{"id":5107,"date":"2018-02-13T15:30:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T15:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manunited.uk\/?p=5107"},"modified":"2018-02-13T12:39:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T12:39:54","slug":"newcastle-united-1-0-manchester-united-tactical-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manunited.uk\/2018\/02\/13\/newcastle-united-1-0-manchester-united-tactical-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester United: Tactical Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lineups:<\/strong><\/p>\n Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): <\/strong>Dubravka; Yedlin, Lascelles, Lejuene, Dummett; Shelvey, Diame; Ritchie, Perez, Kenedy; Gayle<\/p>\n Manchester United (4-2-3-1): <\/strong>de Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Young; Matic Pogba; Martial, Lingard, Sanchez; Lukaku<\/p>\n Rafa Benitez handed a debut to on-loan goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, while Florian Lejeune returned to the lineup for the first time since November following an injury.<\/p>\n Jose Mourinho named the same team that lost to Tottenham away, meaning that Paul Pogba was restored to the lineup. Phil Jones also returned, along with Anthony Martial and Ashley Young.<\/p>\n Major tactical themes:<\/strong><\/p>\n Rafa Benitez is not a known exponent of a high-pressing system; his teams are usually set up to sit deep and soak up pressure, rather than proactively go hunting for the ball. Here, he opted for a sort of hybrid between the two: Newcastle were certainly sitting deep and allowing United to come onto them; however, there was a targeted press that served to disrupt United\u2019s passing rhythm throughout the game. Newcastle were specifically pressing Chris Smalling whenever he had the ball, in the knowledge that he was not accomplished enough in possession to be able to pick out a teammate when under pressure. Secondly, the Magpies were pressing United in the midfield zone, especially when Nemanja Matic received the ball on the turn, to force him to play it back to his centre-backs, or better yet, dispossess him and create an immediate counter-attacking opportunity. United struggled to impose themselves on the ball throughout the game, and Newcastle\u2019s targeted press takes a lot of credit for that. This is borne out by the fact that of the top six players with the most touches of the ball during the game, four were the United back four.<\/p>\nNewcastle press disrupts United<\/h3>\n