Why Ten Hag's Man United Can't Defend 

"As open as will Smith's marriage" 😂😂😂😂

What a comment! "Sheffield Utd who might as well have a ball-gag in their mouth for the amount they like being dominated"

Will Smith deserves "Why always me" more than Balotelli

Adam's personality makes those analysis enjoyable!

I think a large part of ten Hag abandoning a high defensive line like he played at Ajax is due to Martinez being injured all season. You'd have to be mad to try a high line with a back line that includes Harry Maguire and Johnny Evans. They just can't get back in time if someone gets past.

But this isn't Ten Hag's "forever" philosophy; he played with two very high centre halves at Ajax, one covering each channel on the half way line. He started at Man Utd with the same system but abandoned it very quickly because he got smashed by Brentford and Brighton I think it was - and then Martinez got injured and he's got a crocked Varane who can't turn and Maguire who is an oil tanker at the best of times and a 38 year old Jonny Evans as his options.

I’ve got a season ticket for United and this video was pretty much spot on. The really annoying thing is, it’s so bloody obvious. Everyone can see it other than ten hag.

He wants his defenders to play a high line but cant with these bunch they dont have the pace to do it he needs to play a different style until he gets the players required to play that way.

Brilliant video as always. I would like to see a Ten Hag comparison at Ajax. I don't think what he's doing now is his philosophy. I think he doesn't have the defence that's required to play high. He also doesn't have the talent up top to sit deep like Mourinho would. It's just awful squad building.

This sums up the issue with Man United so well. Can’t control games, can’t sustain attacks, can’t stop conceding chances. It’s just not sustainable for success. Your gambling games away by saying we’ll score more than you. Either they need to recruit better athletes, or the manager has to go.

Will smith’s marriage 😭😭

In addition, Manchester United are 5th worst in xGA. Because of great goalkeeping they have been rescued very often. Man U 1.65 xGA, Brentford 1.67, Luton 1.77, West Ham 1.81, Sheffield United 1.87.

These are brilliant videos. You make it really clear and the illustrations are cool. Awesome.

Nice video and it’s very refreshing to see this a united fan. For the most part, the offense is really close to how we want to play which is winning balls up top and generating volumes of 1v1s. Erik however do not trust the defense hence defending deep which leaves that wide open gap between the backline & midfield. Also important to know that in this system you be asked to cover a lot distance as a DM which explains why Case is struggling. This is a personnel issue on the back line and with the right personnel this will be fixed. Some like to use the fancy term “rest defending”. Read between the lines in Erik’s press conference earlier this year when he started praising Maguire as being “proactive”. Thats rest defending, paying attention when we have possession and quick to step in when we lose the ball. It’s good to see the data highlight the similarities between Erik and Klopp’s Liverpool cos I think that’s the exact goal. We have to be committed to a style to see a style of play. Like every growth, there will be some pains but when the right pieces come together it will be a beautiful site. We are talking about United scoring teams like 7 goals especially with the amount of 1v1 we generate up top. It’s evident this year in the goals fest games we’ve been in. I believe this will work guys, it needs time and the right personnel and I’m here for it. Reason the manager keeps talking about the “bigger picture”

Great video and graphics!

Utd fan and agree with most of this. My hope is that when Martinez and Shaw are fit, Dalot plays, and we have bought another pacey CB to replace Varane we can play a higher backline without the fear of being hung by runners and a ball over the top. Until we have a fit and pacey backline we are a bit stuck. He could risk onana playing sweeper keeper but it's a ballsy move for someone hanging onto his job. Interesting stuff as always mate 👍

great visualisations 👌

Great content as always

This is why I think Ten Hag will get sacked. De Zerbi-edly so. Tactically you would get sacked from league 2 sides playing like this. It's inexcusable. Also think it has cobtributed to some of our injuries. We do a lot of needless running

Excellent video 🎉🎉

Another brilliant video 🙂

Please keep doing this please United. It's really funny to see you get your hopes up when you get a good streak and see those hopes crash and burn over and over.

