How Erik ten Hag BROKE Guardiola’s System. 

Remember when Ten Hag stated that he wanted to turn Man United into the best transitional team in the world? There you go. Today I witnessed genius transitional play.

Divok Origi was wild

If Ten Hag is sacked there's going to be a lot of bitterness against INEOS within the fanbase

The no look pass from Bruno for the 2nd was world class

Sir Alex went on to become a legend for Man Utd from nearly losing his job to winning the FACup… does history repeat itself?

Did I say Divock?! 😂😂😂 Had a shocker there

Eth system was so compacted city didn’t know what To do I was in disbelief

Divock Origi really made a difference when he came on

More wins then Klop and Guardiola in first 50 games. 2 trophies. Facing shit ton of injuries, left over garbage from the Glazers. Sancho + Ronaldo + Antony + Greenwood non sense. Stick with him.

Varane and Martinez have seen some poor results, but the general level of our performance increases significantly when those two play together. It’s night and day. Sad to see Varane go but incredible send off for him

I’m not a United fan, but I’ve always thought they should sack ten hag. This final made me rethink that though. This is basically ten hags first game with an almost fully fit squad and he managed to beat city convincingly. Sure, they were awful in the league, but so was arteta when he first took control of Arsenal. Give ten hag at least another season and then if he doesn’t get Europe again then sack him. Even if they did sack him, who would replace him? There isn’t many good options right now

City don’t like it when they’re pressed. Rodri said it in an interview, he said they don’t like it when they can’t play their game and aren’t in control. If teams actually go for City and don’t show them respect, they will make silly errors.

I'm in agreement about Amrabat, he got some horrendous balls pinged at him and he managed to control and distribute well and did some fantastic disruptive work against city's playmakers. I remember hearing/seeing someone talk about the ball in behind when Leicester went on their terrific title run and Vardy murdering defenders with pace and I feel the ball in behind tactic is often dismissed in modern football and incorrectly diagnosed as being boring/route one football and is tarred with the English managers who've used it in the past with big target men (even Mourinho used it with Drogba) and ETH has absolutely done Guardiola with it today. anytime City lose its a victory for football, not because I'm a hater but because of the 115 charges.

This is such an obvious way to beat pep’s team but no one ever does it. Genius actually

I think INEOS really believed Utd wouldn’t win this final and now they’ve really made a fool of themselves

Ten Hag and the players were collectively top class. Ten Hag won the tactical battle, and the players won every on-field battle. Totally unprecedented performance that nobody expected. Both the manager and the players deserve all the respect in the world for what they did. For future managers trying to beat Man City, just watch this game back, the blueprint of how to beat City is right there.

Personally, I'd like to give Ten Hag another season, though the structure hasn't been visible for most of the season, I think if we had another season with no injuries to key players, we could get back to the united of early last year when we were playing some good football.

Ppl have been saying eth has had no system all year but this not allowing the ball being sprayed thru the middle has been attempted by him since he came to utd it’s only in this game and Liverpool both games this season it’s worked Those saying he has no system don’t watch football intelligently Keep crying all you rival fans😂😂😂😂

I still can't believe how we won against the Juggernaut and Treble Winners of last season Ten Hag deserves credit he outplayed Pep tactically it's been a long time since we've won a final against a team this good what a performance, Garnacho and Mainoo were so good and i can't tell how well Licha played yesterday he handled Haaland really well proof that height doesn't matter to become a good CB he's our warrior Manchester will always be Red!

The whole season has been building up to this….the core players that ETH trusts and are capable played they have been practicing following instructions discipline, it was obvious that the plans were not surviving contact most of this season…but the manager persisted and the players kept on going…like a talented player/ a team is nothing if they cannot follow managers tactics…

Hardly remember foden even on the ball

Couldn’t believe it when I saw Klopp running on the field to hug Alisson, proves Divock Origis impact was huge!

I always liked AWB, he's got a specific skillset that I don't think suits possession-based football. But for games like yesterday, you couldn't ask for a better full back

Ambrabat's backpassing was on point this game, not only the first goal but all of it.

As a United Fan when they showed the Second goal replay I was amazed how both Kovacic and Foden just let Bruno run through the middle of the park un-marked. Ten Hag Master Class.

I think you have to look at our manager history the past 10 years and do something different. He has won us trophies. He has had the worst injury record in the premier league to deal with. He has brought through two very important players in Garnacho and Mainoo. The biggest criticism is honestly the signings and the direction they go with them, something INEOS themselves can address and should be focused on more than sacking Ten Hag.

