How Manchester United exposed Leeds United tactically
This was it. This was the fixture Leeds United fans circled in the calendar once the fixtures came out. Normally played in a raucous atmosphere, these games are big. They produce classics, and Sunday evening didn’t disappoint! Let’s take a look at how Scott McTominay, Solskjaer and Manchester United took advantage of Bielsa’s ultra-attacking tactics to hit Leeds for six.
The dangers of throwing men forward before control of possession is firmly established
This image shows the build up to Manchester United’s first goal. Leeds have possession, with Dallas, the right back, passing to Raphina. Leeds have six players ahead of the ball, circled in white, with Harrison on the left wing and out of shot. The arrows show the pressing movement of the Man Utd players.
One of the most exciting but dangerous aspects of the Bielsa style is the way his teams throw players forward. They overload the opposition with the amount of men they commit, giving them plenty of passing options in the attacking third. However, doing this so early in moves can make your team susceptible to the counter attack, if possession is won back early by the opposition.
Leeds have left the middle of the pitch incredibly exposed, with Kalvin Phillips, the deepest midfielder, pushed all the way up to the halfway line. Man Utd, having started so slowly in many matches this season, seize the initiative by aggressively pressing the ball. Shaw, Fernandes and Rashford all descend upon Raphina, with their pressing movement shown by the arrows. He is dispossessed, leaving Leeds vulnerable. All of a sudden, Leeds now have 7 players, including Dallas, out of position.
In four seconds from winning the ball back, Man Utd are already bearing down on what remains of Leeds’ back four. The black arrows show the movement of Martial to the left and Dan James to the right, opening up the middle of the pitch for Fernandes. Note the position and movement of McTominay, circled in white. He covers a large distance at high speed to make himself available. Cooper, also circled in white, can’t commit to Fernandes because he knows his team is exposed.
Leeds are now at the mercy of the decision making of Fernandes, and the hard running of McTominay. Due to the runs of Martial and James, Ayling and Alioski are effectively out of the game if Fernandes doesn’t pass to them. He knows that he has the attention of Cooper and drives at him. Cooper doesn’t want to engage, because if he is beaten Fernandes will be bearing down on goal.
McTominay covers ground at speed and gives Fernandes a great passing option. By the time Fernandes gets near the edge of the box, McTominay is arriving where the white arrow ends, right on cue for a shooting opportunity. He reacts much quicker then Klich, who can’t get near him. This goal is made by both the Man Utd press and the desire of McTominay to break forward at the right moment.
The black arrow shows where Alioski shifts in anticipation of the strike, and the red arrow shows where the ball is actually about to go.
Alioski thinks McTominay will shot across goal, and steps slightly out of the line the ball will actually take. It is a sweet strike from McTominay, who should get into these positions more with the the shooting ability he possesses, which we have seen vs Arsenal and Wolves last season. Meslier has no chance of getting anywhere near it, and Man Utd go 1-0 up.
The dangers of man marking from open play
Man Utd have a throw in and we can clearly see Leeds’ man marking set up. Fernandes, Rashford, McTominay and Fred are all accounted for. Pay attention to the black and white arrows - the movement of Leeds defenders is in black, and Man Utd’s key attackers in white. McTominay and Martial are circled in white.
This goal gives us great insight into Leeds’ man marking system. Leeds defenders will track their man from open play all over the pitch, allowing the team’s defence to get pulled apart at times, with gaps often appearing.
This goal is made by the movement of Martial and McTominay again. Ayling is marking Martial but can’t keep up with his acceleration, and by the time Klich realises where McTominay is going, he can’t react quickly enough to stop him bursting into space.
With man marking from open play, it is so vital that defending players are not only aware of the movement of the players around them, but also are quick enough to match it. In this case, Ayling and Klich are no match for the speed of Martial and McTominay, and it leaves the team exposed. This is a risky set-up, hence why a lot of managers defend zonally from open play instead. Defenders and midfielders still have to track runners, but they are slightly less exposed overall.
