- 4 hours ago
Michael Carrick's start to life as Interim Manchester United manager couldn't be going any better. Beating Pep Guardiola's Man City 2-0 last week, and now Mikel Arteta's Arsenal 3-2 this. The game may have been won with two wondergoals from Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha, but Adam Clery shows why it was their aggressive press and ability to stop Arsenal playing that made the difference.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel and just look, right, I know we're becoming a bit
00:06of a Man United fan account this month, but I'm sorry, sacking your manager, replacing him with someone who was
00:13out of work in the Championship, then beating Man City, then beating the Champions-elect, that is all worthy of
00:22discussion.
00:22So let's have a look at how Michael Carrick has done it again.
00:30And as ever, before we start, heartfelt hugs to our close, in-real-life, personal data friends, FOTMOB will be
00:37using stuff from their app in this video, which you can have yourself, just like I do, by downloading it
00:43from the link that will be below somewhere. They're great.
00:47But first up, take a look at this moment right here, okay? Man United are away from home against the
00:53best team in the league. They are losing, and they're about to get played through like they're not even there.
00:59They're still really, really aggressive. They've got Umbermo and Fernandes pressuring the centre-backs and the goalkeeper.
01:05Maynou is clamped onto Erdegaard here, but Arsenal work it really well. Zubamendi jumps past Umbermo, they bounce past it
01:12into Saliba, and they are immediately out of that press.
01:16Next, Saka drops really deep to pull Shaw out of position, with Timber going the other way.
01:22Dogu's alive to it, but still, they've done it so well that it creates this gap down the wing, and
01:27they play into that.
01:28It takes like a last-second block to stop this being quite a dangerous cross, and yes, now it comes
01:34from it, I will grant you, but to go from this situation here to this situation here, that easily is
01:41really, really good.
01:42Actually, quite scary, in fact, from Man Utd's perspective, because as we say, you're away from home against the best
01:49team in the league, you're already losing, it's still only the first half.
01:52You should probably take a little bit of a step back, actually, and make sure you're not going to go
01:58in at half-time with the game already gone.
02:00But this is minutes after that. Same two players pressing, and they've gone man for man in the second line.
02:08Dogu, Ahmad, and Manu have cut off Timber, Erdegaard, and Trossov, and Casemiro is tracking Declan Rice's runs.
02:15This entire section of the pitch, every option in it, is cut off.
02:19And this is really, really brave out-of-possession play, because while all these options are cut off, you're still
02:26leaving this much space for Arsenal to play in, right after they've just shown that they can play through you
02:33with relative ease.
02:34But the reason why they're doing this, and what's been different about this Man Utd team in the last two
02:39games, is that they're just, like, not arsed.
02:43Like, they don't care, they've turned up to play the best two teams in the league, but they've turned up
02:48with the intention of actually playing them.
02:50And yes, this is a bad pass from Zubamendi, but he doesn't make that mistake if Saliba isn't being rushed
02:57into his pass, and he himself is having to rush his own touch.
03:01And those are two things that are obviously only happening, because you've got Bruno Fernandes here, and Brian and Bermot
03:08here.
03:08Not, like, 10, 15, 20 yards deeper.
03:11And that was sort of the pattern of the game, like, Arsenal did play through Man Utd's press pretty well
03:17at times, but Man Utd managed to resist the urge for almost the entire game to then keep sitting deeper
03:24and deeper.
03:24They were constantly trying to force these mistakes and win the ball back.
03:28And it worked, like, Man Utd won the ball back in this bit, the scary bit of the pitch, four
03:35times in that game.
03:37It got them one goal, it could have got them one or two more.
03:40And just for contrast, this is Arsenal's graph of the exact same metrics.
03:45They don't even so much as get a loose ball anywhere in a dangerous area.
03:50Man Utd did this really, really well.
03:53And I would just like, at this point, to highlight Lissandro Martinez to you.
03:57Because I saw that Harry Maguire got man of the match, and if you look at his FopMob numbers here,
04:02he was incredibly physically dominant in this game.
04:04So, fair play.
04:06And last week, we talked about how secure in possession Kobi Manu is.
04:10But Lissandro Martinez, these were his passes in this match.
04:15And in particular, I want you to just squint and have a look at this chunk down here.
04:20And that's because when you're playing any team, but especially a team as good as Arsenal,
04:25being this committed to playing forward passes from this area of the pitch when you're a centre-back is absolutely
04:32massive if you want to win that game.
04:34Now, you can see here, right, Arsenal haven't jumped out with the press yet.
04:38But he still finds this pass between their front line into Fernandes, who pops it off.
04:45And all of a sudden, they've taken all of these players out of the game just by being progressive with
04:51the ball.
