Manchester United predicted lineup and tactics vs Tottenham

Manchester United will face Ange Postecolgou’s Tottenham in their second game of the Premier League season. United secured 3 points against Wolves in their opening game of the season, despite Ten Hag’s side producing a lacklustre performance.

United will have to improve a lot to get the 3 points at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Saturday evening. Ange Postecoglou picked up a point in his Premier League debut in a 2-2 draw against Thomas Frank’s Brentford.

Postecoglou’s next test as manager of Tottenham Hotspur will be against Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United, who are coming off the back of a very good season. However, having seen United’s performance against Wolves, it’s understandable that Postecoglou and his Spurs team will feel they have a very good chance of picking up all 3 points at home.

Predicted Manchester United Starting XI: AndrénOnana; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphaël Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw; Casemiro, Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes; Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony

Manchester United’s System in Possession

It was clear in United’s 1-0 win against Wolves that there were massive issues in the midfield. Casemiro was often left isolated in midfield, as both Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes were pushing up very high. United played a 3-2-5 in possession but were not organised at all, and at times, the midfield almost felt non-existent.

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It’s no secret that the key to progressing the ball up the pitch is by always having a +1 in possession. By having the extra man, it creates extra passing lanes which makes it a lot easier to beat the opposition press. However, at times vs Wolves, United didn’t do this at all. As mentioned above, Ten Hag used a 3-2-5 in possession. What we saw at times, was the 3 Wolves played would position themselves in front of Manchester United’s back 3. They weren’t necessarily pressing aggressively, but they were doing a really good job at cutting the passing lanes. This proved effective as the 2 players ahead of United’s back 3, usually Casemiro and one of the full-backs, were never really dropping deep in order to give United an extra man and help play past the Wolves press.

Should United line-up in a 3-2-5 shape in possession against Spurs as expected, Ten Hag will need to make a few tactical adjustments to ensure a better performance than the one produced against Wolves.

In possession, United will likely form a back 3 with Lisandro Martinez on the left, Raphael Varane central and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right. It could be argued that bringing in a more technically secure player like Diogo Dalot to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka would help United’s issues in building up from the back. However, it’s unlikely that Wan-Bissaka will be dropped considering he was one of United’s better players against Wolves.

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In front of United’s back three will be Luke Shaw and Casemiro. Shaw has to invert, as he’s the more technically secure full-back and will help United in the first phase of build-up. Mason Mount will probably also have to drop a bit deeper to help connect the midfield and attack. This will then allow Luke Shaw to push forward on the left-hand side and hold the width, which will allow Rashford to move more centrally into the left-half space where he provides a massive goal threat. We could also see Sancho and Rashford interchange. We saw Sancho excel in the false 9 role during pre-season but we could see Rashford play as the centre-forward and Sancho on the left. While Sancho had struggled so far at United, he has seemed to have built a formidable partnership with Luke Shaw and the duo complement each other quite well on the left flank. United’s 2-2 draw vs Leeds at Old Trafford last season where Sancho came off the bench is a prime example of how good Shaw and Sancho can be when playing next to each other.

Once United are in the final third, Mason Mount will ideally drop a bit deeper. Mount has the energy to help defend opposition counter-attacks but if he takes up a position slightly outside of the opposition box, it will allow him to still contribute to attack and make late runs into the box to pose a goal threat if the situation allows.

Manchester United’s System Out Of Possession

Under Ten Hag, we’ve often seen United set up in a 4-1-4-1 out of possession. United’s wingers, likely to be Antony and either Sancho or Rashford, will need to help out their full-back against Spurs. Against Brentford, we saw Spurs’ full-backs Emerson Royal and Destiny Udogie push quite high up. Antony’s work rate of the ball and willingness to track back is a key reason as to why he has to start. However, neither Sancho or Rashford are renowned for their off the ball work. A solution for this could be Mason Mount moving out to the left hand side when United are out of possession, as he is energetic and will provide help to Luke Shaw.  This would see Rashford move upfront to lead the press, and Sancho would then slot in centrally next to Bruno Fernandes.

The Opposition: Tottenham  

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It’s still early days in Ange Postecoglou’s tenure as Spurs manager but so far the signs are positive for Spurs fans. In Spurs’ 2-2 draw against Brentford, we saw Spurs have 70% possession. It will be very interesting to see what Postecoglou does now he’s coming up against a team with a lot more quality.  Last season, we saw Ten Hag adapt and play on the counter-attack against top 6 opposition. It’s still to be seen whether Postecoglou will persist with his possession based style on Saturday night, or whether he will turn to a more defensive style of play and try to hit United on the counter.

Should Spurs try to hit United on the counter, it’s likely that United will be pretty well set up to deal with this should Ten Hag line-up be the same as the predicted line-up mentioned earlier. United have two energetic midfielders in Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes who are both willing to track back. There’s also Aaron Wan-Bissaka who’s very good at defending in transition and also Casemiro of course, who’s capable of making tackles to win back the ball as well as tactical fouls to slow down the game and allow United to recover and get back into position. That being said, Wolves looked very threatening on the counter-attack at Old Trafford, but that was likely to be more down to the way United set up, rather than the personnel. 

Should Spurs try to take the initiative and dominate possession, they will run the risk of United hitting them on the counter-attack and while this United team do have weaknesses, we have seen on numerous occasions how devastating they are in attacking transitions. 

One thing Postecoglou’s side struggled to do vs Brentford was create clear cut chances. They took 18 shots, but only had an xG (expected goals) of 1.27. In comparison, Brentford took 11 shots, 7 less than Spurs, and had an xG of 2.22. Tottenham only created one big chance in that game. Spurs’ ‘shoot on sight’ approach means that Andre Onana will really have to maintain his focus throughout the 90 minutes.

Opposition Player To Watch: James Maddison

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James Maddison looked very good in his competitive debut for Spurs, picking up 2 assists against Brentford. United will need to try and mark him out of the game. United will also need to try and limit the amount of fouls they make around the box, as James Maddison has the ability on free-kicks to punish any opposition. He has already showcased this in a Tottenham shirt. Against Brentford, Spurs got a free-kick in a wide position. Maddison whipped in a lovely cross from the free-kick which found Argentine Christian Romero who headed it home. It’s certainly something that United will need to be wary of.

Verdict

There are certainly flaws in Manchester United’s current system but the positive thing about the performance vs Wolves is it showed everyone exactly where all the flaws were. It’s now up to Erik ten Hag to adjust his system to make those flows less prominent. Spurs certainly won’t be an easy game, but should United set up properly, they should have a very good chance of taking the 3 points. Of course though, this is easier said than done and it might take another few weeks for the system to start working effectively.