MANCHESTER UNITED crashed out of the FA Cup thanks to a penalty shootout defeat to Fulham on Sunday.
As has been the case in many previous games, there were positives and negatives to take from the performance.
Man Utd crashed out of the FA Cup against Fulham on Sunday[/caption]
But we have identified some positives on Tactics Exposed[/caption]
We have looked at what Amorim got wrong in the clash, including a selection issue[/caption]
Another set piece proved to be the Red Devils undoing before Bruno Fernandes scored a wonderful goal from outside the area.
But despite dominating much of the play from there after, Man Utd were unable to take their chances before crashing out when Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkee missed pens in the shootout.
After the defeat, Ruben Amorim was busy hitting back at Wayne Rooney after he labelled the manager naive for saying the ultimate goal was to win the Premier League.
In the latest edition of our Tactics Exposed series, we take a look at what Amorim got right and got wrong during the clash.
BRUNO THE ANCHORMAN
Fernandes’ position as one of the two pivot players was highlighted in our Tactics Exposed show last week.
But unlike his performance against Ipswich where he was all-action but often to the detriment of Man Utd’s 3-4-3 system, on Sunday he was more disciplined.
Fernandes seems to have taken on board more of what Amorim wanted him to do in this game in a more rigid way of playing by holding his position as the pivot more.
Handing more trust to the centre-backs meant United had more passing options to progress the ball through the lines.
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This gave Amorim’s side a structure to play out from the back against Fulham, with United often passing through the lines to Christian Eriksen and Diogo Dalot.
It also consequently meant Fulham changed their plan at half-time, with United certainly having some joy with this game plan.
Unfortunately, one of the main problems for United in this game came when they got into dangerous areas, with the likes of Eriksen getting the ball out wide but not being the player who will be able to beat his marker.
Most importantly on this point, however, Fernandes’ touches and heat map showed him to be in a far more focused role within the structure all while putting in another captain’s performance.
It was progress for Amorim, small progress, but progress.
Fernandes later chipped in with another goal to level it up before scoring in the shootout as the Red Devils crashed out.
IT’S OBI ONE UP TOP
The big debate has been over Rasmus Hojlund and whether the service is the problem — or just Hojlund himself.
He again made some good runs and scuffed the one decent chance he got from Eriksen’s cross but didn’t do enough, especially in the duels.
In the end, it was unfortunate once again that Alejandro Garnacho did not start alongside Hojlund, with the attacking dynamism the winger brings not able to assist the Dane when he made his runs.
The whole first half he got one cross from Eriksen to the front post for a half chance.
But the game changed when 17-year-old Chido Obi came on in the 68th minute.
Young Obi outshone Hojlund with direct running, physicality and got himself in three scoring positions.
Zirkzee got closer to the teen when he came on for Hojlund and Garnacho did inject some pace after the starting No 9 went off.
But it looks like it is time to give Obi a start and take Hojlund out of the firing line.
Obi won half of his duels against Fulham compared to 20 per cent with Hojlund and he got into those positions to be dangerous.
And but for a really, really good Bernd Leno save he would have surely scored the winner.
There is an inevitable storyline in United’s next league game coming against Arsenal after United poached the teen ace from the Gunners.
Alan Hansen once famously said “You don’t win anything with kids”. But United are not winning anything without the kids either, so why not give him a go.
After all, at this point of their season they don’t have a lot to lose.
They’re not creating much and the chemistry between the players seems to be non-existent.
One issue which certainly did not help was the lack of presence at left wing-back, with Dalot unable to provide the attacking impetus needed to be successful.
He was in the position loads, but only one cross ended up resulting in a chance for the attack.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Leny Yoro returned to the back three alongside Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt to face Fulham.
And there were some positive signs this time around despite a lot of long balls being played forward.
The trio kept Rodrigo Muniz, Adama Traore and Alex Iwobi pretty quiet throughout the game.
De Ligt was far better in defensive situations due to him being willing to jump out and engage, like he did with great success against Manchester City and Liverpool.
He showed some very good cross-field passes to the wing-back on the opposite side, but we will come back to that in a moment.
Overall though, it was a good flat back three which refused to be bullied.
NACHO HOT BUT WING-BACKS NOT
I’m not sure if Garnacho has brought his team-mates dinner yet like he promised them he would last week.
But he proved effective when he came on to provide the direct running United needed and was a big threat to Fulham, though it is a system puzzle with Amorim wedded to 3-4-3.
The starting wing-backs Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui just don’t have the pace and dynamism to stretch defences.
De Ligt’s long field switches proved effective in getting United up the field and stretching the play.
However, with Dalot unable to make the most of them they ended up being largely wasted chances.
When Garnacho arrived, he did that on the left of the front three but, with no outlet on the right, it meant an imbalance.
Amorim must consider starting with more attacking wing-backs like Garnacho or the currently injured Amad Diallo — as well as new signing Patrick Dorgu, who was suspended on Sunday.
But one thing is for certain, Dalot and Mazraoui are not currently doing enough in an attacking sense for Man Utd, which is leading to them having a lack of creativity.
CALVIN CLIMBS
Calvin Bassey was the shining light in an otherwise below par Fulham performance.
Marco Silva had matched Wolves’ 3-4-3 in midweek, but ended up reverting back to the preferred back four against United.
But with the home side’s back three proving to be too much for the Fulham attackers to handle, it was left to centre-back Bassey to come up with the goods in his first ever FA Cup game.
Yet for Man Utd it was a case of deja vu after they conceded almost the exact same set piece goal against Fulham two years ago when Aleksandar Mitrovic scored against them.
Man Utd, like most teams nowadays, defend zonally.
What Fulham did to break through this was drag out the first zone to create a gap into the second zone.
The outswinging corner to a Fulham head at the near post ended up in a dangerous cross towards the far post.
Two years ago it was Andreas Pereira’s cross which was flicked in at the far post when he ran into the space and scored.
This time, it was once again a Pereira corner, swung into Muniz who headed it into the gap at the far post.
In the end they were just about value for a win, but you would not fancy playing them in the latter stages of the FA Cup.
Man Utd ratings vs Fulham
MANCHESTER UNITED crashed out the FA Cup on penalties against Fulham.
Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee had poor spot-kicks saved as the Red Devils slipped to their sixth home defeat under Ruben Amorim.
Fulham broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a well-worked corner.
Antonee Robinson darted to the near post and flicked it onto Calvin Bassey who directed his header into the bottom corner brilliantly.
Just as United’s frustrations were brewing, Bruno Fernandes was the saviour yet again.
He picked up Diogo Dalot’s perfect cut back and fired it beyond the stretch of Bernd Leno.
United had chances towards the end of the second-half, with subs Alejandro Garnacho and Chido Obi unable to finish.
There was nothing to separate the sides in extra-time and penalties were needed.
Despite well-taken kicks from Fernandes, Diogo Dalot and Casemiro, Lindelof and Zirkzee woefully fired directly at Fulham hero Leno.
But which Man Utd players could hold their heads up and which flopped?
