Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham: Spurs attack directly then defend deep
The starting line-ups
An excellent first half performance put Tottenham in control, and they hung on with a fine defensive performance in the second half.
Sir Alex Ferguson brought Paul Scholes back into the starting line-up and used Ryan Giggs on the left. Wayne Rooney was on the bench.
Andre Villas-Boas chose Clint Dempsey ahead of Gylfi Sigurdsson, and played Jan Vertonghen at left-back with Steven Caulker coming into the centre of the pitch. Brad Fridel continued in goal.
The halves were completely different – Tottenham were excellent going forward before half-time, before gradually sitting deeper and deeper in the second half.
Formations
The sides lined up roughly as expected, with Clint Dempsey playing a hybrid role, half-midfielder, half-forward. His energy helped Tottenham to press in the first few minutes, and United took a long time to get into a good passing rhythm. Jermain Defoe, Dempsey and Moussa Dembele all worked very hard in the centre of the pitch, while Sandro was more reserved and stayed goalside of Shinji Kagawa.
United seemed particularly keen to get the ball out to Nani on the right, in order for the Portuguese winger to run at Vertonghen, who was playing out of position (although in a role he’s played before) at left-back. It was Vertonghen who got the early breakthrough, however, with a direct run at the heart of the Manchester United defence, and this sums up what Spurs did well throughout the first half – they dribbled directly towards goal and took United by surprise.
Defoe + movement
The second goal was not dissimilar, with Bale picking up the ball on the left before sprinting past Rio Ferdinand to score a fine goal. For both goals, the movement of Jermain Defoe played a significant part, despite him not touching the ball. For the first he’d drawn Ferdinand into the right-back position, leaving a gap in the centre of defence. For the second, he made a superb run across the pitch to drag Jonny Evans behind Ferdinand, making Bale’s path to goal much easier.
Tottenham’s directness on the ball was highly impressive, epitomised by Dembele’s second excellent performance at Old Trafford in just over a month, and replacing a passer like Luka Modric with a dribbler like Dembele has changed the way Tottenham play in that zone. For the second week running, United’s lack of a ball-winner was an obvious weakness.
Static United
United were very poor in the opening half, unable to provide reliable service to their forwards. This was partly because of Tottenham pressing limiting Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes’ passing influence, but also because United’s movement was terrible. The game bypassed Giggs on the left, while Nani remained a long way from Robin van Persie. Kagawa doesn’t yet seem comfortable in the side, and a couple of times van Persie moved out to the left, only to look up and find no-one in the box to cross to.
United are still yet to pass to Kagawa in the manner he likes – he wants more incisive balls played beyond opponents for him to run into, rather than short passes into feet when tightly marked. There was only one pass into him that fitted the bill – Carrick’s slide ball between two Tottenham players (just before Bale’s goal), met with a smart turn from Kagawa to get away from his opponents. United haven’t had a player like Kagawa for a long time (arguably, never before in Ferguson’s tenure) and they’re unaccustomed to basing their play around a direct number ten.
United changes
Ferguson rightly removed Giggs at half-time, pushing Kagawa left and bringing on Wayne Rooney in the hole. Immediately there was so much more movement from the home side, with Kagawa drifting in, Nani more central and Rooney supporting van Persie closely. The two wide players scored in the first ten minutes of the second half, which would have been unthinkable before half-time – Giggs and Nani were simply playing too far from goal.
In a frantic three-minute spell, Tottenham also scored. Again, excellent work by Defoe on the left created the chance, dragging Ferdinand out of position – this time with his work on the ball.
Tottenham drop deep
So, 3-2 to Tottenham – and now, their approach changed. They were exhausted from their early pressing, and now had to sit deep and allow United the run of the midfield. Villas-Boas tried a few different strategies to try and press Scholes and Carrick, but generally discovered that when one was closed down, the other took control and provided good balsl into the final third.
Villas-Boas removed Dempsey and brought on Sigurdsson, but then strangely pushed Dembele higher onto Scholes. It would have been better to use the fresh legs of Sigurdsson as the presser, with Dembele sitting deeper – but the experiment didn’t last long before Dembele was replaced by Tom Huddlestone and all three midfielders sat much deeper.
