- 1 hour ago
Manchester United are out of the Carabao Cup in the 2nd Round after losing to League 2 Grimsby Town.Elimination to a 4th division side - with Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko all on the pitch - could well be a new low for the club and Ruben Amorim, and Adam Clery explains how Grimsby manager David Artell masterminded it.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, Adam Cleary, ACFC, I just want to start by acknowledging that this video, that I nearly called
00:09Why Man United Are Back, is less than 10 days old.
00:15And just in case you were in a cave on Mars or something last night, a Manchester United side, that
00:21did not start like this, but at some stage included all of these players, so was about as close to
00:26full strength as you can get,
00:27went out of the cup to a fourth division team.
00:32So how then do you go from we can beat any team in the Premier League,
00:36we can win any game in the Premier League,
00:38to you just got slapped by the kippers?
00:42Well, that is just what this Manchester United team does.
00:51Alright, now the temptation here would be to make this a two hour long video about how the club-wide
00:58problems at Manchester United keep contributing to results like this happening,
01:03but instead, what I want to talk about is how Grimsby did this to them, because to be absolutely clear,
01:09whatever's going wrong at Man United, Grimsby did do this to them.
01:14David Artel got this absolutely spot on. The game plan they had was so good at maximising what strengths Grimsby
01:22do have here,
01:23but also targeting the weaknesses in this Manchester United system.
01:27They basically came with an idea that made the gap in quality, or alleged gap in quality, nowhere near as
01:34much of a factor as it should have been.
01:36So what was that game plan, I hear you ask?
01:38Well, in very simple terms, they rejected the notion of trying to stonewall their opponents and just nick something at
01:45the other end.
01:46They fully played this game to win.
01:49They got at Manchester United, they got up the pitch, and they understood what they could, and more importantly, couldn't
01:57do to hurt them.
01:58Like, I heard, I think it was Phil Jones on the Sky coverage, say that Man United just weren't at
02:04the races,
02:04and that does such a disservice to the preparation Grimsby will have done for this, and how well they then
02:12executed that.
02:13Like, first off, what they really wanted to do was get at Manchester United in their own half,
02:19which, when you watch it, requires them to be so brave and work so hard to stay with their men,
02:25and deny them time on the ball.
02:27And whatever you might think about Manchester United, that is a suicidal way for a fourth division team to play
02:33against a Premier League side,
02:35unless you're smart about it.
02:37So the key for Grimsby was to press them at the right times, yes, but as the ball moves up
02:42the pitch,
02:43to get progressively more compact.
02:45Know when to stop chasing, when to back off, when to slow it down, and when to sit in.
02:51And what you are then effectively saying to players who are worth 20 times what your club is worth,
02:58is that we are going to make this as hard as we possibly can for you.
03:03We're going to deny you the time you want on the ball in your own half,
03:07but then we're still going to deny you the space you want to play in our half.
03:12And more importantly, we're not going to stop doing that.
03:15So the question for Man United then becomes, are you going to work as hard as the opposition,
03:22so the fact that you are much better players can come into the equation.
03:26And for fully 90 minutes, almost to a man, the answer was, no, we're not going to work as hard
03:35as they are.
03:35And without even talking about the tactics in this game, which don't worry, we're all nerds, we'll still get onto
03:41you,
03:41but I can sum up this entire defeat in one moment for you.
03:46Grimmsby get a corner, they don't put it directly into the box, they work it out to here,
03:50and just watch the reactions of every single Man United player.
03:56You start and count them, they have 10 players defending this situation,
04:00but not one of them shows any urgency or desire to close down, I think that's McEachran, and stop the
04:09cross coming in.
04:09Like genuinely, any, any of these three players here could rush that ball, close them down, put them under a
04:15bit of pressure,
04:15and that's obviously terrible, but even just look at the lads strong across the back line.
04:21There's just, there's no impetus to get them further up the pitch.
04:25Nobody is demanding more effort from the lads in front.
04:28It's just such a pale imitation of how a top team, or any team for that matter, is supposed to
04:35play.
