Build-up from own third
Building from our own third is where I keep finding the root problem, from a macro idea that failed against the pressing quality of the PL to the shift towards going long and direct.
The posts
- Tactical analysis United gone long Long passes have doubled and own-third touches have collapsed: the numbers behind United's direct build-up, and its limits against compact blocks.
- Match analysis Are Grimsby better than Arsenal? Arsenal pressed high but passively, Fulham refused the bait and overloaded midfield, Grimsby pressed man-to-man: one system, three different results.
- Tactical analysis Amorim's build up: the fatal flaw The inverted centre-back is only part of it: why Amorim's goal-kick structure fails in a league where 47% of games come against elite pressing sides.
- Longform How Ten Hag's initial success created a ghost The compact block, primitive baiting and vertical attacking that worked in 2022/23 became the end product rather than the pathway, and United never moved past it.