United pressure
Tottenham simply couldn’t keep the ball – Defoe’s performance was excellent in terms of movement, but he clearly wasn’t the man to hold the ball up. United completed ten times as many passes as Tottenham in the second half, a staggering statistic.
Ferguson replaced Kagawa with Welbeck, but he had little impact on the game. The other striking option, Javier Hernandez, wasn’t particularly tempting as Spurs were sitting so deep. The Mexican was only introduced in stoppage time, shortly after Villas-Boas had replaced Defoe with Michael Dawson and gone 5-5-0 – which meant Ferguson could sacrifice Ferdinand and chuck another striker on. A couple of half-chances aside, United’s pressure didn’t result in the expected number of chances in the final half hour, as Spurs’ back four stayed narrow and cleared most balls played into the box.
Conclusion
Lots to talk about here: Spurs’ pressing, their directness and their attempts to nullify Carrick and Scholes before sitting back late on. On the other hand, you can pinpoint United’s poor movement, their lack of a ball-winner and Kagawa’s struggles as reasons for the result.
The key was Spurs’ dribbling ability from deep positions, combined with Defoe’s fantastic movement to drag opponents out of position. He created the space, while Vertonghen, Bale, Lennon, Dembele and Dempsey charged into it – the movement was very Zenit St Petersburg. Lone strikers don’t need to be big and strong to be effective – although those qualities would have helped when Spurs were too tired to get midfield runners up the pitch.
Very poor game from a footballing point of view. This was the #2 vs. the #4 of the Premier League from last season. Yet one side completed 35 passes in 45 + 4 minutes and the other couldn’t destabilize that defensive wall due to zombie-like movement, slow touches and lack of creativity (give ball to Scholes, let him hoof it up to the wingers, repeat). Right after that game I watched Sevilla – Barcelona and it looked like football from another planet.
F-U-N
True. The Sevilla-Barcelona game did bring out the stark difference in approaches that can be taken to break the proverbial ‘bus’.
Like reducing the number of opponents by flopping?
like Valencia didn’t flop to get the winner against Liverpool?
Agreed, he didn’t.
so many floppers in manu
You could say that, or you could say it was a fantastic game with a crazy spell of 3 goals in as many minutes and a tantalising 30 minute onslaught where one team held on for their lives, and the other hit the bar and had several more chances. I really enjoyed it, and I’m a United fan…
Completely agree and i thought it was a fascinating tactical battle. Spurs hitting quickly with the pace of runners from deep in the first, then closing up the lines between midfield and defence in the second.
I was surprised Fergie didn’t try his 4-2-1-3 formation with Kagawa behind Nani, Rooney and RVP that we saw Utd use the last time RVP and Rooney played together at Everton.
I can’t believe that this average team minus Van Persie and Kagawa finished with 87 points last season,shows you how weak the Premier League really is.
I think all it demonstrates is how little you know about football.
I’ll second that.
Thirded.
Have you seen their midfield? They get outplayed by any half decent side.
I’ll fourth that.
Fourthed
Paul Scholes does not “hoof”. Maybe you fancy yourself as a tactical buff, but you appear to lack understanding of the basic fundamentals of football if you consider a pinpoint 30 yard pass straight to a team-mate’s feet a “hoof”.
When all a team does is have one player play pinpoint, 30 yarders, AND NOTHING ELSE, it’s hoofball. Regardless of the technical excellence of the hoofing.
hoof is mindless long hopeball in the opponent box area, pinpoint passing to a teammate is distribution, not hoof.
Watching Scholes is an honour.
Great read as usual Michael! Was a fantastic game to watch. Spurs with Dembele, Sandro and Dempsey seem to have found a fairly balanced midfield. Good to see AVB finally get a really positive result.
Alex Ferguson should try experimenting Rooney to play as advance ball winner (if there is such thing, and stick with Scholes + Carrick combination..Might be interesting to see.
The prototype for an “advanced ball-winner” is none other than KP Boateng.