Though I agree with the problems, I don't necessarily share your take on replacing Ten Hag. He's facing the worst injury crisis of all time at Utd, so we've not seen the full potential of his system. To his credit when he has his ideal back line (last season) or first 3 games of the year, the defense is excellent. I remember when you claimed Chelsea were going to win the premier league this season, the statistics only paint part of the picture and its obvious to anyone that while Utd aren't great, they're not relegation level bad in terms of controlling games.

Great vid

I think that the points in this vid are 💯 spot on! 👌 So a tweak to the teams overall defensive positioning could/should alleviate much of the inbalance that man utd experiences. Maybe some sort of DC/Sweeper, to support the def mid. Meaning also then that the right/left back dont stay too wide, so they form more of a two-three back line.

Damn this makes me realize how good Onana actually is as a goalkeeper

I think ten hag wants man united to be a high pressing team but he’s scared of his defense as most of them are slow and are more suited to for a low block approach which ends up result to this half and half structure. He has to decide on one and build on it

Quite an eye-opener. Was wondering how Man U managed to finish 3rd last year despite often looking poor, but comments below suggest the defence was playing a higher line whereas current defence can't do it. So that seems to leave 2 options; pull the forwards back (some aren't great at pressing anyway) or fill the central gap. How about 4-2-2-2? Basically it seems that Man U are simply getting outnumbered in midfield by any good team with a decent game plan. Is Ten Haag adaptable enough? Does he really not have any other defensive or box-to-box midfielders? (McTominay maybe).

Great video and insight. As a utd fan I worry ETH is just gonna follow this tactical approach through to oblivion

That ball gag jibe at sheff utd, really did make me chuckle.

10:18 it’s amazing how the opponent always has complete control of united’s penalty area. It is no wonder they face so many shots on target.

City, Liverpool, Arsenal, spurs do the same thing, they press high on the pitch but the different is 1. Most of their player press with higher intensity and they have player who able to win the duel more 2. When the attacker and midfielder press then the defender join the press Squeeze the opponent and makes little gap between the lines. While United CB: lindelof - Varane - maguire they cant join the press because they cant cover big space behind because they are slow 3. Most of the team have better stamina while United player don't, they could press for 20-30 minutes after that they get tired. Solution: get rid off most of the player because physicaly they don't suit to play in high intensity high pressing football in EPL. And also Ten hag do have the style of play which direct transition football, the problem is the player cant execute the plan well. In other hand United cant also play passing movement like city because the player arent suit to that style also.

It is more complicated than that - the red devils are not compact length wise, but also width wise. So the pressing structure is no good, the rest defense is no good, it will not be fixed with just be compact shifting upfront or on the back. Their opponents have time on the ball, and that gives them possibilities to create more dangerous situations, and Man United are always in chasing mode.

To be fair, it's not that the playing style is wrong or doesn't work. The problem is that he needs pacey midfielders that will be able to run back and outrun the opponent players in possession of the ball. That's why it was imperative for him to bring in Frenkie De Jong. And I can understand his desire for Amrabat. If you watched him in the WC, he was exactely that: he was passing the ball around, and chasing back like his life depended on that. That way, you'd have (alongside with Mainoo) two player that cover the place between our box and the middle circle. I would definitely give a good run with Amrabat and Mainoo side by side, only to test if it solves the problem of the emptiness in front of our box. OR a run with Mainoo and Mount, giving Mount the task of being an 8, mainly focused on filling up spaces in the midfield and helping the build up. Here's where Casemiro fails miserably. He was NEVER a pacey midfield. He played at Real Madrid sitting between the defense line and Modric-Kroos. For Brazil, he also plays sitting back with another defensive midfielder running around for him - Paulinho in 2018, Fred in 2022. For Ten Hag's tactics, Casemiro is definitely the wrong guy. With that said, he also needs mobile defenders that can build up from the back - Martinez being the best example of it. Varane can't build up, Maguire can't run to save his life. I don't know about Kambwala, but that's where Koundé or De Ligt would fit. I still believe the tactics aren't the biggest problem there, but Ten Hag needs a good summer transfer window, bringing in players to solve this issue AND proper backups.

