In the 26th round of the Premier League, in a crucial battle, Manchester United challenged Leeds United led by Bielsa away from home, and manchester United finally defeated the opponent 4:2. After scoring all three points in this game, United are still in fourth place in the table. This decisive victory helped United to gain an advantage in the battle for the top four.
In terms of starting lineups, Lonnick continued to line up the 4231 formation. In the backline, Varane, who returned from injury, did not start for safety, he sat on the bench, and the center-back position was still Lindelof's partner Maguire, who has been in fairly average form this season. At the left-back position, Luke Shaw continued to dress up. At right-back, Lonnick replaced Dalot with the more defensive Wanbisaka, trying to limit the opponent's excellent attack on the flanks. At the back, Pogba continued to partner with McTominay, with the two attacking and defending, with a clear division of labor. C Ronaldo as a single arrow protrusion, Bruno Fernandez continued to appear behind him. On his left is Sancho, and on the right is Jesse Lingard, who has won his first league start this season. On leeds United, midfielder Phillips continues to be sidelined with injuries and Rafinha is surprisingly sitting on the bench.
After the start of the game, the pace of the two sides was quite fast. Under leeds United's high pressing and high-intensity physical confrontation, Manchester United's accuracy in passing and receiving the ball is not enough. Pogba, Sancho and other players have made some passing mistakes. The Leeds United midfielder used a defensive tactic of staring at people, especially Bruno Fernandez, who was strictly guarded by the other side. He deliberately expanded the area of activity, trying to take away the opposing defenders and create space for other teammates. However, due to the large coverage of Leeds United's midfielders and the lack of passing between United players, United are also less efficient in attack. Cristiano Ronaldo seemed a bit isolated in the front, he tried many times to return to the midfield to receive the ball, but when he returned to the front, he still could not get enough support, and more often he was trapped in the siege of the opposing defenders.
On the right, Both Jesse Lingard and Wan Bissaka failed to play. In attack, Jesse Lingard and his teammates seem to be out of tune, he is difficult to integrate into the team's offensive system, there are not many opportunities to take the ball. Defensively, Jesse Lingard was quite active, returning several times to the vicinity of his own penalty area. However, Leeds United's first threatening shot came from Lingard's decision to be cut off again after Lingard broke the ball. Wanbisaka is still an old problem, that is, the contribution on the offensive end is quite limited. In this game, Wan Bisaka did not do well both in terms of passing positions with teammates and in terms of crosses. Even in terms of basic dribbling forward, Wan Pisa has a hard time doing it, and has had the experience of being directly cut off by the opponent. McTominay, who is known for his physical fitness, is also at a disadvantage in terms of physical confrontation.
However, in the second half of the first half, Manchester United still controlled the situation on the field with its overall strength advantage. Pogba, in particular, is in pretty good form, making quite wonderful breakthroughs in attack in a row, creating excellent scoring opportunities for Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandez respectively. Although neither of these teammates seized the opportunity, especially C Ronaldo, it was a pity that he missed a good opportunity that was close at hand in front of the goal. However, United took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to open the scoring by Maguire. Judging from this goal process, Ronaldo successfully took away one of the opposing defenders in the front point, creating a one-on-one opportunity for Maguire in the middle to play with the opposing defender.
In injury time in the first half, United scored again. This goal is also not a typical Manchester United goal. The biggest contributor should be Lindelof. When the centre-back took the ball at the back, the Leeds United players were more lax in their defense, and Lindelof decisively seized the opportunity to sprint all the way, and when he entered the opponent's 30m area, he had completely disrupted leeds United's defensive system. He then had a simple match with Sancho, who sent a precise cross to help Bruno Fernandez's header from the middle of the road. Taking a 2-goal lead after half-time is undoubtedly quite dreamy for the team.
After the start of the second half, Leeds United tried to speed up the tempo, but they did not do a good job of offensive and defensive conversions, and the formation was somewhat disjointed. It also gave Manchester United a lot of opportunities to fight back. However, Manchester United suddenly "dropped the chain" again, and the 2-goal lead in 1 minute was lost. First, Rodrigo scored a stunning four-seater shot on the left, and while United was still in the dark, Bruno Fernandez was cut off at the back and Leeds United scored again. However, Fred, who came on as a substitute, stepped forward and helped the team out of the score again with a strong shot. In the end, Erlanga's goal set the score at 4:2. (The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)