How Moyes tactically outclassed Mourinho and why United dominated Chelsea

Manchester United vs Chelsea promised a lot of fireworks with the numerous sub plots brewing between the two teams. Moyes started Rooney, much to everyone’s surprise, while Mourinho started without a recognised striker. What was billed as the match of the season, however, ended in a stalemate. While the match was termed as a dull draw by many, it provided a lot of talking points to the tactically keen. Let us have a look at the most important of them all – the battle of midfield which was won by Manchester United.

 

The midfield battle – 

The following table clearly indicates who triumphed in the middle of the park. The table is a comparison between the two midfield pairs, Carrick + Cleverley and Ramires + Lampard – 

	Carrick + Cleverley	Ramires + Lampard
Total passes	143	99
Passes completed	127	81
% pass completion	89%	82%
Interceptions	9	0
Tackles	6	4
Key passes	3	0

Higher number of passes attempted, higher % pass completion, 9 interceptions compared to none from the Chelsea midfield and 3 key passes – clearly, shows that Carrick and Cleverley were miles ahead of their opponents on Monday.

What made the difference - 

In the past few meetings between the two sides, Chelsea have always held the upper hand more often than not. However, that was not the case yesterday as Manchester United dominated throughout and created good goal scoring chances, but failing to convert any. The dominance shown by United yesterday can be attributed to mainly two facts – 

1)      Positional exchange between Carrick and Cleverley, i.e., Carrick played as left central midfielder and Cleverley as the right central midfielder. Generally, it is always the other way round, but this tactical master class by Moyes proved to be very decisive. 

2)      Excellent positional sense of Carrick. While this is undoubtedly Carrick’s main strength, he sometimes goes amiss when he comes up against a strong, fast midfield. However, that wasn’t the case yesterday as he looked the best player on the pitch for Manchester United along with Wayne Rooney.

Positional exchange between Carrick and Cleverley – 

While this may seem as a minor change in formation, it made a world of difference to the Manchester United side. Previously, when Cleverley played as left central midfielder, right in front of Ramires, he had to track Ramires back often and with Carrick already sitting deep, it gave Lampard and Mata (who often dropped back into central midfield) lots of space to exploit in the centre. Ramires has been very effective against United mainly because of Cleverley’s ineffectiveness to either control him or advance forward into attacking positions. 

However, with Cleverley playing as right central midfield yesterday, directly in front of Frank Lampard, he did not have to worry about Ramires’ forward runs. He played higher up the pitch as Lampard himself likes to operate from a deeper position now. And Carrick, who played as left central midfielder, sat deep and his positional brilliance took care of Ramires’ forward runs, if any. With Lampard being crowded out of the game by Cleverley, Ramires had to drop deeper to collect the ball, which allowed Carrick to push up, thereby squeezing Chelsea into their own half. 

I would like to illustrate this by using action areas of Ramires, Cleverley and Lampard, both in yesterday’s match and the match played last season at Old Trafford on 5^th May, in which Chelsea won 1-0.

Below are the action areas of Ramires. The first is the match played on Monday, while the next is the match played on 5th May'13 last season.

Ramires Action Areas vs ManUtd - 26 Aug, 2013

Ramires Action Areas vs ManUtd - 05 May, 2013

 

It can be clearly seen that in the match last season, he was more dominant in the attacking half, while in this season’s match, he was forced to play a much deeper role.

 Below are the action areas of Frank Lampard. The first is the match played on Monday, while the second is the match played on 5th May'13, last season

Frank Lampard Action Areas vs ManUtd - 26 August, 2013

Frank Lampard Action Areas vs ManUtd - 05 May, 2013

Again, similar to Ramires, it can be seen that he pushed forward into United’s half more often in the game last season. However, that didn’t happen yesterday.

Below are Cleverley’s action areas from 3 matches – first one being the match that United won 3-2 at Stamford Bridge on 28^th October, the second one is that of the match played on 5^th May last season, which Chelsea won 1-0 and the third one being that of the match played on Monday.

 

Tom Cleverley Action Areas vs Chelsea - 28 October, 2013

Tom Cleverley Action Areas vs Chelsea - 05 My, 2013

Tom Cleverley Action Areas vs Chelsea - 26 August, 2013

Comparing the 3, it is evident that his positioning in central midfield was the most in the last match, along with a considerable presence on the right wing too (When Valencia tucked into midfield and took central positions). On the other hand, in the previous two matches, he was pushed back into his own half and on the occasional foray that he made into attack, Ramires made sure that he exploited the space left open by Cleverley.

Carrick’s excellent positional sense – 

Carrick excelled in the left central midfield role. With Welbeck coming infield to offer support and Ramires also being pushed back to help Lampard, Carrick had time, space and options to pick a pass.

A comparison between Carrick’s passing graph from the game yesterday and Cleverley’s passing graph from the match played last season on 5^th May illustrates the point perfectly. Note that both played as left central midfielder in the respective matches.

Michael Carrick Pass Distribution vs Chelsea - 26 August, 2013

Tom Cleverley Pass Distribution vs Chelsea - 05 May, 2013

Cleverley’s skewed passing distribution clearly shows he was all over the place and had almost zero involvement in the final third. Carrick, on the other hand, made several forward passes as well as long range passes. Also, he was fully aware of his position on the pitch and made sure that he did not leave space in the defensive third of the pitch for the likes De Bruyne and Schurrle to exploit.

Conclusion – 

Well, its clear now that Moyes got it tactically correct in the middle of the park. While some might argue whether he should have started Kagawa instead of Welbeck or Valencia, but he certainly made the right selection and positioning of his central midfield pair.

On a parting note, here is another stat which shows the United midfield’s increasing influence on their team’s performance.

Comparison - ManUtd midfield contribution vs Chelsea midfield contribution in both matches

An impressive 26% of the team’s passes were just between the two United midfielders, which shows almost everything went through them on Monday.

It will be interesting to see whether Moyes sticks to this or if he alters his midfield as per the opposition, which should ideally be the case. Also with the talk of United buying a central midfielder before the transfer window closes, much surprise and excitement awaits Manchester United fans.