04:35That they eventually get a half-hearted jog out from Diallo, but he doesn't get anywhere near him.
04:40The ball comes in, and they require an incredibly fortunate handball for this not to be a goal.
04:46And forget the result, or the penalties, or literally anything else.
04:49That was the moment in the game that, like, rang the loudest alarm bells for me.
04:54You just cannot play like that.
04:57And you add that sort of attitude with just how predictable Manchester United can be with the ball at the
05:03back.
05:03Like, here's the exact same passing routine three times in the Arsenal game,
05:08because they just do the same stuff over and over.
05:11And you know if you are Grimsby, if you work hard enough, you will massively, massively unsettle them.
05:18Like, this sequence here is going to absolutely blow your mind, but it happened so many times in that first
05:23half, right?
05:23They can't play forward, so they turn around and they go back to Fredrickson.
05:27But you've got a Grimsby player here who then locks onto him, closes him down, stops him playing it forward,
05:32probably to Maguire here, and forces him to pass it backwards.
05:36But that same Grimsby player now locks onto him.
05:38He's really intense in his running.
05:40He puts him under a lot of pressure.
05:42He wants to play it into a guard here, but another Grimsby player has locked on.
05:47They've closed down the ball back to Fredrickson.
05:49They've cut off the pass to Maguire.
05:50They're closing the goalkeeper down, and they've cut off his options.
05:53So now he just has to go sideways.
05:56So it's gone out to heaven now, but already another Grimsby player has locked onto him.
06:02He is closing him down.
06:03He is being intense.
06:04He is putting him under pressure.
06:06He is stopping him playing forward.
06:09So even he has to now go sideways, which he does.
06:12And Patrick Dogu has come all the way back to help him out here.
06:15But another Grimsby player, this time the right back, has jumped the whole way up the pitch
06:21to lock onto him, to do exactly the same thing, to be intense,
06:25to put him under pressure, to stop him playing forwards.
06:29So now, from having the ball in a relatively comfortable position all the way over here,
06:33Man United are now trapped in their own corner, and they have to go sideways,
06:38and they have to go backwards.
06:40And if we just stop it right here, that is insane.
06:46Fourth division, Grimsby Town have pinned Man United into their own corner by simply doing
06:54one aggressive man-to-man press.
06:57They've pulled players all out of position.
06:59Yeah, their structure's going to be all over the place, but Man United could not play through
07:04that.
07:04But what follows is somehow just even more typical of this match, because heaven does nothing
07:10you can do.
07:11It's a Hail Mary, he just goes to punt it upfield, it bounces off somebody's leg, then there's
07:15a header, then two players miss the ball, and by total fluke, Man United actually get out
07:21of this situation and have an attack on.
07:23And just to quickly point something out here, right, this is the right back, he's way too
07:27far up the pitch, and this is one of the centre-backs missing this tackle.
07:32Like, Grimsby should be in massive trouble here.
07:37Yo, shut up.
07:41Madeline Dowds, everybody.
07:44Someone's getting sacked today.
07:46Dolgu runs it up pretty much the entire length of the pitch.
07:49They get a chance on the edge of the box, but when that shot comes in, and they haven't
07:52messed about with this, like, they didn't turn around at any point, just look at the
07:56number of bodies Grimsby have got back.
07:59And just to shock you, this is the right back, and this is the centre-back who missed the tackle.
08:06Like, from front to back, they worked so hard, and Man United just refused to match that.
08:14And it might sound daft, but this is exactly how they were manufacturing their chances at
08:18the same time.
08:18Because if you can't unsettle a Premier League team, what do you do with it?
08:22Because there's no point just trying to have, like, 65% of the ball and work it through them
08:27really methodically.
08:28You've got to take advantage of that unsettling.
08:31The trick is to go direct into your forward players as quickly as you can, to then force
08:37the attackers caught up the other end of the pitch to run back towards their own goal.
08:41Because as we've established, they will not match your intensity.
08:45So that can give you some openings.