04:52And here as well, like, there's loads of easy options for him.
04:55He's under a lot of pressure, but he still manages to find this pass, which really opens things up.
05:01And in fact, Opta, I saw them post this last night, had him down as making 11 line-breaking passes
05:08in this game,
05:09which is, if you think, it's the one between the midfield and between the defence and stuff like that.
05:13They're the passes you really want.
05:15He made 11, which is more than any other player on this pitch.
05:19And just to really give him his flowers, actually, these are all his unsuccessful passes he made for Man United.
05:25And the only one that puts his team in any sort of trouble whatsoever is here.
05:31And would you like to know what that was?
05:33That was him winning a header.
05:36Lissandro Martinez, a header.
05:38So yeah, it sounds really simple, but what Michael Carrick has done, what he's changed about this team,
05:44is he has brought them to the Emirates with a commitment to being really brave off the ball,
05:49to stop Arsenal playing through, even if they are still playing through.
05:53But they're also now a lot more effective when they're actually on the ball.
05:58They're not just sitting there hoping for a counter-attack, they're playing them at the same time.
06:03And that last bit's really important, because unlike the Manchester City game,
06:07here, Bruno Fernandes was being given no space between the lines at all.
06:13In the first half especially, like this is the first few minutes,
06:16you can see here Saliba has followed him this high up the pitch and this wide when he goes looking
06:22for the ball.
06:23Like that's all the way to the touchline in his own half.
06:26And here as well, where he's actually in the pocket where he wants to be,
06:30Saliba is again wearing him like a bad coat.
06:33And don't get me wrong, I still thought Bruno Fernandes had a really,
06:36that's the word I want, effectful? Is that a word? Impactful.
06:40Good, a really good game.
06:41But this idea from Arsenal was the right one,
06:45by pushing a centre-back up onto him that were going to stop him and Umbermo
06:49overloading Zubamendi the way they'd done against Rodri last week.
06:52And to be fair, that actually did work. Fernandes found it a lot harder to create chances in this game.
06:58In fact, this one for Umbermo is the only real chance he makes in the whole...
07:04Now, I know, I can see you looking at me there.
07:06You're going to say, we got an assist for the Patrick Dogu goal.
07:09That's not a chance created, is it?
07:12Like if the ball you give your mate puts them in this situation here,
07:16you've not made that for them, have you?
07:18That's more on Dogu. But regardless, those are the only two things he was able to do in the final
07:25third.
07:25But the reason I mention that is because two weeks ago,
07:29if you were able to limit the chances Bruno Fernandes was able to create,
07:33you would effectively stop Manchester United entirely.
07:36But it was still very good and very dangerous and making things happen going forward,
07:41because the rest of this team stepped it up.
07:45And I do want to give Michael Carrick quite a generous serving of praise here,
07:50because there is a decision he makes in this game which directly leads to Man United winning it.
07:56When Patrick Dogu goes off with an injury, there is not long left in that match.
08:00You are hanging on to a one goal lead.
08:03And the reason you're defending well is because you are in this 4-4-2 block,
08:07but you are being quite fluid with how you're doing it.
08:11Having Ahmad on this right-hand side meant that whatever Trossard or later Saka were doing,
08:16he could react to that.
08:18So if they were getting right into the top line of the pitch,
08:21he could drop in and give you a back five so you match them up.
08:24But if they were trying to stay between the lines instead,
08:28he could hold his position in the midfield and give you these two banks of four.
08:32They were being very clever with that.
08:33And from that first goal in the 29th minute all the way up until that late equaliser,
08:39Arsenal could not move this block around sufficiently to open it up and create any clear chances.
08:47They had virtually nothing between those two goals.
08:50In fact, the best thing they did do was prior to the goal,
08:53when Man United had an injury up the other end of the pitch
08:56and couldn't double up well enough because when it goes out to Madweke,
09:00Ben White moves away from the area to drag Luke Shaw from the cover.
09:05But given he knows they're supposed to be doubling up,
09:07he gets caught between the two.
09:09And when the gap opens up, he's in no man's land and the ball is there to roll Ben White
09:14in.
09:15But if you're an Arsenal fan, you may remember this.
09:17They make a complete mess of that.
09:20All these options are there for a cutback and they cannot find the simple pass in that move.
09:25And honestly, this moment here is just the story of Arsenal's game.
09:28Like, there were precious few moments of genuine ingenuity.
09:32And when they did come along, the pass was shite.
09:36Anyway, yes, though, Michael Carrick, there are 10 minutes left.
09:38You are one goal up and your ability to be solid is because you are doubling up in these wide
09:44areas.
09:44And the way you're able to do that on the left is because your left forward is actually a wing
09:50back by trade
09:51and has those defensive instincts.