I thought a mistake Manchester City made was not committing enough players in the wide areas. The narrow shape was good but they were vulnerable to the ball down the line and at instances in the final 5-6 minutes when City did commit players in the wide spaces a lot more especially down the left Wan Bissaka, Amrabat and Garnacho were pulled our of shape giving space for the center half's to progress further up the pitch and to give Rodri more impact on the game. More of those overlapping runs from Bernardo Silva or Gavrdiol would have been helpful

Congrats to Ten Hag i didnt think he had it in him but this is a very unique playstyle and it worked. He saved his career with this performance.

The spirit of Divock Origi still haunting Cup finals 🤣

The tactics from United were spot on. Verane and Martinez were solid all game. It’s a shame varane is at the end of his career and Martinez is injury prone. AWB I personally am not the biggest fan of, however, he was fantastic today. Didn’t give Doku a chance one on one. I actually think AWB is an average/poor attacking defender, but his tacking and marking is second to none. He is almost a TAA in reverse. Mainoo and Garnacho showing why we have hope at United, the youth is of the highest quality. Rashford in the first 45 played well too. Fernandes is the engine in the squad. Honestly, ever player put in a 8/9/10 performance to me. UTFR

What we did so well is playing from the back. We absolutely destroyed city's press with top quality passing and counter attacks. That is why you need your first choice centre backs. Martinez was important in ball playing. That playing wasn't possible if our centre backs were injured. That is why ten hag deserves more time. No manager will do well with so many injuries.

Ten Hag Masterclass ❤

We need to talk about Rashford cross field cross, I remember seeing something similar he did in an fa cup game against liverpool to Greenwood, simply sublime

Happy for ETH and United. Organized, motivated, and a little bit fortunate. Sounds like a proper game of futbol.

Tactically it was fantastic the whole first half city seemed clueless how to break them down while looking vulnerable to be hit on the counter attack and even in the second half their only attacking plan for the most part was giving the ball to Doku. They were restricted to actually just passing the ball about and not having space to move in to and if it wasn't for Onana's tiny mistake it would have been perfect. Not many people will give Ten Hag credit for it as they only think good tactics involve holding onto the ball and passing it around and many were more interested in trying to get him fired after than actually praising him.

I think Ten Hag massively overachieved with the players he had. He somehow manages to win the FA Cup with a tactical masterclass. I'd give him a ten year contract, just so United can continue this rebuilding process under him.

In simple terms, what i noticed...the city midfield was strangled. And United just attacked on the counter. You restrict KDB and Rodri and Foden...you are locked in. It was only when Doku came in..and they played from wide...that is when it cuased some trouble.

ETH in. What a masterclass

I knew when I saw Foden’s haircut city were going to lose

John Stones didn't come on. He started. Akanji came on

ETH just proved that managers in United ain't the issue. It's the players that don't perform, criticizes the manager through socials. I say rather than sacking the manager, sell Rashford to PSG and buy some defenders and a maybe a mid-field.

If this manager gets sacked prepare to have most of next seasons games closed off because we’re coming for your necks

In 20 years, the only time I could say Pep was naive, is when he put his best dribbling winger against Wan-Bissaka 😅

Best United game I've seen in years

still can't believe that divock origi is playing for Man City😂

This is exactly how Real Madrid dealt with City

Total football doesn’t spontaneously manifest over night

he outplays pep and klopp consistently. Game we lost vs city last time, he played the same formation he ended this game with, but the team ran out of energy by the 60th min and when he made subs it fell apart. He adjusted, players had to run less, he delayed subs 15 mins, saw out the game. If you fire him , it shows that its basically Glazers 2.0 with INEOS

Great analysis James!

Ten Hag deserves so much credit here. No one saw this coming. Unbelievable If he gets sacked now it will be more stupid than Pochettino’s sacking.

Anyone who wants Ten Haag to go has all the brain cells of those Arsenal fans that wanted Arteta out. He finished 8th twice but u could see what he was building. Ten Haag is trying to change us from a counter attack team to a team that plays football. We don’t have the players to do that and it’s gonna take time.

Might be worthy of note. The last team to outplay City and, if I remember correctly, beat them in the league was Villa. Playing a narrow 4-4-2 in defence and limiting their potent attack. Then breaking with pace and width. ETH taking a leaf out the Emery play book

Dalot pretty much said this: "We knew if we closed the middle and allowed them to play from the outside it could get easier for us and knew the spaces were in behind them."

Really Great video man, really enjoyed the breakdown of this. Regarding Ten Hag, the fact that the club is broke and you have to pay him off, and pay another guy to come in, the fact that he’s won back to back trophies, the fact he’s bringing in the youth which have been absolutely superb this season, the fact that he has the balls to make these decisions and sometimes decisions which seem weird but then work, and the fact that all the replacement candidates are all worse managers (in my opinion), the injury crisis which is absolutely ridiculous and ANY manager would have struggled, if they get rid of him, then they look like a right bunch of unknowledgeable twats who don’t care what the fans think

My only complaint is that he should have changed his system long before the final. Everyone could see that 4231 was not working if he had switched to 442 earlier in the season we would have had more points and goals

Love your analysis of the game. Spot on. ETH deserves to continue next season

When is it time to admit Walker is a terrible defender who hides his massive liabilities cause of his recovery pace.

