Fergie Gets it Wrong Again

By Brian Lofrumento | 31st August 2009

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wayne-rooney-celebrates-v-arsenal Last season Manchester United may have won the Premier League title, but their form against the rest of the “Big Four” was dire. On Saturday the Red Devils got a massive three points against Arsenal that suggests their form against their biggest rivals might just be better this year, but Fergie’s tactics and team selection left a lot to be desired.

The 4-5-1

The most glaring problem in Sir Alex Ferguson’s big game tactics is his formation choice. By all means, when United is playing the “smaller” clubs, Fergie is spot on with his philosophy and formation. The world renowned Manchester United 4-4-2 is the pinnacle of counter-attacking football that uses both fullbacks as threats down the wing and a dynamic front duo that is constantly on the move.

Against the big clubs, though, the ugly and cautious 4-5-1 comes out. Against Arsenal the midfield consisted of three central players – Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, and Darren Fletcher – and two wingers – Nani and Antonio Valencia – behind a sole striker – Wayne Rooney. What is normally a fluid and interchanging front line between the strikers and the wingers turned into a flat five in midfield with a large gap isolating Wayne Rooney up top.

All too often the midfielders fed long balls up top in search of their lonely striker, but Wayne Rooney’s lack of size meant William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen enjoyed long spells of success at the back. In fact, since it was just the former Evertonian up top, both Gallas and Vermaelen could concentrate on the same man. The constant double-teaming that Wayne faced rendered him useless (with the exception of his strong run into the box that earned the penalty from a Ryan Giggs through-ball).

Not playing Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov

If you read any match report following United’s 2-1 victory over Arsenal, you’ll surely read about how dominant and sure Arsenal was on the ball. The Gunners may have had the ball only 49% of the time, but their possession looked a lot more assured and meaningful.

The 51% possession that United enjoyed is rarely being talked about by the media and managers because it was chalk full of passes gone astray and poor dribbles that resulted in giving the ball away.

Two men that have been in stellar form so far this season have been Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov. Not only are these two men in form, but these are the two specialists at Old Trafford when it comes to maintaining possession. Scholes played zero part in the match, and Berbatov was limited to an appearance off the bench.

When Berbatov came on United looked a lot more comfortable. The Bulgarian held possession well and gave Wayne Rooney more freedom to get involved. With a strike partner, Wayne was allowed to drop a little deeper to get the ball and get more involved. Not only that, but Berbatov actually found himself through on goal from a perfect Nani pass. He may have missed, but creating chances over 90 minutes leads to goals.

The Barca mistake

It was these very same mistakes that led to United’s downfall at the hands of Barcelona in May. If Sir Alex Ferguson wants to do as well against the big teams as he’s used to doing against the smaller clubs, he needs to start playing in a similar fashion.

United is known to attack and hit teams on the counter, and by completely forgetting all of those traits and ignoring the club’s proud history against the big clubs has only led to disappointing results.

United may have won on the day, but were it not for Abou Diaby’s calamitous moment that saw the midfielder put the ball into the back of his own net, United would be in an awful position.

Please, Sir Alex, keep attacking.

Thomas O'Loughlin says:

August 31, 2009 at 7:55 pm

On saturday it may as well have been Fletcher on his own in midfield cause Carrick and Giggs were non existent and once again terrible performances. Anderson would have given far more energy than these two to United’s cause. One up front at home against any team is pure madness on Ferguson’s part, does he not trust Berbatov’s ability to star in key games? While he is an excellent manager, Ferguson often is over tactical in big games instead of relying on the quality at his disposal.

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