United’s flat back line: How West Ham exposed a serious flaw

West Ham’s goal against United seems unworthy of a deeper analysis: it’s a pre-season friendly, an almost trivial lapse in concentration when United were ahead.

But upon further review, the goal actually exposes many things that are problematic with how United defend.

Specifically, how we structure the defensive block, how we step up and apply pressure, how we make up for nummerical disadvantages of a back 5.

ISSUE #1

This is how United are positioned at the start of West Ham’s sequence.

Extremely deep, with a flat 5 at the back (Amad is out of the frame), with WBs in particular very far from their men.

ISSUE #2

Here is Manuel Ugarte, positioned very deep, which makes this almost a flat 6.

He’s not covering anyone in particular, as Yoro is on Soucek behind him.

Look at the distance between him and any opposition player he might be expected to pressure!

So, the initial block is basically a a 6v3, flat and passive, with our flanks mostly open.

As WH progress the ball wide, Amad is a bit slow to react here, but makes it up (he likes to let players receive).

Bruno follows through to apply pressure, and forces WH back.

ISSUE #3

As Bruno and Hojlund burst forward to press, Cunha is very slow to react and get his man. This is a well-known weakness in his game.

He might also be reluctant to step up, because Dorgu is staying back, Heaven is occupied & WH have nummerical advantage on this side.

ISSUE #4

Soucek begins his diagonal run. He is initially marked by Yoro, who doesn’t follow him and nobody picks him up.

He’ll be running completelty unmarked and have acres of space to receive, turn, carry and pass. Ugarte is still ball-watching at this point.

ISSUE #5

The ball now goes back the GK and Cunha finally steps up to mark Todibo. But then he stops for a moment and hesitates.

The next frame might indicate why - there is Ward-Prowse arriving behind him, unmarked.

ISSUE #6

At one point Ugarte noticed Ward-Prowse’s run and is now running to mark him. But his initial position was too deep and he’s too late.

He doesn’t notice Soucek is making that same diagonal run behind him, and will soon have the entire central midfield to himself.

This combination of arriving late & not being aware of the runner behind him means Ugarte overcommits and bumps into Ward-Prowse.

Instead of positioning himself to block the passing lane to Soucek, ready to jump at WP if needed, he’s all in on WP.

WP even does a slight right jump, as a feint to free up the inside passing lane, but Ugarte doesn’t pick up on it, and stays too close on him.

Mainoo moves inside, but slightly, not enough to block the pass.

This is the problem with a flat block consiting of 5 at the back + DM in front of them. It’s very hard to transition from that into a more active position.

Ugarte should have been on Ward-Prowse much earlier, and one of the CBs should have been following Soucek.

When the pass is executed, Soucek is completely alone and WH can have a free run at our back line.

Our front 5 are bypassed and that’s it.

In short:
- passive starting position with a flat 5 atb + DM in front
- as front press is initated, CBs, WBs and CMs running from deep positions
- players unsure whom to pick up and mark as runs begin
- e.g. Yoro not following Soucek since his run is diagonal, not linear, nobody picks him up
- individual errors in following play and applying pressure (Ugarte, Cunha…)
- CBs reluctant to push up beyond halfway line, gaps between lines
- gaps once front press is bypassed

It’s not just about individual errors - it’s also structural, which seems to contribute to confusion and mistakes.

And it’s been evident for a while. West Ham only exploited it once, but better teams will enjoy exploiting it.

Plainly speaking, United lack a player in midfield.

Therefore, they must come up with ways to compensate for it, through aggressive WBs or adopting a 4atb block.

Imho, United should drop the flat 5atb block, in favor of a more aggressive 4atb structure.

Alternatively, for some games or game states, they could also use a compact 5-4-1 block.

But this combo of staying flat at the back with sporadic attemps at high pressing, has been bad.