As Zm has shown recently, Chelsea has been playing Oscar as a sort of “advanced ball winner.” He did so against Pirlo and Arteta.
The question with Man U is the same. There really isn’t enough room in the side for RVP, Rooney, Kagawa and a winger (or two). Something has to give.
Hodgson tried to get Rooney to do this against Italy’s Pirlo.
Pirlo had one of his greatest ever games. Rooney lacks the discipline to be an advanced ball winner.
It was very simple actually, United cannot, I repeat, cannot EVER again play Giggs, Scholes and Nani at the same time. 1) Giggs is a 38 year old, and way past his best, but useful against the right teams 2) Scholes had a great match in the 2nd half and was not nearly as effective in the first half largely due to having to play in a formation that left Carrick and him matched against 3 in the middle of the park (by the way, he is still the best English MF around–fact). Nani won’t ever track a player coming from deep (the Belgian LB came forward at will in the first half, untracked).Kagagwa shirked his defensive responsibilities in the first half–becuase the role he played in can at times be confusing.
2.Once United moved to more traditional 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 if you will, they rested complete control of the middle of the park and quite frankly destroyed Spurs in the 2nd half. Yes Spurs won and i will be the first to agree that in the end, it is all about the 3 points and my hat goes off to Spurs for clinging on after being bombarded with wave and wave of attacking United moves.They carved the Spurs MF and defense apart in the 2nd half. When United line up in the right formation (MUST HAVE 3 IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK)they are almost impossible to beat and if it were not for the woodwork, a few first class saves by Friedel and a few wasted opportunities (RVP, Evra, Rooney) by United this game could have been 5-3 to United. I am buoyed by United’s 2nd half performance, the knowledge that at some point soon they will have Smalling and Jones back and the knowledge that RVP and Kagawa need a little time to settle in with their new teamates and system. United are 4 points back after losing 2 matches. They are finish with Everton, Pool and Spurs for this half of the season. They will be just fine. They are Man United after all and you bloggers and hacks have been singing their demise for how long now. We’re United, we win when we want to
“When United line up in the right formation (MUST HAVE 3 IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK)they are almost impossible to beat”
- OK, calm down.
“We’re United, we win when we want to”
- Good to know that the reason you didn’t win any trophies last season was because you didn’t want to.
good one pat…haha
I am a massive Man U fan but why does Fergie insist in playing with Scholes and Giggs?
Spurs a young, fit and lively team and playing the above against a team like Spurs is going to back fire, and it did. They are told old for high tempo games like this. Scholes is great at keeping the ball and wearing the opponents out but he can’t wear them out. Why did Fergie leave Welbeck on the bench? Fergie is god at Old Trafford but I am baffled as to why he is still playing a 39 year old (Giggs in November) and a 38 year old Scholes (must be 38 because he’s about the same age as me!!!)
i think in the first as you had pointed out that united were playing a bit too wider for me scholes and carrick were playing much too deeper and kagawa was the only player between the lines and it made sandro’s job vrey easy since utd were playing ball too his feet he could easily being out muscled by sandro . in the last post you talked about chess . now let me tell you for any team game for that matter the centre of the field is the most important part of the field and no team likes to loose that and whichever team can dominate it can dominate the game . in the first half tottenham were able to dominate the centre of the pitch . carrick and scholes were too deep and kagawa was the only man who was there against two spurs midfielders and he was loosing the physical battle and you had rightly pointed out why . another fine thing pointed out by you in the last post was the use of the aerial crosses nani was crossing high which is dont think is a good ploy since i dont think van persie even though he is tall is not a capable header his strong point is not that his strong points are putting ball on the ground and then playing it. the first goal for utd proves your and my point . low crosses .
what really changed the game in the second half was rooney’s substitution now although kagawa was moved to the left but he was coming in the centre of the pitch rooney too was there van persie started dropping there so now before the half where there were just one utd player now there were three . and since all these players were trying to play between the lines it was difficult for spurs players as who should they individually mark . another factor was nor gallas nor caulker tried to close down van persie or atleast stay with him in close watch . because of these numbers superiority what happened was that scholes and carrick could now move upfield and spurs started going deeper and that was why utd could come back in the game .
