Manchester United 3-2 Stoke City: Tactical analysis

David Moyes must be a relieved man

There is an old cliché that good attacks win matches and good defenses win championships, but, having seen the defending on display against Stoke, I would hazard a guess that, in this sort of form, Manchester United are unlikely to be winning any championships in the near future. And although they have one of the best keepers in the Premier League at the moment, De Gea needs a settled back four in front of him, if he is to add to the two clean sheets that he has kept so far this season.

Against Real Sociedad in midweek, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones looked like they might well strike up an understanding and be the future of the United defense for years to come. But in a matter of just a game, that has completely changed and United will be clamouring for the return of their captain Vidic in the center of defense, to lead the charge.

On Wednesday, they were a goal up very early on and here it was the complete opposite as a scrappy Crouch goal gave Stoke the lead barely five minutes into the game. Although De Gea brilliantly saved Crouch’s initial effort, he could do nothing as Jonny Evans’s attempted clearance rebounded off Crouch and into the net. Although the finish was fortuitous, the way Erik Pieters breezed past Chris Smalling to send in a cross from the left set the pattern for things to come.

With Smalling unable to contribute too much in an attacking sense and also looking suspect in his positioning at the back, most of Stoke’s attacking play in the first half came on from their left side. In fact, they were unlucky not be two up, after a brilliant set up play from Crouch, Walters looked like he was going to score, but all he did was bring out another world class from the man who was keeping United in the game, in the first half. And it was a sign of United’s shaky start that De Gea had already made three saves by the time Begovic was called into action thanks to a combination and Kagawa and Robin Van Persie.

But, De Gea could do nothing about Marko Arnautovic free kick from the edge of the box right after United had equalized. Whilst it was a memorable first Premier League goal for Arnautovic, one couldn’t help but look at how it could have all been avoided had Phil Jones not conceded a cheap free kick in a very dangerous area, when, it looked for all money, that the attacker had nowhere to go.

As a result, United went into half time losing and the fans were hoping for some sort of response from the players. But, if they were expecting them to come all guns blazing, they were disappointed as a barrage of United attacks never materialized. It looked for all money as if United were lacking inspiration. But it was here that Moyes made three attacking substitutions which helped shift the game in United’s favor.

The first of which involved Moyes playing his get out of jail card and bringing on the Belgian teenage sensation Adnan Januzaj into the fray. And although the Belgian looked confident and composed, it was the arrival of Javier Hernandez that titled the game in United’s favor. The Mexican came in, in the 67^th minute for Tom Cleverley, which meant that Rooney had to move back to central midfield and Kagawa was given a lot more freedom to cut in and occupy the hole.

Because, up until then, Kagawa and Rooney got in each other’s way and at one point, the latter even stole the ball from Kagawa’s feet. But the arrival of Chicharito, forced Rooney farther backward and Kagawa slowly but surely grew into the game. And after Rooney scored the equalizer, the third came from Kagawa moving in, to allow Evra to bomb and set up the perfect cross for Chicharito to go on and grab the winner. And just before United scored the equalizer, Smalling was withdrawn and Valencia came in his place, to provide some attacking threat, which he duly did.

In the end, it was no more than Moyes deserved as he made all the right moves and by the end, United finished with three wingers and three front men. After the game, Moyes was full of praise for his substitutes when he said “We needed the subs to help us, they made the difference.” But they were only able to do so thanks to De Gea, who also merited equal praise from the manager, who wouldn’t have been too pleased with the way in which both goals were conceded.

“We did a lot of really good things and a lot of really poor things,” Moyes said. “But the comeback was exciting. I enjoyed that.” Whilst he would have loved the comeback, he wouldn’t have wanted to be in that position in the first place. And although they won, Moyes knows that there is still plenty of things to do, at least defensively if they are to come anywhere close to winning the league, which, at the moment, looks more like hope, than expectation.