FireWire Review | The last narrow home win over Newcastle Ten Hag's Manchester United gave fans a sense of comfort

Shepherd who writes balls

2024-05-16 14:16Posted in Inner Mongolia Sports Creators

In his pre-match press conference, Ten Hag delivered plenty of good news.

Players including Lisandro Martinez have returned to training and not only can the team regain their fighting power ahead of the FA Cup, but they will also have a chance to play against Newcastle.

Unfortunately, the starting list was only Blue Fernandez, the long-awaited name.

In theory, injuries should come back step by step and not be rushed, and Lisandro Martinez made a hasty return last time and suffered a new injury right away, but the situation is already dire and if we don't build some confidence before the FA Cup, it will be a season of defeat.

At that point, anything can happen.

Of course, Manchester United's success at the final home game of the season will largely depend on the performance of today's opponents, Newcastle.

Like Manchester United, Newcastle have been overwhelmed this season, with a number of injuries in the third line and Eddie Howe having to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall like Ten Hag, so it's a standard battle between the remnants.

Although they were both remnants, Newcastle did not change their thinking when they were away from home, and after the start of the game, they still scrambled and slammed into the game, thus stealing many mistakes from Manchester United, and building an attack from them:

But in the eighth minute, United found their way forward:

Dan Byrne, who was playing for centre-back, lost to Scott McTominay in a scramble over the ball, thus conceding a set-piece opportunity that allowed United to emerge from their starting disadvantage:

In theory, Dan Byrne shouldn't have lost this goal, after all, he is over 190cm tall, and it would not be surprising that Kraft, who was partnered by him in central defence today, had a similar problem:

In the following period, Manchester United found a way to restrain them, that is, Newcastle gave them intensity, and they could also give Newcastle intensity, as long as the three people in the core area of their backfield were at the bottom, Newcastle's defense would also expose poor problems:

With the intensity, United can get out of the mess and build up their attack, and Scott McTominay can finish off Kraft's head:

So structurally, Newcastle have similar problems to Manchester United.

There are only three defenders at the heart of the back, and the defensive intensity and quality are mediocre, so as long as United put their men up, whether on the perimeter or in the baseline area, they can make effective use of these spaces:

And in corner shoot-outs, Newcastle never cover the perimeter space on the weak side, with Ahmad Diallo and Garnacho both taking their feet in these areas:

The quality of the positional defence is mediocre, and the corners are always exposed, so United can continue these attacks and accumulate enough consumption.

So in the middle of the first half, Manchester United's routine was already established:

The back court does not make short passes to avoid giving Newcastle the opportunity to put pressure in the front court, and directly long the ball to find the first line, and strive for the advantage of the first and second points:

With that in doing so, the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Mainou and Amad Diallo can play with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Mainou and Amad Diallo, to find space and create chances in the flanks of Newcastle.

Such opportunities are not difficult to create, even if Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho can directly penetrate Newcastle's defense on the strong side:

In the ensuing corner, Amad Diallo was able to shoot from a two-point position:

In the 31st minute, United played their own trick in the midfield area, gradually establishing an advantage on the right flank, with Amad Diallo dribbling straight inside and the ball stumbling to the feet of Menu, who scored:

In the build-up of this attack, Amrabat first scored two points from Newcastle's almost disjointed formation:

Menou was then pushed to the baseline, but found a traverse line for Bruno, and McTominay brought it into the right rib with a blast:

Manchester United did play well in this, but it cannot be ignored that Newcastle also provided enough defensive intensity and structural problems were obvious.

Amad Diallo has the advantage of playing small and big, so we said in the last game against Arsenal that Manchester United have the possibility of scoring between the big men at the back of Arsenal, Amad Diallo had a similar performance in the last game, but was brought down before entering the box, and in front of the big men of Newcastle, Amad Diallo can make a move.

It's a clear pattern of small and big plays, but the problem is that the big men at the back of Arsenal can keep up with the impact of the front, and these guys at Newcastle can't keep up:

The harder Newcastle rush forward, the more disjointed the problem will become, and the more you will be able to prevent attacks like Amad Diallo.

However, that's what Eddie Howe insists on.

So after conceding the ball, Newcastle puffed up and began to lunge again:

You can't say it's completely useless, because they did snatch out Amrabat's problems and foul moves:

It also put a lot of pressure on Manchester United in the ensuing siege:

But Newcastle will inevitably suffer from Manchester United's counterattack because of this:

And this time, Amad Diallo will go straight all the way to the line of the small penalty area:

Therefore, Newcastle's problems in this game are obvious, and the mismatch between Eddie Howe's tactics and player characteristics is also prominent, although Manchester United is not qualified to be complacent on this point, but at least in this game, Manchester United's advantage is that he has better ball skills, and there are special points like Amad Diallo that Newcastle do not have.