but when utd subbed kagawa i think they lost that thrust and that drive because although everything was going through scholes but kagawa’s movement and his positioning was creating space for others and utd were superior in that final third .
to be honest dempsey scored the goal but after the first spurs goal he was largely anonymous . defoe was excellent because utd especially ferdinand was shambolic . his defending for the third goal was nothing short of shambolic . he was chasing defoe as if he was trying to catch a chicken . after watching that i think i dont think hodgson would be very keen to call him up .
i think the team selection for utd was also not proper utd need to play anderson more although scholes is superior in his passing but he hasnot that energy to go up and down the pitch and anderson can do that . another thing is i would had liked welback to be a bit earlier since he brings that much needed energy and should had played with RVP rather than on the left . rooney for all the money that he gets paid his first touch is not even worthy of playing him in the first division . fergusson should introduce powell more .
for spurs avb needs to do more not just play on the counter attack i think they have a better squad even than last year .he should be able to dominate the tempo of the game and not just defend and play on counter . he needs to be brave enough and should start playing vertroghen and caulker in the middle and play a proper left back . he needs to explain the game better to caulker because that kid has talent to become another ferdinand and become an england regular although who should he partner is another question and got no suitable answer.
‘for spurs avb needs to do more not just play on the counter attack i think they have a better squad even than last year .he should be able to dominate the tempo of the game and not just defend and play on counter . he needs to be brave enough and should start playing vertroghen and caulker in the middle and play a proper left back . he needs to explain the game better to caulker because that kid has talent to become another ferdinand and become an england regular although who should he partner is another question and got no suitable answer.’
As seen in the match, AVB knows what he’s doing. Did he play on the counter against Reading and Lazio? Did you watch the match where Vertonghen and Caulker was playing in center back positions when there’s cover for left-back then in the form of Kyle Naughton? I’d say that having the faith the put Caulker in a big game like this, you’d think that AVB would have already given him plenty of advice and would continue to do so to further develop him, especially when he’s willing to prioritize him over Dawson.
Why didn’t you do Sevilla vs Barcelona instead? O ye because it’s not a Super Duper Premier League game.
Why don’t you write something about Sevilla – Barcelona? Is your time too precious?
C’mon stop criticizing him for choosing a game that might be a notch less interesting from the team quality standpoint, but far more interesting from the context of the league (we all know la liga is already decided)!
Given this is a tactics blog, I would have thought the most interesting game from a tactical point of view would be covered. Whether it was more interesting from the context of the league is – aside from being only your personal opinion – irrelevant.
Harry does have a point about the super duper best league in the galaxy. The games broadcast over the weekend were very poor.
Manu I think it is ridiculous to say La Liga is over,there has only been 5 games ffs! Even if it was over it was still a fantastic game and tactically interesting.
Ridiculous? Maybe. But Barcelona lost just 3 games last season AND still failed to win La Liga. Madrid have lost 2 already.
It will have to be a monumental collapse on the part of Barca (although it has recently happened…2006/2007).
Of course it was interesting, but how could he know before the game? I think we should be grateful for the article!
My word, there are some ungrateful people. Secondly, ZM can do what he likes. You can always bugger off to another site. You come onto a report about Man United-Spurs and your first post is that? Odd.
Ooops, I mean your posts are mostly about PL v La Liga nonsense.
another thing please let us know as to what is coming as we watch matches in the anticipation that you will analyze that and we will be able to contribute our thoughts .
as far as guys like me who are from india we stay awake in the night to watch matches in the anticipation that after watching we will be able to contribute to the post section .
Man Utd are gonna get dumped out of Europe early doors again.
It is quite disappointing that you didn’t cover the Sevilla-Barca game though of course it’s a good read regardless of which match you write about. Sevilla look a strong side this year.
man, if this is kagawa looking uncomfortable, i can’t wait to see him when he is. because he’s been fantastic already this season. when he came off against spurs, utd.’s attack suffered.
Need to get the best out of Kagawa, so far he has been solid in the matches he has played but against Spurs he struggled a little, i feel like the United players must trust Kagawa and his talents more, he can offer so much more yet.
