MANCHESTER UNITED AND OLE’S FORMATION VARIATIONS
Ole’s at the wheel. Tell me how good does it feel?
In Ole’s first game in charge as a caretaker, Man United won Cardiff City 5–1 on the 22nd of December, 2018. That was the first time United scored five goals in a Premier League game since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final match in charge. Following a run of fantastic form in the Premier League (10 wins in 13 games), winning the Premier League manager of the month in January 2019 and the comeback against PSG in the Champions league, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed as the manager on a 3 year deal in March 2019. Since he was appointed as Manchester United, Ole has 43 wins, 22 draws and 28 losses in 93 games in the Premier League with United scoring 152 goals and conceding 127.
In his first season at Manchester United, the 2018/2019 season, the manager favoured a 4–3–3 formation. Now he favours a 4–2–3–1 formation. Against big teams, Ole prefers to use a 3–4–1–2 formation against.
· 4–3–3
This was the first formation Ole used with the midfield trio of Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic starring the most. Pogba was more involved in the attack and he was United’s key player in the 2018/2019 season having the most goals(13 goals, 7 penalties), assists(9), shots on target(50) and key passes (55). Having the cover of Herrera and Matic, Pogba could attack freely on the left side to pass, cross or take a shot. Pogba’s wide range of abilities also means he could drop deeper and throw long balls forward. Herrera as a box to box midfielder could go forward to join the attack while Pogba creates chances from the back. He could also stay back and help out defensively with his aggression, making tackles and tactical fouls when needed. A very common pattern upon Ole’s arrival was to deploy Pogba’s long range passing abilities to play long balls forward with Rashford being mostly at the end of the through balls. In the 1–0 win over Leicester City on the 3rd of February 2019 in the 2018/2019 season, this was exactly how Rashford scored.
· 4–2–3–1
This is Ole’s preferred formation. It was introduced towards the end of the 2018/2019 season and was used for most of the games in the 2019/2020 season. United faced a lot of problems in the 2019/2020 season with just 34 points after 24 games (9W 7D 8L) before Bruno Fernandes joined the team. A major issue was that Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira were unable to effectively fill in the number 10 spot behind the striker. Mata is very creative but he could not fill in the position effectively maybe because he is much slower than the rest of the attack.
Fernandes has filled in that position perfectly and has been very fantastic. Since his introduction, United have won 19 times in 30 games in the league. No team in the League have won more points than United in that time frame. He has won the PFA player of the month three times since coming in January 2020 (February, June and November 2020). He scored 8 goals and 7 assists in 14 Premier League games in the 2019/2020 season.
With Pogba and Matic, the 4–2–3–1 formation is different from with Fred and McTominay/ Van De Beek. When Matic is in the game, he is usually tasked to drop to the defense line by the side of the left center back (Maguire) when united are attacking. This is because Matic is good with progressive passes. This allows the full backs to push up higher. United’s attacking shape then looks like a 3–3–1–3 with Matic and the center backs at the back three, Pogba in the middle of the park with the full backs at both edges of the pitch, Fernandes as the attacking midfielder and the front three in attack. This is particularly how United played after the restart in the 2019/2020 and they were on fine form until fatigue started setting in. With Fred and McTominay in the midfield, the system is still similar but with a different tweak to look more like a 2–4–1–3 instead. Wan Bissaka does not push up too much and stays more inverted when United are attacking. United have most of their attacks on the left side and so the left back has to push up while one of Fred or McTominay (Mostly Fred) stays behind for cover.
The key strength of this formation is that Man United front three and Fernandes are very flexible and can switch positions easily. They are very deadly on the counter attack since anybody can take up any position anytime. The introduction of Edison Cavani also makes United more dangerous with this formation. His aerial abilities, finishing, attacking instincts and positioning is a real problem for opposition defenders to deal with. He can stay between both center backs in order to pin the defense line or he can drag defenders away with his movements and create space for his teammates to exploit.
· 4–1–2–1–2
The addition of Donny Van De Beek to the United squad suggested that this formation would be used more since United have 6 midfielders who can start in any game and anytime. The formation allows united to build and create chances through the midfield to find both short and long passes to their forwards.
Without the ball, United defend in a narrow 4–3–3 with the attacking midfielder at the head of the diamond filling in the number 9 position and the two forwards spread to the wing as they did in the 5–0 win at Leipzig. In their game against Aston Villa on January 1, 2021 this formation changed to a 4–2–3–1 in-game formation with Pogba playing more on the left, Rashford on the right wing and Martial in the number 9 position. This provided more defensive solidity on the wings to handle Aston Villa who were moving the ball fast and making use of the wings. Aston Villa’s right back, Matt Cash was constantly coming forward leaving Luke Shaw in a 1 v 2 situation. With Pogba playing on the left wing, he was able to follow Cash run. Cash was mostly out running Pogba so Fred also had to drift towards the left to stop united from being at a numerical disadvantage.
· 3–4–1–2
This 3 at the back system employs the fullbacks to provide width for the system and allows them to get high up the pitch having the defensive covering of the wide center backs. Using this formation, United defend compactly and limit the space in front of the box and attack on the counter relying majorly on the creativity of the front three. The most used midfield double pivot for this formation is Fred and McTominay. They are more energetic, they defend more aggressively and are comfortable to sit back. Ole used this formation against big six teams in the Premier League since his arrival at Manchester United and won 7 times out of 13(53.8% win rate) against top teams after one year of being in charge. United make up for the lack of dynamism of their fullbacks by allowing their forwards to be very free and flexible to drift to the wings to receive long balls and through balls.
This issue and the injury of Luke Shaw is why Alex Telles was bought from Porto in September 2020 to fill in the left back position. Even though he is more dynamic and technical than Luke Shaw, Shaw has seen more game time than him. This may be because Shaw can attend to defensive responsibilities better than him. The 3–4–1–2 is the only formation that can allow both of them to be on the pitch and perform their best but this has only happened once this season in the 2–1 victory over PSG in Paris. On the right side is Wan Bissaka who is a very fantastic quick player who carries the ball well and is a good dribbler. He is not as technical and dynamic enough to make long balls to switch play or to give all kinds of crosses but his defensive prowess, particularly his abilities in 1v1 situations, makes him an asset to the united squad. Considering the money he was bought for, United may not be finding a replacement for him soon. United having about 45% of their attacks from the left shows that they are already using a system that plays to Wan Bissaka’s strength.
Despite a shaky start to this season, losing two of their first three league games- especially the 1–6 defeat to Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester United currently sit second in the league with 33 points(10W 3D 3L) and with a game in hand. Their next two league games are very interesting games. If they win their next game against Burnley, they will top the table. The next game after that will be against champions and current league leaders Liverpool at Anfield where Liverpool have not lost in 3 years. If they win that game, they will go 6 points above Liverpool.
Ole’s at the wheel. Tell me, how good does it feel?