Of course, the other side of Newcastle's technical roughness is that their physical fitness is really outstanding, so after the break, these guys can really gather up their energy and re-knead them into a whole by outputting their physical strength, so as to test Manchester United's backfield again with impact:

At this time, Ten Hag's same tactical stubbornness added fuel to the fire for Newcastle, and when he knew that Newcastle would definitely start again in the second half, Menou cut in as he did in the goalscoring round:

At this time, such a plug-in is likely to be unable to cover expenses, which is an extremely dangerous choice.

So in the 48th minute, Manchester United wanted to enter their game track through a long ball like they did in the first half, but they were directly pushed back by Newcastle and pushed between the two lines, thus being equalized by Newcastle:

As soon as the goal was scored, Newcastle's plan worked, and they continued to work the spurred by the goal, once again stealing a mistake from Manchester United, but this time there was no goal, and Amrabat contributed a crucial defence:

But at the same time, there was room for United to hit the counter-attack, and it was up to them to break through Newcastle's scramble, and in the 51st minute, Amad Diallo made it happen:

And in the 56th minute, Manchester United's long pass from the back made Newcastle lose two points again, and also gave Manchester United another chance to attack from a corner:

On this occasion, Manchester United did the same, and Amad Diallo completed the goal:

So, that's why Newcastle have always been unable to maintain their intensity.

Their skills in the centre circle are really poor, but you have to admit that they put in a lot of manpower and energy, and the threat they created was really impressive, which was what they were able to do in the top four last season, but this season, especially this game, what kind of backfield they are capable of:

Playing more and playing less, Newcastle can always turn Manchester United into a one-on-one scramble, so as to gradually lose in the away environment, and let Manchester United, which has been in a bad situation recently, recover.

So in the 60-80 minutes, although Newcastle made the first substitution, trying to maintain the impact of the midfield, which was very rewarding, and it was only a little bit away from another equaliser:

However, the impact of the front court could not completely cover the weakness of the backfield, and United could always find a gap to fight back, and this was their way to survive during this period when United made late substitutions:

In particular, in the 69th minute, Manchester United won two points from the set-piece, and then played a small ball on the right rib, which directly allowed Bruno Fernandes to send a high-quality cross:

In fact, Newcastle, who made the first substitutions, should have taken the lead during the period when United did not make substitutions, and it was their best chance to steal points on the road, but they did not gain anything.

By the time United had brought on the first wave of fresh action, and after making changes to both the back line and the forward line, Newcastle proved that they couldn't defend themselves at the back:

From Lisandro Martinez's well-timed quick scramble to get the ball back, to Manchester United's ability to pull the entire Newcastle team back to the back with just three men, and finally Heyelen was able to shoot and score with his backfoot when Dan Byrne interfered on his side and Lewis Hall blocked in front of him.

You can see how disconnected Newcastle are at the back and their front in terms of fitness, coverage, character and technique.

In stoppage time, Newcastle pulled a goal back:

But United also came close to scoring a fourth:

In the end, the match ended with a score of 3-2.

It was a score that fits the tone of Manchester United's season very well. If they want to win this season, they can only win in this extremely inconsistent state.

Yes, let's not forget that Amrabat had a clear foul in this game, and if the score had become 1-1 at that point, the final result would have been difficult to say.

However, United still won. The result was based on Ten Hag's last-minute substitutions that boosted the intensity, as well as the small-ball combination between Bruno Fernandes and Ahmad Diallo to effectively combat Newcastle's backfield problems and, of course, Newcastle's weak defence, which was the basis of it all.

Therefore, this score, Newcastle fans should not feel unfamiliar.

As far as this game is concerned, the reason for Newcastle's defeat is very clear, the back line is too weak, unable to defend at the same time, and lacks the technology to help the midfield, so when the midfield uses impact strategy to hit the opponent, who can protect the back line?

Apparently there is no one.

But beyond all these things that we have already mentioned, I think it is necessary to mention Amrabat.

In this game, Amrabat played well in the position of a single midfielder, and had a wonderful performance of that very key one-defense multiplicity, but in addition to the foul action, there were also technical flaws such as passing the wrong foot:

After the heavy defeat to Crystal Palace, Ethan Ethan Ambarat replaced Christian Eriksen and returned to the main line-up.

Manchester United were not defeated by Arsenal in the last game, and Manchester United were able to win Newcastle at home this time, thanks in part to Amrabat.

He's definitely not a very strong midfielder, as we mentioned at the beginning of his arrival, but in a single midfielder he can provide the intensity of running, tackling and scrambling, which is obviously beneficial to protect the age-old centre-back duo of Casemiro and Evans, and Lisandro Martinez's quick tackles are also very important in goalscoring rounds.

So, to put it bluntly, Ten Hag needs three harvesters at the heart of the backfield, but United have almost never been able to muster them this season.

That was a big part of why United have fallen so far this season, but a final home win and some confidence ahead of the FA Cup final will be a good end for the likes of potentially departing coaches, Casemiro, Evans and Amrabat.

View original image 211K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•