The front four of Nani,Kagawa,Rooney and RVP is the one i want to see more, was brilliant to see them all link up, it could in time flourish into something special.
How do you think Fergie’s willingness to rotate will affect that?
I think Kagawa needs to play on the left more. Playing centrally so far this season he has been marked out three times so far this season(Schnderlin, Allen and Sandro in the first half. He looked much better in the second half when he was playing on the left.
I prefer Kagawa centrally. He has an awareness to be such a lethal AMC, and can almost single-handedly drag defenses to pieces on occasion. These skills are often wasted out wide.
When Kagawa is getting marked out, as he most certainly was in the 1st half, the team should respond to free him. Instead, United ignored him. Had Rooney been on (instead of say, Giggs), Rooney would have seen how to unlock Kagawa. I think it is a failure on Ferguson’s part to have not instructed the team how to best utilize the player.
Yes, I’m suggesting a bit of building the team around him. Just enough to know how to handle things when he’s being snuffed out. As a byproduct of playing well with Kagawa, the team should get better at playing with Cleverly, with Rooney when sitting in the hole, and with Young or Welbeck when coming into those areas. At the moment the team looks far too easily stifled by a resolute or tight marking defense.
If the team just lets Kagawa or other AMCs be snuffed then they are essentially playing a man down. Better to revert to a more direct or wing-based style in those cases. If MUFC can’t play with AMCs then play with wingers. If any team has either plan available it is United. This is what I am surprised about insofar as Ferguson’s failure to either anticipate (and plan for), or react to the situation during the game. The 1st half was wasted as much by him as by any of his players.
man u cannot just say that only attacking midfielder influences the game and he is the only one who can unlock defense or same goes with winger . you cannot just say that one certain element or in a certain zone needs to be strong the team as a whole needs to be strong not just one element .
I think people read to much into tactics this game was pure luck. Man u dominated the game completely and deserved to win this cant be disputed. Why praise tottenham? they produced an awful performance in the 2nd half and collapsed and relied on man u finishing poorly. This reminds me of your write up on the chelsea barcelona and chelsea bayern munich games where you were giving chelsea credit when in reality it was the luckiest thing in human history. Chelseas tactics were awful they conceded about 15 guilt edge chances to the opposition. You credired chelsea with replicating inter milan and it clearly wasnt the case. Inter milan didnt concede chances and were the better side over the 2 matches. Chelsea clearly werent the better side and didnt deserve to go through the semi final or win the final. Football is becoming to dependent on luck. Proved by the point that last year it was the worst chelsea team in 8 years. As in this game tottenham did not deserve to win at all yet people are credititing there tactics.
I find your post a bit odd. Spurs were fantastic in the first half and the article clearly explains how Defoe created space for Spurs to counter down the left for all three goals. Yes, United took a stranglehold of the game in the last 30 mins but Spurs defending, while tactically uninteresting, was undoubtedly impressive. A half hour of pressure does not equate to deserving a result.
Correction. Manchester United dominated the SECOND HALF. Tottenham played very well in the first half and thoroughly deserved their 2-0 lead. Saying United “deserved” to win the game is, well, frankly ludicrous. They played very well in the second half, dominating possession, but when you finish as poorly as they did you don’t “deserve” anything. Spurs, despite clearly conceding possession and parking the bus, played stout, resolute defense almost throughout. Were they a little lucky? Probably. But for you to dismiss everything Spurs accomplished over the course of that game shows an almost complete disregard for how to interpret football tactics.
I can congratulate spurs on pinpointing the weakness of ferdinand and exploiting it with great reward. As far as saying spurs deserved to win its not true the majority are only saying this because of the general dislike toward man u. People read into tactics to much redknapp dominated tactically last year in the first half and ended up losing the half. Tactics arent the be all and end all in football you can dominate a match tactically and lose.
Tottenham were lucky in the second half but its totally unfair to compare them to Chelsea. Utd created two really good chances (Evra and RVP) which isn’t a particular good return seeing as they dominated the ball for a full 35 minutes. Spurs weren’t actively trying to hunt the ball so I think they did well to restrict Utd to two decent opportunities in nearly an entire half.
