That was a very strange way of going about things by Mourinho. I suggested before the game in here that the only real threat from Utd was on the counter from people like Rashford, so it might be a good idea to have a 433 - meaning you have a lateral L8 to help the RB - and also play Rose for this one, with his pace to counter James on the other side.
I quite like what Mourinho has been doing with the lop sided - Aurier - pushed up in a back three with the ball and back four without - with the pace of Sanchez, using him as a kind of CB/RB hybrid. But against a very left biased ManU team, this was exposed somewhat.
See the balance to their shape and massive imbalance to ours. 47% of Utd's attack came down our right.
I'm not sure whether it was Mourinho's plan for Sissoko to get constantly dragged out there, or if it was as a result of Moura once again - as in the Olympiacos game - just not tracking back and helping his RB out enough.
Either way the result was the same, as the above shows clearly, Winks was left completely isolated in the middle, creating Utd overloads in other areas and the first 60 minutes was one of the few times this season (certainly against a top 8 club) I've seen Utd's midfield actually dominate and a Utd team have more possession. Even shit teams have had more possession than Utd in most of the games I've watched under Solskjaer.
Add to this the omnipresent inability of Sissoko to offer himself (to CB's or in midfield game play - there's a great example of this around the 36 min mark when Aurier is hemmed in while Sissoko and Moura stand around watching) on the occasions when we were trying to build anything, and we just couldn't play much football for the first hour. It was only the fact that Utd aren't really a team designed to have possession, and actually aren't very good, that prevented them from being even more dominant.
I was disappointed Mourinho didn't react and change anything until the hour mark. The change he did make did make a difference, Eriksen seeing more ball and making more passes in 26 minutes than Moura had in 64. Which in turn meant Utd were now unable to dominate so comfortably. This was further enhanced in the 70th minute when Ndombele cameo in and again, oh too briefly when Lo Celso made his late cameo. The last 20 minutes was more like how this game should have looked for much more of it if Mourinho hadn't selected the wrong personnel and shape from the get go. We went from 48% of the ball in the first 64 minutes to 71% in the last 30. And this wasn't just about them scoring a second and shelling. From the 46-64 minutes they still had 51% and were exceedingly comfortable, because we simply weren't capable of playing any football during the first hour because of the personnel out their being unable to plays under Utd's pretty ordinary press.
Just by swapping two players - Moura and Sissoko - who are terrible at receiving and recycling the ball with any wit, for two who are better at it meant our ability to play football literally increased by about 80%.
Sissoko getting dragged out right was not all his fault, and when he did, for the most part he did a decent job of helping, but once again he's cost us a goal, as he has in both the last two PL games (West Ham and Bournemouth) with clumsy/poor defending. And for the first goal, both he and Aurier are caught napping and letting Rashford run off them. If Mourinho doesn't wise the fuck up where Sissoko's concerned and see past the willing but unable torso, he's going to pay the same price as Pochettino did.
I can make a case fore Winks doing a kind of 6/8 (think poor mans Kovacic maybe) lateral job in a CM3, but I really would love to see - as others have said - a CM3 with Ndombele and Lo Celso as the lateral 8's with Skipp tried as the central 6.
I'm not holding my breath through, Mourinho had the perfect ingredients for a very good 433 at Utd, but very often preferred to shoehorn them into 4231's.
Borodin55 initiative.
