How did Spurs get past Man Utd at Old Trafford?

Alex Keble analyzes Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

It was a 3-0 win Tottenham Hotspur this could easily have been five or six and could have been as good as: Ange PostecoglouWhile the sides were performing elegantly in the first half, an equally big story was a poor display from the hosts.

Sky SportsGary Neville described it as “one of the worst performances I’ve seen in Ten Hag’s time.”

Bruno Fernandes‘ The red card in the first half may have been an excuse but in reality Spurs should have faded away when United were down to 10 men.

In fact, Man Utd were better in the second half thanks to a more conservative setup. But the damage had been done and their efforts after the break had become unnecessary.

No doubt next week will be tough Erik ten HagHe has overseen the worst start to a Man Utd season in Premier League history.

Kulusevski and Maddison spark Spurs’ first half to lead

Spurs quickly came out of the blocks and tore Man Utd to shreds. At the end of the match they had an Expected Goals (xG) of 4.67; this is the most goals Spurs have ever scored in a Premier League match.

Most of this was due to the furious pressure they showed in the first half alone. Gained Spurs possession seven times in the final third. Man Utd couldn’t cope with the pressure, the wrong passes and allowing Spurs to push them back.

But what he did on the ball was even more impressive. Dejan Kulusevski Magnificent in its new position of number 8 James Maddison.

Kulusevski created nine chances, more than any other visiting player at Old Trafford in Premier League history.

Spurs’ centre-backs easily pass through the haphazard United press (more on this below) as Maddison often opens up wider space to get on the ball early and Destiny Udogie Helping to crowd the midfield, Kulusevski managed to find clever spaces between the lines to open United up.

This was the exciting performance Postecoglou needed and a strong counter-argument to suggestions that front-foot football should be tamed.

Man Utd’s off-the-ball football fell into the hands of Spurs

Although Spurs should be showered with praise, Man Utd allowed them to play like this.

The first big mistake was using the 4-4-2 formation. Kobbie Mainoo And Manuel Ugarte together in the middle.

Ten Hag instructed his players to attack as quickly and directly as possible, which inevitably means: Alejandro Garnacho And Marcus Rashford We went too high and changed the formation to 4-2-4.

The 4-2-4 shape means a wide open and understocked midfield, and this image of the team’s average positions of course reveals the enormous space between the defense and midfield, as well as the huge space around the isolated midfielders.

Even worse, Fernandes and Joshua Zirkzee It appeared to print at almost random intervals.

As opposed to compressed defensive lines and the collective press that had teammates supporting each other, United would suddenly seize the ball, break the chain and leave large chunks of space open.

This situation happened all over the field. Here, before brennan johnson Hitting a post with a score of 1-0, Noussair Mazraoui He charges Udogie on a missed tackle and then Matthijs de Ligt Timo Werner does the same.

Both Mazraoui and De Ligt had bad games, but we can blame the inconsistent pressing structure for this.

Note that there is no visible shape, there are large gaps between each player on screen, and the two midfielders circled in the image take up most of the field on their own.

The taut shape, made longer by pressing, explains how Kulusevski runs the show and why Spurs’ aggressive play consistently wins.

“The press wasn’t good in the first half,” Ten Hag said Sky Sports after. However, it would be wrong to think of this performance as just a tactical issue.

Man Utd had difficulty even passing the ball to each other.

Pass accuracy was just 77.3 percent in a first half defined by unruly touches and confusing interactions.

It was a sadly familiar story: Man Utd were passive, timid and defined by tactical disorganization on and off the ball.

And the most striking example was Spurs’ first goal; He was a centre-back who went through the whole team to make his third-minute opener.

It set the tone for a match that certainly went down as a bad day of the Ten Hag era.