There are three important things happening here: Martial’s link play, McTominay’s awareness of space, and Alioski hesitating to close it, due to the presence of Dan James. The red arrow shows the movment Alioski should make, but the black arrows show that he is aware of Dan James’ potential movement
As a consequence of losing their men, Ayling can’t stop Martial’s brilliant link play as he notices the run of McTominay and slips a great through ball into the box for him. McTominay is too athletic for Klich to handle, meaning the Leeds midfielder can’t keep up with him and stop him getting to where he wants to go. Alioski should move infield to close the space, but he is worried by Dan James outside of him, allowing McTominay to run through on goal.
Without the skill and subtlety of Martial, the awareness and speed of McTominay, and the aggressive position of James, this goal doesn’t happen.
If Leeds had set up more conservatively from the throw in, McTominay wouldn’t have so much space to run into, but such is the Bielsa way of defending, and Leeds’ centre back injury problems, that they succumb to the second goal, leaving them 2-0 down in just under four minutes!
McTominay, having controlled the pass from Martial, is now in great position to slot the ball away, giving his team a 2-0 lead.
When throwing men forward goes right!
Leed’s high press means they collect De Gea’s poor kick in the attacking half. Here, the black arrows show the attacking movement of the Leeds players, while the white arrow shows the pass Harrison fires into Raphina.
As we saw with the first goal, throwing men forward with reckless abandon and pressing high up the pitch can leave a team exposed. However, in this case, Leeds’ positioning leaves them in a good position. Harrison collects De Gea’s poor kick, and immediately Rodrigo, Klich, Dallas and Bamford all sprint towards goal. Harrison’s pass is accurate, and Raphina’s lay off to Dallas is precise. In a handful of seconds, Leeds have gone from a decent position to a great attacking one.
This is the upside of the Bielsa style. When building posession, it is usually Kalvin Phillips firing short or long passes into attackers, like we saw with Harrison’s spectacular goal vs Liverpool. In this instance it is Harrison himself setting up the play, but the result is the same. All of a sudden, Man Utd are scrambling, which allows Dallas to get into a good shooting position.
Lindelöf is distracted by the smart run of Bamford, while Maguire is worried about the equally intelligent run of Raphina, shown by the black arrows. This leaves Dallas with a sight of goal. His strike however, is sensational, shown by the red arrow.
Dallas’ strike is outrageous, leaving De Gea no chance of keeping it out, but nonetheless this is a common feature of the way Leeds attack. As they throw men forward, it allows them to either play longer passes to attackers, as shown here, or combine to great effect around the edge of the box when they have more controlled possession. This allowed them to create lots of great chances in this game, including the poor misses from Bamford and Harrison at the beginning and end of the game. Although they scored two, they easily could have scored five!
Although they easily could have scored five, they also could have conceded 10 or more. Leeds won’t face many teams with the attacking speed and quality of Manchester United, but they have conceded four goals on three occasions already this season, albeit in the process scoring five once themselves. It is a style which makes them absolutely brilliant to watch. Bielsa has made this team much greater than the sum of its parts, hence why he is held in such high esteem in the city. So high in fact, that he had a street named after him in the city centre!
They will certainly be safe from any relegation worries, but need to get their first choice defenders back fit to give them more solidity at the back. Usually at this point I would suggest ways in which they could improve, but let’s be honest, Bielsa won’t change, nor will Leeds’ fans demand him to, so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.
For Manchester United and Solskjaer, it has been a disorientating start to the season. Slow starts have already cost them a place in the Champions League knockout rounds, but on Sunday they sprinted out of the gate to set themselves up for an entertaining victory, and are now only five points with a game in hand off the top of the league. However, I think declarations of a title challenge from pundits are incredibly premature: we only have to look at Chelsea and Tottenham to see how quickly the bubble can burst! However, IF, and this is a huge if, they can find real consistency, then a top four finish and a trophy could be up fro grabs this season. If not, then we’ll continue to see them swing from the silly to the sublime.