Alex Keble analyses the 1-1 draw between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy was denied victory in his first Premier League match as Manchester United interim head coach but he oversaw a marked improvement on recent performances despite sticking to the Erik ten Hag blueprint.
The approach was very similar to Ten Hag’s, with only one change to the starting XI that lost 2-1 at West Ham United last weekend, and we expect Van Nistelrooy’s tactics had nothing to do with how new head coach Ruben Amorim will set this team up after the November international break.
That is not a problem. In fact, producing a combative and energetic performance with essentially the same tactical system as the previous manager tells us that in terms of attitude and talent, there is a foundation here upon which Amorim can build.
Van Nistelrooy’s 4-2-4 balances risk and reward as both sides target wings
In the first half there was a clear pattern to the match because Van Nistelrooy’s aggressive 4-2-4 formation had an explosive quality. But despite both teams attacking quickly down the wings, neither side could break the deadlock.
When Chelsea had the ball Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford were instructed to sit alongside Rasmus Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes in a front four, blocking passes into Malo Gusto (right) and Cole Palmer (left), who sat in the half-spaces like No 8s.
This meant that if Chelsea could bypass the first four there was enormous space on the wings behind Garnacho and Rashford, but also that if United won the ball they could transition at breakneck speed through that high forward line.
It created huge tension despite the low quality of the match: just one moment – one line-breaking Chelsea pass, or one mistake on the ball – could break things open.
This example captures it neatly. In the middle of this melee, Garnacho and Rashford are ready to run through on goal should the ball break United’s way… but because it breaks Chelsea’s way, Enzo Maresca’s side have all the space.
Half-time changes from both sides give Man Utd the edge
One of the issues Chelsea had was imbalance in the full-back positions; Gusto isn’t a No 8 and Reece James isn’t a left-back – which is partly why Maresca swapped things at the break.
James went to right-back and Marc Cucurella to left-back, where he stepped to become the left-sided No 8 and complement Palmer, now switched over to be the right-sided No 8.
Effectively Maresca flipped the whole thing round, probably because Rashford was struggling to track back and he thought Palmer would be better attacking the same flank.
What he didn’t anticipate was Man Utd swapping Garnacho and Rashford around at half-time, meaning both managers had mirror-imaged their formations, cancelling out Maresca’s plans.
But there was a second reason for Chelsea’s big switch: to play with a proper back three. James now helped the two centre-backs, limiting space for Rashford and Garnacho when the ball broke.
It worked, in that the match slowed down and stopped becoming so transitional, but it also left Chelsea disjointed, without a right-back to support Noni Madueke or Palmer, who looked increasingly lost. You can see below Chelsea's second-half average positions.
It was in this period that Man Utd began to turn the screw. Chelsea couldn’t form any patterns and United, pushing harder, scored the opener.
Maresca’s double substitution pays off as Caicedo dominates midfield
Credit goes to Maresca for changing things, for a second time, and at last seeing a positive impact.
He brought on Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez, moving Pedro Neto from left to right wing in the process, and it quickly led to Chelsea’s equaliser.
Fernandez offered more in possession than Romeo Lavia had, and it was his pass to Neto – better on the right than a timid Madueke – that led to a charge from the Portuguese winger, earning a corner from which Chelsea equalised.
The goalscorer, Moises Caicedo, was the best player on the pitch and he would be needed more than ever in the final 20 minutes, because although Fernandez is better than Lavia on the ball, he is weaker defensively.
Lavia made four tackles, more than any other Chelsea player, whereas Fernandez failed to make a single tackle or interception, which is why the match became loose and unstructured again.
Man Utd came closer to a winner, and it took a brilliant clearance from Caicedo – who has the most combined tackles and interceptions (52) of any player in the Premier League this season - to deny Joshua Zirkzee at the near post in stoppage time.
Van Nistelrooy will have expected his team to win this match on the balance of play.
Instead, United couldn’t muster many chances, which, with just nine goals now in 10 Premier League matches, tells the story of their season.
And in many ways this was similar to what has come before: a 4-2-3-1 in possession and focus on quick breaks through Garnacho and Rashford.
Tactically, Amorim will probably want to change pretty much everything. But the character of today’s performance is something he will hope to keep.
