Mata and Herrera's Excellent Pressing Set Tone for Man Utd Win over Arsenal

A young, inexperienced, patchwork Manchester United side beat Arsenal 3-2 on Sunday at Old Trafford, provoking a fresh inquest into the Gunners' title-challenging credentials.

Marcus Rashford grabbed a first-half brace to set the tone, calmly firing home twice inside two minutes, then Danny Welbeck netted a reply before the interval. Ander Herrera's deflected strike made it 3-1 in the 65th minute, and Arsenal could only must a consolatory strike in response.

Formations and XIs

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United lined up in what was essentially a 4-3-3, with Juan Mata and Herrera in disciplined midfield roles, Rashford starting up top and Memphis Depay on the left flank.

Arsenal played Theo Walcott and Welbeck at the expense of Olivier Giroud, opting for speed over power. Gabriel lined up alongside Laurent Koscielny in defence.

United’s man-marking

Manchester United went man for man in midfield in their heavy 3-0 loss to Arsenal earlier in the season, so it was a surprise to see Louis van Gaal plump for the same bold tactic here. Fortunately, it worked out a lot better.

What was expected to be a 4-2-3-1 formation shaped out more like a 4-3-3, with Mata and Herrera both pushing high up the pitch when Arsenal had the ball deep to stop them from playing out. That left Morgan Schneiderlin holding the fort solo in front of the defence.

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Mata and Herrera matched up one-on-one with Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin and attempted to nullify their influence in deeper areas, forcing the Gunners to look for longer passes or go wide quicker than they’d like. For the entirety of the first half, Arsenal failed to build as they would have liked, with Ramsey in particular a non-factor in possession.

Given the patchwork status of United’s defensive line for the day, it was incredibly important that the United midfielders pressed and prevented Arsenal from asking too many questions of it. Depay and Jesse Lingard worked hard to front up against the full-backs where possible, too.

It echoed of the Gunners' own approach versus Leicester City and Barcelona to stop them firing balls into the channels. Hard work up top and an aggressive stance can protect a fragile defensive line.

Failure to work matchups

Arsenal’s failure to build from the back forced them to go long fairly often, and the entire forward line—selected for its speed, not its hold-up ability—struggled. In particular, Walcott was virtually anonymous: His stat line for the day makes grim reading, revealing how little impact he had on the game.

Even worse, it was he who lost the ball in his own territory in the build-up to the first goal, with Herrera robbing him and sending it wide to create the opening. It’s arguable he should have been hooked at half-time; the 15 minutes he was given in the second half proved wasted, as no improvement was forthcoming.

With United’s pressure in midfield slipping a little due to the athletic demands and Ramsey dropping even deeper to pick the ball up, Arsene Wenger sent on Giroud to try to provide an outlet for the ball. He has the canny knack of winning knock-downs and giving his side a platform to use higher up.

Sadly, he wasn’t utilised properly at all. Arsenal did not switch to an aerial route that regularly involved him, sending limited balls his way, and for some reason fed the under-performing Alexis Sanchez over and over.

That lack of working the options extended to other areas too: Guillermo Varela was yellow-carded in the ninth minute, but Arsenal failed to work his area of the pitch and try to take advantage of any hesitancy. Timothy Fosu-Mensah—a late entry due to a Marcos Rojo injury—wasn’t tested either.

Memphis hold-up

Rashford’s channel-running and striking play was good, Mata and Herrera’s midfield pressing was key to the win and Varela played an outstanding game from right-back, offering an out-ball for possession and some quality in the cross. All deserve praise.

But there was a fourth element to this United performance, and it came from an unlikely source: Memphis Depay played to Van Gaal’s tactical plan perfectly and showed incredible maturity—a trait his performances have undeniably lacked since joining Manchester United.

As Arsenal applied more and more pressure in the second half, United sank deeper, enduring more pressure defensively and asking more of Michael Carrick and Schneiderlin when clearing the lines. What the team needed was an out-ball to carry them forward and gain territory, relieving pressure, and Memphis provided it.

Rarely has Hector Bellerin struggled so badly with marking someone; his recovery pace is usually enough to allow him to bottle up wingers, but Memphis turned him and twisted him around fairly often.

The Dutchman hung onto the ball, dribbled long distances, protected it and gave his side a chance to move forward. It broke up longer spells of Arsenal possession and was key to the Red Devils keeping the lead.

Quick Hits

• Arsenal will attract a lot of criticism for failing to beat a ridiculously inexperienced United side, but Van Gaal's tactical plan—along with four key performers—levelled the playing field. The Dutchman deserves credit.
• Mesut Ozil was sparingly involved but showed glimpses of immense quality in his passing and set-piece deliveries. He bagged a rare goal too.
• Gabriel is highly likely to drop back out of the XI after this performance. From a marking perspective he was shocking.

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