To answer your questions James: 1) Possibly, there's a chance the players have known since the Palace game that he's gone though - there weer rumours of this. I know EtH has come out and said publicly that theres been no communication, but I don't think thats true personally. If he stays, however, I do think that what he says about being told he will stay is true, BUT then it makes the speaking to other manager leaks more confusing. 2) I think he should go. Even with the injuries, the performances this season have been unacceptable. The way we have been playing is by design too and that makes it so much more unforgivable. Every single week drained more and more of my support for him until I could no longer say "I'm EtH in". He coached us to an xPoints of 15th not 16th by some metrics and that is just not on. Conceding 20-30 shots every single game is not on. TO win this game, United reverted back to the pragmatic style of last season (think the 2-1 against liverpool, and city and the 3-1 against arsenal all at home, as well as the 1-0s against southampton and i think leicester early on in the season). EtH has made it clear thats not how he wants us to play, and thats fine, I would agree. The problem is, how we've been this season is actually how he wants us to play. Now, would we be better with better and more physical players? Absolutely. The problem is, i think in the PL, we would need a team of Declan Rice equivalents in every single position to consistently do what he wants.Even then, you would have gaps in the midfield because he doesn't want to commit to a full press. I also think if united had someone as technically and physically good as Rice in every position (and tailored to that positions), you could basically play any way and win. The gaps in midfield and fullbacks not joining the press happened at Ajax too, but they could get away with it because they were just the best team in the league, and players arent anywhere near as physical in that league so it doesn't matter if those gaps exist as much as it does over here.I don't think we should judge Erik in these one off games where, if city turned up properly, United could very well have been pasted. INEOS have already made their decision. The news coming out to the public is defo not something they wanted, but I think they kept any news quiet for a long time. It was only when Brighton and Chelsea had their managers go did the news amp up, strongly hinting that INEOS want McKenna as a manager. Time will tell whether the decision is correct or not, it certainly wasn't the easy decision, but its the ballsy one and it may very well turn out to be right. Hiring someone like McKenna, if thats the choice, is smart i think. IF they see potential in him, which I think a lot of clubs do tbf, then it makes sense to get him in. It also takes some pressure off expectations to win the league straight away, that if united hired a Tuchel lets say, may be there. United may well hire tuchel, and that may be a good decision too as I think he's an unbelievable coach who is still young... This last bit of the message has gone a tad off topic but I think INEOS know what they want to do, who they want to hire and i believe they have done their homework. It will be sad to see Erik go, if it happens, but I believe that is the right decision. I'm willing to be wrong though, If INEOS back him then bring on season 3! (Just please don't make me watch a gaping hole in midfield for 60 games again...) CHeers for the video James

Divock Origi?

I speak for the majority of United fans when I say keep Ten Hag, he’s been our best manager post Fergie and has won us 2 trophies in 2 years after winning nothing for 6 years. Sacking him would be one of the worst decisions in football, we love you Erik ❤️

Ten Hag deserves another season with the new proper structure around him. Tinfoil hat time: INEOS might have pulled a Coleen Rooney with all the leaks?

Divock Origi out of nowhere corner taken quickly!!

if Casemiro didn't track the run like Kovacic we'd be hearing about it for weeks.

I have been waiting KING!

This video is a brilliant breakdown of how Manchester United were able to win this game and how Ten Hag outsmarted Pep. Thanks for making it, it was a great watch especially as a Manchester United fan.

Ten Hag should stay another season.

Tactics is a best way to win trophies not possession. Mourinho won so many trophies by tactics not possession. So Ten Hag is correct candidate to end trophies draught at Old Trafford. Arteta has a good possession but won nothing in the past five years

Eth must stay a huge amount of injuries and a cup

@JamesLawrenceAllcott I'm glad you credited AWB for his run into the space on the second goal. He plays a major role in making a 3v3 into a 4v3 and leaving Stones with two. Kovacic was really poor here but Foden has some blame as well. He sees Bruno and is closer to him but doesn't go with him either. They don't communicate and neither covers. I also think you should be pointing out how poor Walker was on this play. He's overly concerned with Rashford and looks over his shoulder, he never considers AWB's run until it's too late. He looks up and sees 3v3 and jogs it back. When he notices AWB's run, it's too late, he tries to catch up but he should have been paying attention to that and sprinting back to at least get to a 4v3 defensive superiority. He was satisfied with even numbers and took the play off. He's culpable. He's supposed to be the captain. He's escaping blame here.