08:47And Grimsby were brilliant at doing this.
08:49They had Vernum and Burns running the channels for you.
08:52And if I just show you both of their heat maps simultaneously, right, they're going that
08:57way up the pitch, that is not at all what you would expect the wide forwards in a team
09:03that had, like, 30% of the ball to look like.
09:06You would assume they would be doing most of their work, quite a lot of defending in their
09:11own half, with occasional touches sort of further up the pitch as they counted.
09:14But because Grimsby were hitting these channels in behind Man United's wing-backs, getting
09:20in where the gaps were, they were chasing those balls the entire length of the pitch, which
09:26is why so many of the touches are so far into Man United's half.
09:31So again, they are asking Dogu, they are asking Dalo, we know you are much, much better
09:36players, but are you going to work as hard as we are?
09:40And you saw on the first goal, the answer was no.
09:44Once again, they are disrupting Man United at the back, they force them long, they get
09:47a turnover in the middle of the pitch, and it's a very early forward pass.
09:53But look how well supported this counter-attack immediately is.
09:58Vernon Burns, they are both running the channel again to offer passes into this space and this
10:05space.
10:06But the thing is, because Dogu and Dalo have been caught at the other end of the pitch,
10:09this gives Man United a 3-3 at the back, which is actually incredibly difficult to manage.
10:15Heaven doesn't really want to be getting dragged out here, so he hesitates.
10:21And Ahmad, despite having a good look at Dalo and knowing he's not going to get back, just
10:26decides not to drop into his area and protect the back post.
10:30And it's not exactly a glaring opening by any stretch of the imagination, but Man United
10:35have given some time on the ball here, and they've left all this space here.
10:40And Grimsby are good enough to punish them for that.
10:43And they do.
10:45And I know Andre Onana is going to get pelters for this game.
10:48Like, the cross is obviously really, really bad.
10:51And I personally think that first goal's even worse.
10:54How, as a goalkeeper, do you have a weakness low down by your side?
10:58That's such a weird flaw in your game to stick a leg out.
11:02He's stupid.
11:03But I don't actually think any of this is his fault.
11:07Like, even at 2-0, at that point, we will just use the momentum graph here.
11:11Grimsby, in terms of possession, in terms of chances, in terms of territory, in terms of
11:17everything they were doing, winning duels were well, well on top.
11:21And still going hell for leather to outwork them.
11:26And what you see from this point on is simply just the physical toll that amount of work takes.
11:32And Man United progressively managing to assert themselves in the game as Grimsby's legs and
11:38minds ran out of leg and mind juice.
11:43But you know, you know what it is, right?
11:45The worst thing for Man United is I will say, with total confidence, that had Grimsby not
11:52tired, if they'd kept that up for 90 minutes, this never gets to penalties.
11:56They run out 3 or 4-0.
11:58It's the last minute of the Europa League final, right?
12:02Man United's entire season hangs in the balance.
12:05That 1-0 down.
12:06There are mere minutes left.
12:07The camera zooms out, right?
12:10And somehow they are still in that shape.
12:15One goal potentially saves their season and they still have 5 at the back.
12:21The personnel have changed.
12:22Certainly they've thrown more attackers on, but it's still a back 5.
12:26And then you fast forward 2 or 3 months or however long it's been.
12:29You are losing to fucking Grimsby Town.
12:32You've thrown all of your attackers on the pitch and you are still in this shape.
12:39Mason Mount has wound up as your left wing back because you've got nowhere else you can
12:45conceivably put him.
12:46And obviously it's not like the formation's fault.
12:49You can beat whatever team you like with whatever shape you like.
12:52But it does mean that when you lose the ball and you've got to defend against 4th division
12:57Grimsby, you are going into a back 5.
13:00To not have another shape you are comfortable in, to have no other way to distribute the talent
13:07across the pitch feels honestly just like negligent at this point.
13:13Like Thomas Frank's been at Spurs for 3 games and he's got them comfortable in 2 completely
13:18different setups.
13:19Like Chelsea lost Cole Palmer in the warm-up against West Ham.
