Berahino, Sessegnon Torture Manchester United's Woeful Defensive Line
Manchester United snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat on Monday evening, with Daley Blind curling home a late leveller to seal a desperate point.
Louis van Gaal's troops struggled throughout to find any sort of fluency and momentum, with the home side dominating for patches and good value for three points in truth.
Let's take a tactical look at the game.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Formations and XIs
West Bromwich Albion played a 4-2-3-1 formation that got the best out of their midfield set. James Morrison played box-to-box, Stephane Sessegnon played in the No. 10 role and Saido Berahino played up front.
Manchester United played a 4-3-3, deviating from the 4-4-2 diamond that's been serving them so well recently. The decision was partly forced, though, with Wayne Rooney suspended and Radamel Falcao jaded from international duty.
Different from United
West Bromwich Albion started by far the stronger side, and with the crowd roaring encouragement, they dominated the opening exchanges.
The raucous atmosphere did little to help United's adjustment to a new system, as although the base 4-3-3 formation utilised three-quarters of what the midfield diamond did (Daley Blind behind two central midfielders), the lack of a No. 10 hurt this team moving up the pitch.
Be it Juan Mata or Rooney, the Red Devils have become accustomed to having a player between the lines to play off when moving forward. They've also become accustomed to having Angel Di Maria as a left-central-midfielder, carrying the ball forward manually, but that was absent, too.
The result was a melee of styles, attempts and approaches; Manchester United never looked comfortable moving the ball forward, with Mata and Ander Herrera treading on each other's toes in an unfamiliar attacking pattern.
This wasn't very well rehearsed, and the lack of fluidity was clear from the off. These United players have been through a form of formation-based torture over the last 10 weeks, and this nuance foiled all of the good work they'd stashed recently.
Louis van Gaal labelled this performance the best of their season so far, per BBC Sport, but that's likely a protection method for his players.
More often than anyone would like, the ball simply found its way out to Di Maria on the left, and with Luke Shaw struggling in every department on the night, the Argentine ended up swinging in cross after cross.
A stunning 19 were sent in from him alone, per Squawka.com.
Effective West Brom
That WBA were so effective on Monday was one-part West Brom brilliance and one-part Manchester United incompetency. Saido Berahino is tough to handle, but Van Gaal's defensive line made a real hash of it.
One thing this game will teach every other team in the Premier League is just how good Berahino's movement is. He's quickly become adept at moving across the centre-backs, filtering into channels just wide of the penalty-box lines and dipping in behind defenders.
A lively striker like him is a centre-back's worst nightmare—even more so than a physical type like Wilfried Bony. If a defender can keep everything in front of him, he's happy, but once he loses sight of the ball or the man or both, he panics.
The other part to this is that, bar Ander Herrera, United offered zero pressing off the ball, and the organisation and tracking in midfield was awful. If you give a team with Sessegnon and Chris Brunt's passing ability time on the ball, Berahino is statistically guaranteed to gash you once or twice at least.
That's exactly what happened for the goal.
Brunt had time to take a touch and fire a pass into a gaping hole for Berahino to run onto. Phil Jones is at least five yards out of position, and you can credit Sessegnon for finding the space and drawing him out of position. He did it consistently all game; if it wasn't Jones being pulled out, it was Marcos Rojo instead.
Ironically, Sessegnon's traits in the No. 10 role were exactly what United were missing, with Mata unsuited to a flatter role and Di Maria shoved wide.
The Fellaini Factor
Marouane Fellaini, the much-maligned £27 million flop, saved the day for Louis van Gaal and Manchester United.
His chest control is something with which we're all familiar after he dominated defences for an entire season with Everton prior to his move, and it returned in spectacular fashion for the equaliser.
He was also a factor in the second goal, with his presence in the box drawing attention from three players and therefore opening the edge of the area up as a second-ball collection point. Daley Blind obliged with a nice strike.
Quickfire Conclusions
- Fellaini's career at United is still bleak, but in a similar fashion to how Marc Wilmots used him at the World Cup, he can be Van Gaal's emergency target man.
- Berahino has a long contract at West Brom and the bidding will start at £20 million this January. Prepare for copious tabloid links.
- LVG needs to pick a formation. The diamond was "out" due to only having one striker, but theories Adnan Januzaj can play a loose role there likely aren't far off the mark.
- Di Maria is not an X-factor from left wing.
Thanks to those who read my work and voted for me, I made the finalists list of the 2014 Footballing Blogging Awards. If you have a spare moment and the inclination to vote, I ask you to do so again in the final round.
You can vote by simply clicking here: http://bit.ly/1yyx7Om
