Man Utd vs Liverpool, 24th October, 2021, What caused the goals? Who is to blame? Is it really Ole’s fault?
Here is a breakdown of the five goals
Common themes
Wan-Bissaka pushing far to far up the pitch and leaving the central defenders massively exposed.
Man Utd defenders getting pulled out of position for no other reason that it being a bad decisions.
Everything Liverpool touched turning to gold.
Goal 1 – Man Utd vs Liverpool
Started by Wan-Bissaka being far too far up the pitch for no reason.
Which pulled Lindelof well out of position
But the biggest mistake of all was Maguire leaving Salah unmarked, to close down a man that was arguably Mctominay’s
One chance one goal. Lesser teams would put the ball over the bar.
Fantastic finish. Created by bad defending.
Goal 2 – Man Utd vs Liverpool
Wan-Bassaka again pushing up the field for no good reason.
Lindelof and Maguire go right to fill the space left by Wan-Bassaka
Which leads to Shaw having to go the centre to cover which leaves Trent unmarked.
Fanatastic pass by Trent, easy finish.
Excellent finishing by Liverpool. But originally created by bad Man Utd defending.
Goal 3 – Man Utd vs Liverpool
Generally solid defending in buildup but no width to cover the Liverpool wingers.
Blocked shot, rolls out wide, Salah first to spot the chance, first time pass in, Salah finished. A lesser player skies it.
Excellent finishing by Liverpool. Mediocre defending by Man Utd
Goal 4 – Man Utd vs Liverpool
Wan-Bissaka again getting pulled forward to close down winger. But arguably justified here, he was the closest man.
Which again pulled Lindelof out of position
Which left a man McTominay had to mark. But failed to.
Maguire chose to pick up the man Tominay left, when arguably he could have left this to Fred. In the end Maguire and Fred went to the man leaving a massive expanse of space which Shaw had to cover. A space which contained Salah.
Even though Maguire and Fred were covering Tominay’s man, Shaw also decided to “help” out, which left Salah completely unmarked.
Excellent finish by Salah. Catalog of errors from Man Utd.
Goal 5 – Man Utd vs Liverpool
Arguably nothing Man Utd could do about this one.
Absolutely amazing ball to Salah completely bypasses the defense.
De Gea does not close down Salah. At all.
Excellent finish from Salah. Not a lot Man Utd could do. Average goal keeping.
Can it be fixed?
Some basic solutions as I see it.
Wab-Bissaka
Wan-Bissaka not pushing up the pitch would have stopped two or even three of the goals.
I think there needs to be a back five if you are going to push defensive backs further up like this. There needs to be cover behind them.
Central Defenders
As a rule, always have two central defenders in the centre of the pitch, no matter what.
Left and Right Backs
Never, ever, help out out a central defender. That help must come from the central midfielders.
Before Moving
When defending an attack, before making any decisions, ask the question, “am I marking anyone at the moment?” If so, only decision is to continue marking that man.
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