13:23So just went from 2 wide lads who stay wide so people can play inside them to 2 wide lads
13:28who play inside so full-backs can go outside them.
13:32Like I like Ruben Amorim.
13:34I really loved that sporting team.
13:37But you have to be more adaptable, surely.
13:41Being really well drilled and explosive on the counter against Arsenal is great.
13:46You need a back 5 there.
13:48But you can't do the same thing against a team from League 2 and then start scratching
13:54your head that you're not creating good chances.
13:57And just this image, man.
14:00This might be the single worst the manager of an elite club has ever looked for me.
14:07Like that is honestly worse than Jürgen Lowe sniffing his own balls.
14:12Like, honestly, you know when I first saw that?
14:16You know what I genuinely thought he was doing for a second?
14:19Skinning up?
14:20Like, and I wouldn't have blamed him?
14:22Is that meant to be funny?
14:23Is that drug humour?
14:25So yeah, what did Grimsby actually do here?
14:27Well, first off, they knew exactly what Man United were going to do.
14:30So they came up with a game plan to unsettle that.
14:33But all Man United would have had to have done to counter this would either be,
14:37A, just do something a little bit different.
14:40Go to back four, have three in the middle, stick two up top.
14:43Literally anything you want.
14:45Or just say, yeah, all right, the system's not perfect,
14:48but you're not going to work harder than we are.
14:51We're men.
14:52We're big, tough men with really high VO2 max scores.
14:56But didn't do either of those things.
14:58They did what they always do and didn't even work hard doing it.
15:02So they lost.
15:03And deservedly so.
15:04And it really is that simple.
15:07Like, I'm just, I'm so annoyed I've fallen into the trap again
15:11of Man United play really well against a big side.
15:13And you think, oh my God, they've turned a corner.
15:15They can't actually take anyone on on their day.
15:18And then they immediately, immediately follow it up
15:21with just really bad results against teams they expect to beat.
15:25Do I still have the clip from when I was at 4-4-2?
15:28Will they mind if I roll the clip?
15:29Roll the clip.
15:30Right, it's all well and good upping these levels against Liverpool
15:33and getting a really good result and thinking you're good.
15:35The next two games they have are Southampton and Brighton.
15:40Now, they are both at home and the Man United side
15:42we've seen previously this season and indeed for most of the last one
15:46would turn up to those fixtures, labour to a really uninspiring win
15:51against Southampton after going behind and getting a scare
15:53and then get their pants pulled down by Brighton.
15:57So this is good.
15:58But what needs to happen now is two quite good performances
16:01and good wins immediately as a result.
16:04Because that's when you'll know they've actually turned a corner.
16:07Not here.
16:08January.
16:09That was January.
16:10And it's now what?
16:12Nearly September.
16:16Oh God.
16:17They can't sack another one.
16:20Can they sack another one?
16:21Not another one?
16:23I've had enough.
16:23So let me know if you think they can sack another one
16:26or just what the hell it was went wrong for them.
16:28I'm not even a Man United fan.
16:30I should really enjoy this happening to them.
16:33But it exasperates me no end because it's just so much talent
16:37and they keep getting exciting managers from really cool teams
16:40that have done interesting stuff.
16:42And then we just end up here again like a couple of months later.
16:46But yeah, right.
16:47Okay.
16:47Subscribe to the channel.
16:49There'll be more coverage.
16:50They've got a big game pretty soon.
16:52We'll talk about that as well.
16:53I feel like I'm losing my mind here.
16:55Get me across all the socials at I'm Cleary C-L-E-R-Y.
16:57We're now on TikTok which is loads and loads of fun.
17:00Instagram as well with all the short form stuff.
17:02And that's it.
17:04I had plans today.
17:06I had stuff I was going to do.
17:07Safe in the knowledge.
17:08Man United were going to get beat off Grimsby.
17:10So now I'm actually, more than anything, just annoyed at them.
17:13So I'm going to have a latte and a sit down.
17:18Goodbye.
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