Over the course of the game Utd had like 15 shots on goal so its unfair to compare the game to the CL final where Bayern had 40 odd (admittedly including extra time)
Basically the point im making is that zonalmarking seems to view the final result as the be all and end all of the tactical battle. After the Champions League Final i felt like it was trying to incinuate that reactive football was better than proactive football. Maybe they dont enjoy good football.
Defense is not luck, and “reactive football” is not inherently bad.
This is a site about tactics. If the strategy is to defend with every last man to protect a lead, and the team ends up winning, that was a successful strategy. Regardless of whether or not it was pretty.
I never said good defending was luck. I said bad defending and relying on the opposition missing countless guilt edge chances was luck.
Jack you have to understand that it is ZM’s job to to cater to the little englanders mentality as these retards make up the majority of his audience.That is why he overrates English teams/players and is now increasingly marginalizing La Liga as it has now clearly took over the EPL,I remember him trying to make out Chelsea 11/12 were as good as Inter 09/10 too and it was ridiculous.
Man U totally dominated for 30 minutes, but slept for the 1st 45 minutes. Yes, Spurs luck or Man U’s unluckiness contributed to Spurs’ victory, but if they can play better for the 1st 45 minutes why didn’t they do that? There’s no excuse. Pure luck? You cannot deny Spurs used their players’ strength to exploit Man U’s weaknesses. Few teams have done it so well, and to do it in Old Trafford is an achievement. On another night, the results might be different. But give credit to Spurs for having given it a go and gave themselves that chance.
Thanks so much for the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.’s a Very good, very useful to me, Thank you very much
Van Percie destroyed spurs at the emirates last season – Gallas simply cannot handle him.
So this time the spurs’ defence dropped deep to close off his space – a zonal tactic.
But then Rooney came on who works the space in front of the defence, so spurs’ midfield had to drop deep to close that space too – another sensible zonal tactic.
Trouble was that spurs were now penned in their penalty area with or without the ball – they could not afford to give those 2 key players any space.
This was hardly a Mourinho type defensive bus – crosses kept coming in and chances were created.
But stifling those 2 key Utd players perhaps helped increase the odds of survival.
I’m biased, but I thought it entertaining – there were loads of goals and chances and Utd fans were making an awful lot of noise, so they enjoyed the game if not the result.
Like Scholes and Carrick as double pivots; but suspect SAF is struggling to find the right blend in front of them. And Defoe deserves credit for playing lone striker far better than anyone gave him credit for. It doesn’t take a Big guy to play it becuase its not just about holding up the ball.
Like to see AVB succeed at spurs. His porto side were brillian to like the win for them
“United are still yet to pass to Kagawa in the manner he likes – he wants more incisive balls played beyond opponents for him to run into, rather than short passes into feet when tightly marked.”
I disagree with ZM. Passes into his feet in congested area is exactly the type he loves. Judging from his BVB days, His best strength is his ability to drift into tiniest of pocket of space b/w defenders, and turn forward.
It’s just that he is seeing less incisive and early passes from double pivot and CBs like he used to in Germany
I don’t know if this is true or not but as compared to earlier times (2/3 years back), ZM seems to write more frequently about Serie A, EPL games as compared to say La Liga. It might even be a coincidence or so.
Because he is is jealous that La Liga has rightfully took over the DPL as I call it.(Donkeys Premier Leauge)in coefficient points.
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/index.html
La LIga is easily the best league in the world.
Perhaps La Liga is too tactically evolved, even for a tactical genius such as Michael, there for even he struggles to analyse those games, unlike analysing a Sam Allardyce!
Lol just that might be it Trequartista
Or y’know it could just be the fact he’s English and happens to reside in England, making it the most logical league to cover…
And if you want to talk about tactical variety, shouldn’t you be talking about Serie A?
Harry,your 6 comments on why the premier league is rubbish and why la liga is good make you sound like a buffoon. Calm down. La liga just isn’t interesting enough to cover, which is why the epl has the highest viewing figures of any league. And as somebody has pointed out, if you are going for interesting tactical battles you would look at serie a. la liga is boring. Move on.