Divock origi motm for me despite city losing

Last season was more like this after the Liverpool humbling…ETH abandoned his philosophy and this season was application especially for “smaller teams “ for game control and management…so he has the keeper now and most of the season only 6 players on average in their proper positions..not ideal but you get 6 players implementing it when the other 4 return the environment will be there

ETH is the best coach for Man utd for the next 5 season.

Ten hag got a standing ovation from pep and his side as someone had better tactics than him for a match. We can only hope it continues

We stand with ten hag ❤️

You’re so mean…you just couldn’t resist mentioning Arteta😂😂😂 Love it! 😂😂😂

A Ten Hag Masterclass

Fernandes post that hand injury break has been phenomenal. That rest has done him wonders. So important that we have atleast 2 players for every position

Lets be serious here, i am extremely happy with the win... BUT, United sat back and played no differently then Burnley would have done. And the transitions and the counter attack was incredibly slow, and it was obvious no United player knew what to do if they suddenly and unexpectedly won the ball. The first goal was a City mistake, and a screamer at that. The second goal was pretty good from Rashford and Bruno, and of course mainoo who put it in. But i felt City was completely turned off, United was tight as hell in the middle.. and City didnt cross it or put it into Haaland one time.. City was toothless until Doku came on. And from there it became dangerous. But happy with the win, but this was NOT a masterclass, like seriously.

Antony makes a counter attack worse as he has no ability to cross the ball. Boy has no right foot. Diallo would’ve been better than Mctominay. Lucha made a huge difference in the overall team attitude.

Wan bisaka was the man of the match. Doko is frightening and he handled him all game, even his goal should have been saved

This was the way Spurs consistently beat Man City in London,defend deep,hit them on the break. Then Impostercoglu the clueless came along and said we are going to go Gung Ho despite the fact that he didn’t have the players to do it. Many of the Managers in the PL use tactics appropriate to the players they wish they had,not the players they’ve got. That’s why we don’t dominate European football.

Do you not think it was a ferguson performance today? Theres only one man in the world who could get that extra 30% from that team...Alex Ferguson

Could see it within minutes space was all out wide, Doku needed to be out there you could even make an argument for Grealish needing to play.

Pep taking one for the league.

People talk about the importance of a fit squad without specifically mentioning Martinez. Gotta give Erik some credit for getting that player there btw. Hope ineos can setup a proper scouting and transfer dept so Erik can enjoy a well deserved summer break

EtH IN ❤

Mainoo goal against newcastle was same set and bruno actually did a dummy in that case ball was on target with pace rolled right to Mainoo. Chefs kiss...Bruno is is star bom dia vamos !!!

David beat Goliath! 😂

the 424 formation is unreal...been playing for the last 4 weeks or so, not an attacking 4 2 4 but its working given the players that we have.

The Attack Momentum bar was really surprising to me. Yes City had the majority of the ball but they rarely felt like a threat offensively. United were in control of that game from the 1st minute until the last. Genius defensive and counter attacking football (maybe inspired by Ancelotti?)

For me, two huge things happened that won us the game. 1) Citys were their most threatening when one of Foden or KDB would go to the other side to overload with the other 8 - this wasnt done enough (no it wasnt doku, hes in wan bissakas pocket). 2)Rashfords and Garnachos threat in behind made Guardiolas use of width much more precautionary, therefore nullifying their own attack (my theory as to why ten hag started marcus in the first place - he forced guardiolas hand) Also appreciation for mainoo and amrabat for making KDB and Foden out the game

Was a typical Goliath v underdog, and thats football! Sometimes the underdog wins and thats why we love football! Also felt like man utd clearly wanted it, city didn't care

17:43 many blame Onana. But in reality he just can't see the ball coming there are so many body blinding the sight.

With our 1st pair centre back pairing of Varane and Martinez. We are 5w 1d 1l this season, I feel we would of finish top 4 if both where at the same time this season

To answer your question, Jim, the majority of the Man United fanbase, including me, say Ten Hag in.

You don't need a video on this, it ain't rocket science. The manager simply compacted the side into a solid defensive unit, with no gaping gaps between the lines, as has been the case all season, and the team injected some hard graft. Now, either the manager is so tactically inept as to not have instructed them to do this all year, or the players, only decided to put a shift in yesterday, knowing he's going to be sacked. It's amazing how motivated players become when they are looking at a transfer down the division.

There's a lot of arguments why EtH should stay, but whether you think he should or not, your opinion shouldn't change based on one game.

His tactics consisted of (a) getting the ball to Doku and hoping he figures something out (b) CBs trying to recreate the Kompany 2019 moment Roy Keane is gonna have a field day with another big game ghosting by Haaland. Spent most of the game just waiting for them to pass him the ball instead of trying to drop deep or make different runs to get it himself.

New subscriber here . Your analysis is second to none . Thanks !

The problem with being top-dog is EVERYONE and their mums is studying how to destroy you