Good analysis, only thing is I doubt he wants the defenders to be so deep, but unfortunately all the defenders at the club are either old or without pace and cant chase down a forward if they run beyond them, hence the deeper starting positions. If there was a Van De Ven or Kyle Walker, I believe the defence would be much closer than they currently are

Thank you!!!! Yet it’s always the players fault when they’re put into a loosing situation from a tactical standpoint

My own problem with all this is that every single person involved in football tactical discussion for the past 5-6 months has talked about the lack of compaction from Manchester United. Compaction is a very very very essential part of defending in any system. If you're pressing high you squeeze up so there's less space for the opposition to play and if you're not pressing high you sit back and play very narrow so there's less space for the opposition to play in. All my knowledge of football tactics comes from messing about with player instructions on fifa 22 and watching random videos during lunch. Ten Haag and his team are definitely seeing this problem if my inept eyes are? The fix is very easy squeeze up or sit back. There has to be some reason (valid or not) that they are not doing this.

This guy’s script writing is class. Great watch baked

If ten hag wants us to play this way then he has to go because we are so easy to play against teams are rubbing their hands when they play us

Just the 23 shots faced today. Against Everton. At home. Whats ridiculous is that there are still huge numbers of truly deluded Twitter fans who are convinced this is a personnel issue and not a tactical one 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

ETH is not ALWAYS going to play like this. Last season we played with a high line, when Martinez was fit. This current tactical setup is NOT his philosophy, but has evolved because or circumstances out of his control, ie, we should have signed KMJ to cover defence depth, and he cannot control injuries.

Could you do a video on his Ajax team? I’m keen to know why his Ajax team was so good from back to front with good organization in defensive press and just immaculate in transition.

keep Ten Hag , give him a season with more players and u are right about everything. united fan

Best video

You are totally wrong. At the start of the season the defence was much higher. He changed it to this set up because of the replacement players. They can’t run fast enough to close down attacks

Man Utd are my wee team and you're spot on - only thing to add though is Varane, Maguire and Evans are really slow - add in Casemiro hence the defence sitting deep

In Ten Hags defense I do not believe he wants to play a deep defensive line. It is a simple fact that you can't play a high defensive line with at least one of Maguire, Lindelof and Evans as your CBs. Not only do they lack the pace to recover balls in behind Maguire and Lindelof aren't good enough with the ball at their feet to justify playing them that high up the pitch. So the obvious solution would be to play more defensively as a team relying solely on counters. But that has proven to piss off the fans, just look back to Mourinho and Van Gaal. So

United should form in a 3-4-2-1 and that would basically solve the most issues. If both the wingback support every single attack and defense like Ancelloti's Milan.

Makes complete sense. - I know you're not ass pulling figures or anything here.. it's just facts and what better to show this is within the opta data.. like you said, either play with a high line or play with a low block and on the counter attack. - hopefully ETH will change his tactics but we shall see.

Great video but it’s what we all know already! Hopefully Manu can buy a couple of pacey CB’s in next transfer window to play the high line Ten Hag used to

11:35 Hes an Ai..

We just don't have mobile enough players to do what Ten Hag wants; on paper Varane & Licha are mobile enough to play a high line but with them injured we have Maguire, Evans who cannot play a high line without leaving huge gaps. This has meant midfielders need to be able to be run ragged to cover the gap, so Eriksen has been sidelined & Casemiro& Amrabat look slow despite reading the game well. Our most energetic midfielder (Fred) was sold in the summer so we struggle to cover that gap. We need another transfer window to get some pacy Centre Back cover, to enable us to close that gap and stop our midfield being exposed. We couldn't do that in Jan because we didn't have £ available under FFP.

Good analysis! While I do agree United don’t control games I think your reasoning for it isn’t entirely correct - 1. Why do you use shots faced as a metric to answer “do United control games”? Why not use field tilt? Or xG faced? I don’t think shots faced is necessarily a bad metric but are there better metrics you can use? Also shots faced doesn’t tell me about the quality of shots, distance from which they were taken and any indicator of game state. I don’t know if the results would necessarily turn out any different but just using shots faced as a metric is just seems like an incomplete approach. 2. You mention Erik Ten Hag’s philosophy is pressing high and defending in a low block. However, you don’t offer any context into the personnel and injury issues the team has had. Without Martinez, Lindelof, Shaw, and Varane (albeit less so) the back line has mostly featured slower CBs in Maguire and Evans. Couple that with Casemiro’s loss of pace and you begin to understand why we can’t defend in a higher line. This is a mischaracterisation of Ten Hag’s philosophy and you can watch several of his interviews where emphasises the need to maintain a high line and play out from the back.