Tactically, LaLiga beats the EPL everyday! It is however understandable that Michael will focus on the EPL as he is able to generate a lot of responses, because most people will watch the EPL as compared to LaLiga, not because the league is interesting but because Sky has monopolised the viewership, even outside of the UK.
The EPL will make a good tactical anaylsis in marketing and PR!
Socgen La Liga is easily the most watched league in South America,you know a place that actually has a real football culture and history oppossed to the East Asia and Africa were the glory hunters are brainwashed by advertising to watch the EPL.Those people don’t understand the game and therefore just watch the league which is shoved down their throats every day.
To South America and real football fans.
La Liga isn’t boring, neither is EPL, the only boring thing is these endless debates.
Neither league is particularly competitive (You want competitive, watch the Brazilian league). In Spain, there is a big gulf between the “big 2″ and everyone else. BUT the gap between say, third place and 10th place is VERY small. It presents smaller teams (Mallorca at the moment for example) an opportunity for great advancement. Levante last year as well. And great teams can fall (Villarreal, a CL team last year, was relegated).
England has more “big” teams, hence there is a bit more unpredictability to who will win it. Not much, mind you. Chelsea and Man U have won the vast majority of the time in the past decade or so. And there is a bigger gulf between the haves and the have nots. Less opportunity for truly “small” teams to get into the top 8, or top 4.
So both have their strengths, flaws, etc. Stop being silly and let the arguments go. Whichever you prefer, I’m happy for you.
Harry,
I wouldn’t say the viewers are brain-washed into watching the EPL.
The fact is, up until about 5years ago, it was virtually impossible to watch anything else…no other league was being shown!
Without satellite TV, you get to watch the EPL…and even then, 75% of those games would be Man Utd games.
Presumably because Manu has the most fans? And then they use those figures to say the Man Utd games are the most watched…
I love the Real Madrid/Barca tactic of “having more money than anyone else”
ya they have the most money in the world to buy the tikki-taka philosophy eh?
i love how manure can spend 18m on Anderson 20m on Berba and 16m on Phil Jones, and still lose.
I’m not even a Man United fan but they won the league 2 years ago with Berbatov(20 goals if wikipedia is right)and Anderson in their team so I’m not sure what your point is. Because Man United spends a lot on players I can’t make fun of Madrid and Barca having a financial advantage over their whole league?
Are you implying that Chelsea, City, and United (basically the only teams that have won the league in the last decade) DON’T have much more money than anyone else? It’s the same as anywhere. Occasionally a “small” team will win it (Valencia did it like in 2001 or something) but not often. Your criticism makes no sense.
You’re working under the assumption that everyone who makes fun of La Liga’s imbalance is automatically a diehard EPL supporter. Frankly I just hate people who demand control over content that they don’t pay for.
You are saying Real and Barca wins due to their money.
Conveniently or blindly ignoring the fact that Barca has created a whole tiki-taka philosophy that is also used by Spain.
I’m sharing with you my opinion that manure wins due to their money too if i am as uncritical as you that is.
He writes a lot more know. He seems to write about 5 articles a week for a bunch of different publications. So I think he has less time to do these match reports.
Could it be because the EPL now has a growing number of innovative coaches and not simply coaches/managers whose primary role was simply to motivate the players?
I hope ZM sees this apparent criticism for what it really is; that readers value his knowledge and are disappointed when their favourite leagues are not covered.
We all want someone knowledgeable to bounce our ideas off…so big up, Michael.
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I thought Spurs were really poor in the second half. Their inability to keep the ball almost cost them a game they controlled completely in the first half. I thought Defoe, for all his intelligent running and hard work, should have been replaced for the last 20 minutes; Spurs desperately needed someone to hold the ball up and to press the United defenders. Fresh legs up front is often a strong defensive tactic for those reasons. From being in total control when they kept the ball, Spurs were lucky to hang on in the end. The lesson? Keep the ball.
