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Home > Blog Post > Manchester United vs Crystal Palace – What did we Learn From Rangnick’s First Game | In-Depth Match Analysis

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace – What did we Learn From Rangnick’s First Game | In-Depth Match Analysis

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace, Man United, Crystal Palace

Manchester United overcame a resilient Crystal Palace 1-0 at Old Trafford. This was United’s first game under interim manager Ralf Rangnick. The Red Devils put up a bright performance and completely dominated proceedings. The game gave us a fair idea of what Rangnick seeks to implement at the club and highlighted certain issues that will need to be tended to.

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
Image Obtained via The Guardian

Formation and Line-Ups:

The hosts started with an unchanged XI from their 3-2 win against Arsenal. Crystal Palace started the game in a 4-3-3 shape. Patrick Vieira made two changes from their previous game against Leeds, Christian Benteke and Nathaniel Clyne came into the team at the expense of Odsonne Edouard and Joel Ward.

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
Image obtained via: fbref.com

Attacking Shape:

The Red Devils lined up in a 4-2-2-2 shape in possession. Sancho started on the left but swapped positions with Bruno to the right early on. Ahead of them, Ronaldo and Rashford played as the centre-forwards.

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
Manchester United Starting XI Against Crystal Palace

They tried to play out from the back very quickly. They progressed the ball well, trying to spread the field vertically. Rangnick’s front four were very flexible and allowed to switch positions with each other constantly.

During the initial stage of build-up, the far-side full-back often dropped deep to form a 3-man backline. The near side full-back pushed higher up to provide a direct passing option that allowed United to advance quickly.

Fred and Mctominay played differing roles. Fred often dropped to the left of the centre-backs, covering for Telles who played in an advanced role. McTominay played in a box-to-box role. The Scottish midfielder was the closest in proximity to Dalot when United attacked down the right-wing.

Fred and McTominay drove higher up the field to provide an additional passing option in the final third. Diogo Dalot often tucked into the midfield as well. The centre-backs, Lindelof and Maguire, often stepped up and joined the midfield as well.

Similar to the Arsenal game, their attacks were focused down the left wing. Ronaldo and Sancho operated on the right half-space and drifted into central spaces. Bruno Fernandes and Rashford operated on the left, with Telles providing an option on the overlap. This is evident as United’s attacks were heavily concentrated down the left wing.

Image via: WhoScored.com

One of the biggest problems faced by Manchester United against Crystal Palace was the lack of width. Sancho and Rashford were playing in fairly central roles. Manchester United created width by using side-overloads.

Crystal Palace were forced to defend in a 4-5-1 shape. Ayew and Zaha pinned back deep into their own half. Benteke as centre-forward lacked the speed to outpace Maguire and Lindelof on the break. This allowed United to press even higher up with the ball.

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
Higher volume of touches in the attacking half (Image Obtained via WhoScored.com)

Manchester United took up a 2-4-4 shape in attack. They showed clear intent to drive the ball forward as quickly as they could. Manchester United did this well in their own third under minimal pressure. However, in the crowded midfield, the cracks were visible. On several occasions, Fred, McTominay and Sancho made poor passes that went unfinished.

In the final third, the biggest issue for the hosts was the lack of a true 9. Rangnick’s men retained the ball well and forced Palace deep. However, coming up against a solid back-4, they lacked clarity in ideas and quality in execution. The burden of chance creation fell upon individual creativity, rather than a cohesive system that could help carve out spaces in the opposition defence. There were a few key problems for Manchester United in possession:

  • Alike Profiles: Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford have a few things in common. The front 4 are all very good with the ball at their feet, but not as effective at attacking and creating spaces. The Manchester United lacked a sort of profile that could pin back the opposition defence, receive the ball in the box and hold off Crystal Palace centre-backs, and most importantly, open up spaces in and around the box for the other forwards to attack.
  • Lopsided Attack: Their left-heavy attack ended up becoming a bit predictable in the eyes of the Palace defence. Vieria’s men were able to close down spaces by creating overloads of their own. The Eagles shifted to a 4-4-2 late in the first half, with Zaha and Benteke pressing higher up. This was because Dalot was not as much a threat for most parts while Ayew, Schlupp and Clyne guarded the opposing flank.

Due to these reasons, United were largely restricted to attempting crosses from around the box. This, however, was not a viable option as they had far too few options to actually cause problems to Guehi and Tomkins. United also took a lot of shots from sub-optimal positions. 8 of their 16 shots came from outside the penalty box. Only 3 of the 16 attempts were on target.

Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
United Shot Zones (Image Obtained Via WhoScored.com)

Defensive Structure:

Arguably, the most anticipated prospect from Rangnick’s first game was how United would set up without the ball and the German manager gave the fans an exciting trailer of what could be expected from his side in the coming months.

The Eagles looked to build from the back in the early stages. United countered this with a 4-2-2-2 shape in defence. The Red Devils registered 150 pressures in the game. This was well above their league average of 126.2 pressures per game. The basic principles were to:

  • Cut Passing Lanes in the Centre: Ronaldo and Rashford often started in narrow positions while pressing. This meant Palace could not directly start attacks by playing the ball to Kouyate. This forced Guaita to play the ball to Tomkins and Guehi

  • Side Overloads: A pass to the wide areas acted as a pressing trigger for the Red Devils. The near side centre-forward committed forward, while the far-side forward continued to mark Kouyate out. For instance, in the below image. Similarly, McTominay, Fred and even the centre-backs were allowed to commit higher up the field to force mistakes.

Manchester United successfully staggered Crystal Palace in the build-up. Vieria’s men were able to complete only 70.5% of all their passes. The visitors changed their approach after realizing they could not play out of the back.

Guaita aimed to find Benteke directly with long passes. The Belgian centre-forward contested for 13 aerial duels in his 66-minute spell. Manchester United, however, countered this well. Lindelof, Fred, McTominay and Bruno often got ahead of the Palace mid-fielders and wingers to regain the second ball. Manchester United made 105 recoveries throughout the game.

Optimal positions to regain possession from second balls

One of Manchester United’s weaknesses in the game was the wings. The sidelines turned out to be Palace’s biggest enemy in their own half, but their biggest friend in United’s half. As Dalot often tucked in when United were in possession, attacks down the wing were an immediate threat.

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Furthermore, United played with a single line of width, as their front 4 played in narrow positions. This meant Zaha and Ayew often found themselves in useful positions. However, the visitors failed to appropriately make use of such situations.

The intensity of the game dropped in the second half, and the game was largely played in midfield. The hosts won the xG battle, but only by a small margin (1.1-0.9). However, the brightest signs came when Rangnick’s men didn’t have the ball.

xG map (Image Obtained Via: Understat.com)

United had an impressive PPDA of 7.00, to Palace’s 14.87. Rangnick has already imprinted traces of his influence into the team, in just one training session. It is a very positive start for the German manager to his stint at Old Trafford.

Follow AD for the latest Manchester United Matchday Updates.

Adithya Ravi
Football enthusiast. Stat enthusiast

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