We had Evan, McGuire and Varane. We have to play deep. But if we play deep… we don’t progress.

The only defence I'd have for Ten Hag, is during the games when we've started Licha and Varane without hobbling on injuries, we've played a much higher line, I suspect the reason for such a deep defensive line is due to the incapabilities of the defenders he has to hand. Watch the recent 3 wins we had with Dalot, Varane, Licha and Shaw, Dalot was almost used as a CDM higher up the pitch in possession. I think he wants to play a higher line, but realises that Johnny Evans and Harry Maguire aren't realistically going to be able to do it

Great work. Just shows that the recruitment department at United doesn't function. Casemiro 30plus and surplus to requirements after 18 months is brought in instead of Rice who has the legs but cost more.

You got it wrong Ten hag wants high defending line its just martinez thats injured and he playes either johny evans whos 35 or maguire which is 31 and results to being very very slow so the players cant adapt and drop back and lose on the midfield because of dropping back too much.. also a big factor of losing the midfield is rashford most of the times wont track back and maino or casemiro has to mark 2 players more which leads to make them choose one choice of action.

Make a video on best managers for manchester united

this video made me understand why Eth is sticking this style and why we have conceded less goals despite have the most shots conceded in the league and why its not fully his fault and why we are crap in buildup.

The fact he wants this exact same style is what scares the most. He has chosen a style that has way too many limitations and compliments few players in the team yet the manager has set his stall and doesn’t want to change. I doubt he’ll last longer if Ineos ask the right questions

We need to change manager - the tactics just don't work, we are overall just not very good. Of course, we also need changes in the general set up and Ratcliffe is don't just that. Both are needed.

This has been a problem since before Ten Hag. Its f**kin embarassing.

if ten hag gets the players he want like he wanted De Jong but United gave him Casemiro.. with the right players this system will work

As a manchester United supporter I feel this is the way to go but we need a more mobile central DEF and MID, I don't think casemiro and varane are the people for this

Do you happen to watch United Real Therapy or MUFC Realist TV? This is basically what we have been talking about every show since the first game of the season against Wolves.

Now we've a slim chance to make top 4 cos the players want it but EtH is the reason why we've lost so many games at the half way point cos he's hanging his players out to dry & he's at fault for 5 out of the 9 losses due poor summer transfers where we want 6 players & only got 3, poor team selection, poor squad usages & poor game management so his Job is definitely under review due to his underperformance as Manager of our Club! It's best for EtH & his team to pack their bags & go back to Ajax & reinvent himself & bring back Ole & his new Management team (Ole & the 3 wise men).

so you re telling me ETH is setting up his defense to fail ? do Harry Maguire , Johnny Evans and Raphael Varane have top class recovery pace ? or passing ability or composure on the ball in tight spaces while being pressed ? should I also add that we are relying on Dalot on the right hand side constantly and that our two LBs have been MIA for the entire season?

Which stats do you for your analysis...?

Bring back Ole's the best Manager since SAF & his time were the best time, all he needs is a new Management who can look after him & our interests cos he definitely wouldn't roll over like EtH did last night, don't forget he has unfinish business to attend too. Keep it in the family!

I dont blame Ten Hag for the defensive issues this season. I however blame him to a poor attacking patterns when in the final third. So clear the players are just iprovising when attacking.

Create over-loads on the side you're playing on to create better chances so you can score more. Defensively would almost be the same as Rashford doesn't track back anyway.