Spurs don’t really have anyone to replace Defoe with – Ade would probably have been brought on if he wasn’t injured. The alternative would be to have played Dempsey up front alone and replace Defoe with another mid-fielder, which did in fact happen right at the end.
It was a new way for Spurs to play though (Dempsey up front alone) and it’s probably not a good time to experiment for 20+ minutes when you’re clinging onto a lead away to Man U.
What I’d like to hear from someone is why Spurs failed to press and dropped so deep in the second half. Is there a primary reason, or was it a combination? I can see many valid possibilities:
1) Man U formation change
2) Rooney being so effective
3) Giggs being so in-effective (ie. causing Man U to be effectively playing with 10 players)
4) Spurs physically tired from the first half of pressing
5) Spurs tactical change to allow Man U the ball more
6) Spurs mentally/emotionally tired after first half
7) Spurs panic due to weight of history/expectations/crowd noise/etc
How about,”all of the above”?
Concede possession and protect your lead, drop to your D-line, less space to cover, less energy required!
8)Spurs missing their first choice center (Kaboul) and left (BAE) backs making them less confident going froward as they would be scared of the repercussions on the counter
High pressing tires the players, especially the midfielders, in this case Dembele the most. With the blistering pace of the EPL, it’s harder to maintain for 90 minutes than say playing in another league. Drop the pressing means allowing a bit more control to United’s players. With Rooney and United’s movement being much better in the 2nd half, it becomes harder to snuff out the danger. The natural thing to do was to drop deeper, which in turn allowed United to push further up with more ball control. This in turn pushed Spurs further back, allowing United total control.
Ferguson seems to want to bring more play through the middle than ever before. But Evra has been dire for 2 seasons at least and is not ideal for this new change to the team’s style, as the full backs need to give width. Offensively and defensively, he is simply not good enough for this current change, as seen against Spurs and mighty Cluj. Then there is of course the bloody central midfield. Predictable criticism I know but they (Scholes & Carrick) are too passive and too reliant on the out-ball to the right wing, to ever utilise properly the movement Kagawa and to a lesser extent, RVP. The central midfield barely linked up with Kagawa, instead simply played their usual passive manner. Scholes & Carrick are making Kagawa’s life harder. Needs to have more faith in Anderson and Cleverly. One of them buzzing around and Carrick sitting, will do for now, as its getting easier and easier for sides to negate Carrick-Scholes, especially earlier on in games as they take ages to get settled into a tempo. Giggs? Well, me nodding my head every time I see his name on the starting sheet in central midfield or in a midfield that already has Scholes in it, should be enough to illustrate what I think. Sad state of affairs, regarding Giggs now.
It is going to be a long and frustrating wait getting this team to adapt to the changes that Fergie is making to the team’s style, in relation to the central areas. It is painful and unsurprising so far, the awkwardness and messiness of our displays now.
Another worrying trend, seen in the first half as well as being a long term problem, is the lack of pressing higher up, especially when we commit so many players forward. Because we don’t close/press efficiently enough from further forward and combine that with the high number of players we commit forward, it is far too easy to counter attack against a side that includes static Scholes and the lazy defending of Evra. The gaps are horrifying. Its like we don’t seem to realise that teams aren’t afraid to hit us quickly.
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I find it rather strange that people are not talking MORE about Man Utd’s appalling lack of coherent (or should i say synchronized) Pressing. Most of the time, I see many players ball watching. Even if someone tries to press, it seems hysterical since only that single one is trying to press & target’s passing options are left absolutely free. (just pay attention to Kagawa’s pressing).
I know I am not the first one to say this, but United are playing a dangerous game. Trying to rely only on your team’s shape to shut out opponents is never going to work. A lot is being talked about their attack, but perhaps we are forgetting that they are scoring alright, their problems lie in their defensive system. (Also it is worthwhile to note that when United were dominant some 3-4 years back, they had a long run of clean sheets & 1-0 wins.)
Maybe Ferguson will realize sooner that – “Static defences (or in Utd’s case, a Static Team) will never stand a chance against constantly moving attacks.” Hope it doesn’t take a really heavy defeat for him to realize this.