzee’s link-up play, hold-up and general game awareness makes the team a little more fluent in attack. Hojlund is possibly being asked to do things he doesn’t excel at, but at this point either his role in the team needs to change or he must stop being so physical with defenders, as it stunts United’s penetration overall.
5) Amorim still justifiably chopping and changing
It feels like there are glimpses of good performances of a player in a certain position e.g. Kobbie Mainoo in right attacking forward role in the Europa League. Once it’s given more time to develop, it doesn’t work and Amorim has to change again.
At the moment, Man Utd haven’t settled on wing-backs that work (that could change with Patrick Dorgu signed) or on the forwards that work.
It doesn’t help that Man Utd keep conceding first then need to change games. But with more time on the training ground coming up with a bit of a breather in the schedule, more time on the training ground can help Amorim figure out what a settled side is and hopefully inject more pace with and without the ball.
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Source: Centred Devils