09:53And I think seeing that man limp off almost any other manager away at the Emirates with precious little time
10:01left
10:02would turn to his bench and would see a big glowing halo around the head of Mason Mount.
10:08You put him on here, he's reliable, he's intelligent, he won't let you down.
10:11Or if you're really in the process of, like, dropping a brick,
10:14you could do something mad and put Masraoui on it right back and stick Dalo there.
10:18So at least it's another defender or something like that.
10:21But Michael Carrick, again, is just not arsed.
10:26He brings on an actual honest to God centre forward and moves Cunha another forward into this left-hand position.
10:34Because just like the Manchester City game, he has this mindset of,
10:38if you do not take a risk, you will not get a reward.
10:42Now, just quietly, right, between you and me,
10:45I also think this decision is maybe motivated by the fact that Benjamin Sesko is six foot five inches tall.
10:54Look at the size of that fucker.
10:56And Arsenal subs mean they're now turning up at corners with Gabriel, Saliba, Ben White, Jocheres, Marino.
11:04A lot of very big lads.
11:06And that does sort of backfire initially because, yeah, his brain sort of falls out, doesn't it?
11:12And he forgets that if you're behind the line and you've got the ball,
11:15then the ball is also behind the line and that's a goal.
11:18But it does then pay off immediately after that.
11:23You may have pulled your plunger red raw over that Mateus Cunha goal.
11:27And, yep, fair enough.
11:28But if I could just slap you around the face and bring you back to earth just long enough to
11:32rewind that clip slightly.
11:34Sesko physically gets a hold of Saliba here and wins this first ball,
11:40which then just about drops to Kobi Maynou.
11:43And from here, you can see Arsenal are not set.
11:46They're scrambling to recover.
11:47And it's in moments like this in these games where quality can finally make a difference.
11:53Bruno Fernandes doesn't panic.
11:55He sits Marino down.
11:57Maynou is a generational talent in those sorts of congested areas.
12:01So he, like, draws four players towards him and then just casually pops it through Declan Rice's legs.
12:07But if you just look at the situation that then creates, that is still not a good goal-scoring situation
12:15for all but the very, very best players.
12:19But Benjamin Sesko here is again involved in a way that I don't think you would really appreciate at the
12:26time.
12:26And he sort of makes this goal.
12:29He drags the defensive line from here when Cunha gets on the ball to here when the shot is taken.
12:35And I would just like us all to acknowledge how good a run this is.
12:41Because if he goes this way, right, Gabriel will go with him and Saliba can jump out to stop Cunha
12:47taking the shot.
12:49But because he goes this way, even for just, like, a fraction of a second, he ends up occupying both
12:58of those centre-backs.
12:59So Gabriel cannot jump out until he's passed him off.
13:03And Saliba can't jump out at all because he's about to pick him up.
13:08And it just delays what the Arsenal defenders would have done in that situation long enough to arrive at this.
13:16And that this, again, is still not a good goal-scoring situation.
13:21But all of this space that Cunha has to do something with comes from two bits of really good, proper
13:29centre-forward play from Sesko.
13:31First winning this ball and then making this run.
13:34And neither of those two things happen.
13:36And by extension, the goal.
13:38If Michael Carrick turns around, looks at his bench and goes,
13:42Oh, I'm feeling a bit nervous here, like, but don't worry, Mace won't let us down.
13:47And I mean, granted, yeah, okay, Mason Mount might not have been stood behind the goal line here.
13:52But that's football, isn't it?
13:55So, yeah, you can kind of just rinse and repeat exactly what we said last week.
13:59Carrick's big success here has not been ingenious tactical play, even though it has been quite good and quite smart.
14:06But what he's done is he's taken this incredibly talented squad and found more ways to put them all in
14:13positions where that talent comes through.
14:16Places where their instincts are really good.
14:17Places where their ability is really good.
14:20And if you can find scenarios like this for someone like Mateus Cunha, it's not a great situation.
14:26But he is good enough that he can do something with it.
14:29And that something was win this game of football.
14:32So, yeah, that is how Michael Carrick has now had five games as the Manchester United interim manager.
14:39And in those, he has beaten Pep Guardiola.
14:42He has beaten Unai Emery.
14:43He has beaten Mikel Arteta twice and then drawn away to Thomas Tuchel.
14:48Not because he is some super genius manager, man, but because these are very good players.
14:53And he is good at finding ways to let them show that, is my opinion.
14:59And if you've enjoyed this, which I really hope you have, like, I worked, I worked really hard on it.
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15:38And that's it.
15:39That's everything I wanted to say.
15:40Have a good week, everyone.
15:44January's nearly finished.
15:46Bye.
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