Man Utd v Chelsea review: McTominay heroics and a suffocating press

Manchester United cut Chelsea off at the source, suffocating them in their own half and picking up the pieces. It was a relentless performance from the Red Devils who won 2-1, and we are going to look at how Erik ten Hag managed to nullify this Chelsea side.

United's suffocating press

Chelsea struggled all game long to play through the United press, as they went man to man high up the pitch, forcing the Chelsea pivot players to receive the ball facing their own goal, resulting in long balls which gave the defenders the chance to win their duels and not allow Chelsea to settle in sustained attacking possession.

In the opening 20 minutes, Chelsea couldn't find the pass into the half spaces in between the pressing lines, which is pivotal when playing against high-pressing teams. Once you play into the pocket between the pressing lines, it almost inactivates the press, allowing you to reset their trap and sustain possession whilst building up.

This image shows an adjustment Mauricio Pochettino tried to make, having Mykhaylo Mudryk drop into the pockets in central areas, to try and make the ball stick before giving it to the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo so they could face play.

However Mudryk, Cole Palmer and even Raheem Sterling - who did this on a few occasions - were unable to make their touch stick under pressure from the United central defenders who aggressively shifted forwards to ensure they couldn't turn.

Chelsea had some big chances in this game due to the aggressive pressing nature of United, however, a mixture of the Blues not taking those big chances, and United's persistence to suffocate Chelsea meant United stayed in control, sustained attacks and found the winner they deserved.

Dominating wide areas

United focused on their wide matchups against Chelsea, highlighting Alejandro Garnacho and Antony in their battles with Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella / Reece James.

Chelsea looked to stop the opposition wingers from turning and facing them up 1v1, shown in the images above as Garnacho and Antony would receive the ball facing their own goal, with a defender on their back.

This was a trigger they used, playing the ball into the wide player to bait the aggressive press from a Chelsea fullback, to then play two quick passes, and find the ball behind the fullbacks with few actions.

This happened on many occasions, playing with the triangles in the images above, before releasing the ball into the space left behind Chelsea's defensive line.

The wide men were key for United, making five key passes, creating two big chances and making seven crosses between them. Garnacho also produced the assist from a lovely cross into McTominay to score the winner for United.

McTominay bullied Chelsea

The final point to make is the use of Scott McTominay, who scored a brace to bury Chelsea. His physical presence in the midfield battle was hard for the Blues to deal with, having a small midfield pairing, allowing him to push on, attack the box and influence the game in the final third.

The fact United used their wide progression as a build-up strategy meant McTominay had less responsibility to help progress play from deeper areas, meaning he could press high up out of possession, but also make runs and pin the smaller midfielders of Chelsea in possession.

McTominay had seven shots (five on target, one blocked and one off target), missing three big chances even though he did score two. He only had 22 passes attempted however, showing that Ten Hag decided to relieve McTominay of his ball-playing duties that are not his strong suit, and unleash him to attack the box and be a nuisance in the final third.

Conclusion

To conclude this match, Ten Hag's United side was brave, they continued to press throughout the entirety of the game and did not allow Chelsea to find any rhythm.

His tactical tweaks worked, finding ways to progress the ball effectively without a primary ball-carrying deep midfielder, giving McTominay the licence to be more effective in other areas.

Chelsea on the other hand tried to make the odd tweak to play through the United press, but did not make it stick when they had to. They didn't find the soft spot of the high press to reset their pressing triggers and overall lost their duels.