How David Moyes masterminded Manchester United’s stunning comeback at Hull

In an enthralling affair which kicked off the Premier League’s Boxing Day fixtures, Manchester United escaped the KC Stadium with three points after coming back from two goals down to defeat a resilient Hull City side 3-2. Whilst a portion of luck was involved – Hull scored an own goal and had as many shots as the visitors – David Moyes’ use of his wide players has to be credited for dictating the ultimate outcome of this match.

The policy of playing three at the back has infiltrated the Premier League to a greater extent this year than in recent seasons and Steve Bruce has been an advocate of the system in Hull’s first term back in the Premier League since their relegation in 2010. His central trio of Curtis Davies, Alex Bruce and James Chester have performed excellently and are the primary reason why Hull have one of the best defensive records outside of the top five.

Despite this, the back three system has an obvious frailty – for all its strength in the centre of the pitch it lacks the cover in wide areas that a more traditional defensive setup offers, since each flank contains only one player. For this reason, Moyes had to target Hull’s wide areas; the back three made the centre of the pitch congested and considerably more difficult to exploit than the exposed wings at the KC Stadium.

Hull’s stubborn centre was made even more rigid by the deep defensive line which Steve Bruce employed. His players sat close to their own goal when not in possession and as such made it difficult for Man Utd to get behind the Tigers; because Hull defended deeply, there was very little room for runs to be made between the back three and the goalkeepers, blunting the Red Devils’ central attacks. This was further reason for Moyes to decide to attack Hull’s flanks.

A further reason for Moyes’ decision to target his opponents’ wings was Hull’s compact, disciplined shape. The Tiger’s midfield and defence played closely together and restricted the space available for the creative force of Wayne Rooney in the hole between these two areas; the Englishman was given very little time on the ball and as a consequence found it difficult to penetrate Hull through their core.

These three factors made width the only viable option for Man Utd and Moyes; the only real alternative was persistent long shots which, although they resulted in a stunning Rooney goal, are unreliable and a very basic tactic. Instead, the Red Devils had to attack Hull’s vulnerable wings and attempt to cause problems there.

This was something which Moyes recognised, as seen in the pass graph below. Man Utd branched out to the wings in the final third, giving them options to cross, pull the ball back to an onrushing player or cause problems via an overlapping full-back.

Indeed, Manchester United’s third goal is evidence of this tactic’s success. The Premier League champions attacked Hull’s left-flank and rendered the solidarity of the three central defenders meaningless because of this; the cross which Ashley Young put in resulted in a James Chester own goal and, whilst some sympathy has to be felt for the defender, the winning goal was a result of Moyes’ decision to attack the flanks.

Midway through the game, Young was swapped from the left to the right wing and this was an intelligent decision from Moyes which promoted his side’s wide game.

On the wide left, Young has a tendency to cut inside onto his natural right foot which, if done against Hull, would have caused the winger to hit a cul-de-sac due to the congested middle of the pitch. By placing him on the right wing, Moyes enabled Young to challenge the Tigers by running down the flank and crossing with his natural foot – this made him much more dangerous and conducive to Man Utd’s tactics in this match.

Moyes opted to start Rafael at right-back, a player who is renowned for his tendency to act as more of a wing-back than a traditional full-back. This was an attempt to provide alternate means of attack down the flanks and, when the Brazilian picked up an injury and had to be substituted in the first-half, Moyes moved Antonio Valencia to right-back and brought on Adnan Januzaj to play on the wing.

Valencia played in this position at times under Sir Alex Ferguson and Moyes’ decision to utilise him in this area provided his side with extra width which threatened Hull throughout the game. The Colombian is a player who will resolutely stick to his wing and, whilst this was a risky strategy due to Valencia’s reluctance to track back (see Man City game), it was a risk which provided Moyes’ team with greater attacking options.

Finally, the performance of Tom Cleverley was extremely important in the system which Moyes employed yesterday. Whilst the English midfielder is frequently criticised, he spreads the ball well and, against Hull, switched play adeptly to give his wingers the service which they required to threaten the Tigers. Cleverley kept the game ticking over and his presence was essential to Man Utd’s victory on Boxing Day.

Without attacking the wings, it would have been extremely difficult to break Hull down and Manchester United would have struggled to get back into the game after they went 2-0 down. However, Moyes recognised the need to target these areas and, ultimately, found success by doing so – it was his decision to swap Young to the right wing which brought about the winning goal.

At times this season the Red Devils boss has come under intense criticism, yet his tactics yesterday were spot on and, in conjunction with a little bit of good fortune, gave the Red Devils a valuable three points.