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A crucial week for Manchester United has already been hit hard after their catastrophic exit from the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Red Devils withdrew from the competition in the group stage with a 3-2 loss at RB Leipzig. All they had to do was avoid defeat, but that seemed unlikely when they trailed 3-0 after 69 minutes.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side does not have time to feel sorry for themselves as they face the daunting prospect of hosting Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.
Despite being one place and one point above their ‘noisy neighbors’ United, who are in sixth place with 19 points, they enter the game as the underdogs at Old Trafford.
However, Solskjaer can take some comfort from last season when he had the upper hand in head-to-head matches with City manager Pep Guardiola.
In their four meetings last season, Solskjaer prevailed in three of them, winning both the Premier League matches and the second leg of the League Cup semi-final. However, Guardiola had the last laugh as his team advanced to the final thanks to a 3-2 aggregate after winning the first leg 3-1 at Old Trafford.
So what consolation can Solskjaer get from last season’s games before this one?
At the first meeting a little over a year ago, on December 7, 2019; Solskjaer used a 4-2-3-1 formation, his preferred tactic throughout his tenure.
The Red Devils looked to exploit City on the fast break through their attacking quartet of Dan James, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial and it worked in a 2-1 win at Etihad Stadium.
Both United goals came in a breathless half-hour opening, where they repeatedly opened the crisp City line to devastating effect.
When United took the lead, the way they controlled the game was also impressive: granting possession and territory to their hosts, but limiting their shooting possibilities.
Rashford and Martial both scored that night and if it weren’t for Ederson’s brilliance the score could have been higher.
It was smart on Solskjaer’s part as his team fought back deeply, but then he used the pace and energy of James, Lingard, Rashford and Martial to make City run erratically at the break.
Their second win over City last season also came at Etihad, this time in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final on 29 January 2020.
Hampered by injuries to some key staff like Rashford, Solskjaer modified his tactics from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-1-2. Luke Shaw was used as a makeshift left center back alongside Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof with Brandon Williams on the left back and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the opposite flank. Nemanja Matic and Fred provided the midfield base with Lingard with more attacking license to support Martial and Mason Greenwood in attack.
In this match, United focused even more on defense as it made it extremely difficult to take them down. When they were out of possession they were five at the back with Matic and then he also stood his ground in front of them as an added defensive layer, ensuring there were no spaces for City to play balls.
It was Matic who scored the only goal of the match with a long-range shot and United got older in the second half before the Serb was red for a second yellow card. This allowed the city to regain control of the party, as Etihad became nervous beforehand.
However, it should be noted that the visitors were lucky during this tie as David de Gea was excellent in goal and City wasted up front, especially Raheem Sterling.
The final victory over City came on March 8, 2020, a game United won 2-0 courtesy of Martial’s near-post volley and Scott McTominay’s injury-time goal. Solskjaer played again in a 3-4-1-2 formation, only this time he made two changes from his win in the second leg of the League Cup. James was in charge in Greenwood’s place, while Bruno Fernandes, an addition to the late-January transfer window, started in Lingard’s place.
Once again, the pattern of this game followed United’s two previous victories as they looked to counter City when the opportunity arose. James was particularly helpful and caused City a lot of trouble on his left side with his pace.
Fernandes’ cunning also added an additional dimension to United’s attack, as evidenced by his ingenuity in preparing Martial for his first goal in the first half with a free kick. Odion Ighalo also came off the bench in the dying moments and his heist game was impressive as it allowed United to retain possession longer as City pressed for an equalizer.
Solskjaer will have learned a lot from all those games and will no doubt adopt similar tactics against Guardiola’s men. In those three games he averaged 31.66 percent possession, highlighting his ploy to defend resolutely and then counter City. Digging deeper, they only had more than 30 percent possession once in those games. That was in the League Cup win, as they had 39 percent; in the two Premier League affairs they had just 28 percent possession.
Injuries can also strain the Norwegian’s hand. It deployed the 3-4-1-2 formation against RB Leipzig without the injured Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani. The pair may also be absent on Saturday, which means Rashford and Greenwood are expected to lead the line with Fernandes behind them.
Then you would expect a back three from Shaw, Maguire and Lindelof with Alex Telles and Wan-Bissaka as wingers once again with De Gea battling Dean Henderson for the goalie jersey.
This would clarify the enigma of the midfield. Against Leipzig he went with Matic and McTominay, but they failed to give United any offensive impetus. Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba would be the obvious alternatives, although the latter’s commitment to the club is in doubt after explosive comments from his agent Mino Raiola. Fred is another option and his energy would be a welcome addition against the quality of Kevin De Bruyne and Co.
Regardless of what Solskjaer decides, you have to make sure the substitutions are accurate. It has been criticized for not being proactive but reactive when it comes to making changes.
In the 3-1 Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain it was criminal to leave Fred when it was clear he was walking a tightrope after a hectic first half for the Brazilian, so it was no surprise to see him sent off. at Minute 70. He should have saved himself.
And against Leipzig, despite having attacking options from Juan Mata, James and Ighalo Solskjaer opted to bring in three defenders and lost 3-0. The fact that neither of his two left backs watched the 90 minutes (Shaw and Telles) and then brought only one other left back (Williams) was disconcerting to say the least. The last-minute opportunity they created through a Pogba cross saw no one at the front post. This is where I would have expected Ighalo to be as a natural forward, and United’s outlook this week before the derby could be completely different.
As it is, it is not. The only way to ease the pain of Champions League embarrassment is to defeat your local rivals. Solskjaer has a lot of experience doing this, can you take that and add it on Saturday night?
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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