13) Second Goal — Consequence of Ignoring Space/Men

Fred has acres of space behind him *and* two men to his left. He has two reasons to not dive in and just to run back, delaying the transition. However, he, once again, gets attracted to the ball and dives in.

14) Second Goal — Consequence of Ignoring Space/Men II

BRI now have a 4 v 3 in this transition and the CBs are, once again, exposed in a situation they should not be exposed in.

15) Second Goal — Body Shape

This part is different as it is about individual defence. Here, Shaw’s body position is too straight on to his man who is left-footed. Shaw should be on his man’s left-foot whilst inviting him to take it down the line.

He does not and is beaten.

16) Second Goal — Tracking Back

Fred diving in results in five players ahead of the ball who track back slowly. Bruno, specifically, sees the situation unfolding ahead as the closest one tracking back but he only sprints once he finally arrives to help Shaw.

17) Second Goal — Tracking Back II

However, another point is that tracking back is not easy and when midfielders constantly make poor decisions out of possession, it becomes extremely mentally and physically taxing to have to cover for them each time.

18) Second Goal — Tracking Back III

Nevertheless, we are a team and part of that *is* covering for others and so the forward players showed a lack of intensity twice.

Ultimately, if they sprint for offensive transitions, they need to sprint for defensive transitions.

19) Second Goal — Save Technique

De Gea’s save leaves much to be desired. He reacts well to get down to it. However, he palms it back into a dangerous place. GKs practice this type of save. Though, I might be a little harsh. John Harrison will let us all know if he is available.

20) Second Goal — No Scanning

The first image is the last time Fred knows where the initial ball carrier (Groß) is. He does not scan to his left a single time and ends up reacting late to the De Gea’s as a result. McTominay even communicates this to him.

21) Second Goal — Consequence of No Scanning

Fred’s box positioning is actually fine for someone who has tracked back. However, had he scanned to see Groß there, he would have been more to the left, using his body as a block between Groß and the goal.

22) Second Goal — Summary

We turned the ball over initially but Ten Hag will be fine with this one in particular. Then, Fred ball-watched, dived in and our CBs were exposed. The forwards didn’t track well, Shaw’s ind. defending was bad, DDG didn’t save well and Fred didn’t scan.

23) In summary, our defensive deficiencies were:

— lack of tracking
— ball-watching
— diving in
— ignoring space
— ignoring men
— not scanning
— inattentive to runs
— individual defending technique

This has continued for a few years now. It has to stop.