One thing I'd like to add is that United second to only Arsenal in terms of giving away high scoring probability chances, so the defense is doing a good job overall. I don't think that ten Hag's approach works overall and I thinks it's best to part way in the summer if they find a more suitable manager

as much as i agree we need to stick to one philosophy of pressing and possession, youre really disregarding the fact how slow our centre back pairings are. since martinez has been injured, we have had to play johnny evans, maguire, and at times even lindelof who are all slow. to play a high back line to condense the space for midfield, we need faster centre halves, or at least ONE like martinez back. idk how well ten hag realises this tho

Ten Hag doesn't want to play with a low block though he wants to have a higher line but hasn't had the players to do it. That's why United always look significantly better when Martinez is in the lineup and why he wanted to get rid of maguire and bring another cb (Kim min jae, Todibo etc)

Ten Hag's play is basically a YOLO football 😂

Please do a video about how Roberto De Zerbi would line up if he was Max United manager 🙃

As a Liverpool fan, I think ETH is doing a bang on job at ManUnited 👍 p.s Please don't sack ETH

ETH has won 8 games out of 10 this year alone and drawing none with the injuries he has wtf is wrong with everyone

So ten hag demand his whole midfielder to play like park ji sung and kante, where they expected to run around for 90min non stop

The number of chances a team faced doesn't really matter. What more important is how dangerous are those chances. So it kinda disingenuous to say that our MU defense is bad. We are "only" midtable for xg conceded, not that high but it isn't 18th in the league. Also ten hag style is pressing not pressing and low block. We only have to play low block due to the absence of martinez.

I don't know why Hag was hold on longer than other manager

But I don't understand what the reason is? There was nothing like that at Ajax, nothing like that at Utrecht. And anyway, it's stupid, everyone realises that. What's changed?

ETH doesnt want a low block its the only way our current defs can defend comfortably

Love that this was uploaded after the “How Man UTD can beat Man City” video 😭

The problem is ETH’s ping-pong football strategy. He and only he is responsible for their playing style and total lack of defensive strategy.

Shouldn't it be "they are winning games they should be losing"?

To play his style, the team needs patience and midfielders that are press resistance and hold the ball. The current mid are giving away the ball too much

I think we deserve a video on why we are bad on the ball especially!!

The problem is that evans, maguire and lindelof while good this season are too slow to play a high line, and we arent defensively good enough to play deep and counter every game

You diagnose the problem semi-correctly but ignore the reason for it (hint: it's not the manager and probably the insane injury crisis that's been season-long and the constant off-field drama). The midfield gap is a problem, but what's the solution? Well, United fans are sick of park-the-bus counter-attack football, so pushing the forward line back gets him the sack because he's just doing what every other failed manager has done at our club. Ok, so push the defensive line forward right? Well, that's not an option because Maguire, Evans, and Lindelhof have no recovery pace, so we'd just lose every game and he gets the sack. Well, what's the solution? Keep the manager and get players that can do what he and the fans want i.e. the very style of play he's trying to enforce. Accept that ETH's current approach is him playing the hand he's been dealt to the best of the available team's abilities whilst still catering to what the fans demand. I don't think we should lower our standards as fans to cater to an average squad, or replace the manager and repeat the cycle we've gone through for the past decade.

I don't know why but since SAF left, under Moyes, LVG, Mourinho, and ETH now... It keeps getting apparent that MU squad is too specialized in counterattacking football. Like, no matter the managers or the signings, they always ends up playing their best when they play counterattacking.

7:57 we aren't looking too good either huh *laughs in Bee*

I don't think Ten Hag WANTS to play with that low defensive line. He just have to because the defensive players sucks (at least with martinez and shaw out, no LB and players like Maguire as stand-ins). You could argue he should change his tactics though.

Actually thought Utd defended quite well against City, it was much more like a proper low block and especially in the first half they had chances on the counter. Yes they still conceded a lot of shots but there were some great blocks and last ditch tackles in there. Couldn't fault the effort for once

Adam, I think ETH "needs" his defense to play deep, not "wants", due to the available personnel.

You didn't talk about the glaring issues in defense that force ten hag to play a deeper back line than he would like. Apart from Shaw and Martinez, our players are either too flat-footed or nowhere near the quality needed to support the kind of transitional tactics ten hag would like to play. Regarding Ten Hag's comments to the media, I want to believe he doesn't think he owes them any explanation. I want to believe that up front he backs his players and tactics to the fullest to keep confidence, but behind the scenes likely gives both the critical eye necessary to keep things going and developing.

Anyone else notice that from thode tables players dribble past TAA for fun and lfc fans would have you believe he's the best wing back ever 😂

You have to assume Dave Brailsford knows this and should be doing something about it.

That also explains the negative or 0 GD.

man utd can't defend while we everton can't score, perfect