Talking Tactics: Manchester United’s wing-play conundrum

Manchester United have a tradition of attacking down the flanks. High-flying wingers bombing down the flanks, taking defenders on, whipping in crosses and scoring goals have generally managed to get the fans at the Stretford End, off their seats and go wow!

But those days seem long gone as United’s wingers had a poor season last year either due to injuries, lack of form or a dip in confidence.

Here we take a look at how the men out wide have performed so far this season.

As it can be seen Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia have been very poor in the Premier League. The 2 of them have just one assist combined which is very poor considering that they are the first choice wingers and United depend on their wide men for creativity.

They neither have the guile to provide any creativity nor do they have the dribbling or shooting ability to impact a game in the attacking third. The fact that the 2 of them don’t provide even a single successful cross per game is pretty shocking.

One may argue that they provide adequate defensive work and help out their full backs more often than not but Young’s mistake led to Liverpool scoring the only goal in their 1-0 win over United and Valencia not tracking back Kolarov led to City’s opener in their 4-1 derby rout.

Ashley Young vs Crystal Palace:

As we can see, Young predominantly is playing on the left flank and has completed just 21 of his 32 passes (no key passes to his name) and has completed 2 out of his 4 take ons.

Antonio Valencia vs Crystal Palace:

Valencia’s heat map is a mirror image of Ashley Young. He is stuck to the right flank and has completed 40 of his 51 passes (making 1 key pass in the process) and has completed 2 out of his 4 take ons.

The Problem (4-4-2): Inability to get the wide men one-on-one with full backs:

Both Young and Valencia love to hug the touchline. In previous seasons Manchester United had Paul Scholes who could switch the direction of play with ease and could get these 2 one on one with their full backs with space to run into.

In the below image we can see Scholes picking up the ball in the center of the park and switching play with ease. His pin point long passing gets the wingers (Valencia and Park in the below cases) one on one with their defenders, with space to attack and whip in a dangerous cross.

Paul Scholes played a staggering 27 accurate long balls in Manchester United’s home defeat to Tottenham last season.

His ability to get the Manchester United wide men one on one with their fullback was the key to United’s wing-play paying dividends.

It must be noted that in Valencia and Young Manchester United don’t have wingers with the class to dribble past 2-3 players and take on defenders. Hence the need for a Scholes like figure in midfield who can get them one on one with a defender and stretch defenses.

United’s current quartet of Carrick, Cleverley, Anderson and Fellaini simply lack the Scholes-esque range of passing to get the wide men one on one with the full back.

As we can see Valencia has been marked out of the game and two players close in on him; which leaves him with no choice but to pass the ball backwards and keep possession rather than attempting a dribble and lose he ball.

It was no surprise that Valencia’s best 6 months as a United player coincided with the time Scholes came out of retirement.

Defensive Woes: The Impact.

With the wide men hugging the touchline, the 2 men in the middle become outnumbered against most of the opposition. With Carrick and Cleverley/Anderson/Fellaini not renowned for bombing forward the gap between the midfield and attack becomes huge which results in Wayne Rooney dropping much deeper than required to collect the ball and influence games.

The Solution (4-2-3-1): Allow the wide men to come infield to support the midfield and the forwards:

Nani looked a breath of fresh air when he came on against Liverpool and there is always a hint of unpredictability about him. He performs 4.3 successful dribbles, 1.3 successful crosses, 2.3 shots and 1.7 key passes per game which makes him United’s best winger. He may get dispossessed more often than the others but that is majorly due to the fact that he is a risk taker and wants to make something happen.

Januzaj who scored a brace on his debut against Sunderland certainly looks to have a goal in him. He is more of a false winger as he loves to drift infield and have a go at goal. He may not have provided the crosses from the left flank but he allows Evra to bomb forward by coming infield and providing the link between the midfield and the attack.

Nani vs West Brom:

Starting from wide right, Nani has license to roam into spaces infield to provide the required creative spark. He had 8 successful take ons and 2 key passes against West Brom. Based on his heat map we can conclude that he spent equal amount of time out wide on the right and in the number 10 position.

Januzaj vs Sunderland:

Januzaj completed 32 of his 38 passes against Sunderland performing 5 successful take ons in the process. He drifted infield when ever given the opportunity and linked up with the front men and helped Manchester United outnumber Sunderland in the center of the park.

As we can clearly see, both Nani and Januzaj provide fluidity to United’s attacking play. They along with Rooney who starts as a Number 10 are capable of interchanging positions.

With the wingers drifting infield it allows the fullbacks to push on to provide the width and also prevents Manchester United’s midfield duo from getting outnumbered in the middle of the park.