Manchester United returned back to their winning ways with an impressive showing against Burnley. Trips to Turf Moor are quite difficult usually, and hence a similar match was expected this time around.
United, however, dominated the proceedings and maintained to control the match despite being one man down in the final 20 minutes or so. Here are the three reasons why they managed to defeat the Clarets:
#3 Defensive screening
Victor Lindelof tends to struggle against physically dominating oppositions and hence Jose Mourinho lined up a double defensive pivot in Nemanja Matic and Marouane Fellaini to screen the backline. Matic and Fellaini were very crucial in recovering the ball and circulating it ahead.
They protected the backline from any possible threats, and that allowed Paul Pogba to play higher up on the field and interlink the midfield with the forward line.
Fellaini had won seven aerial duels and made six clearances, whilst Matic played relatively higher and made some good forward passes to ensure that United had greater stability in terms of defensive and attacking duties.
#2 Fluid Front Four
Matic and Fellaini’s presence meant that Pogba almost added up as the fourth forward in United’s setup. There was a lot of fluidity and pace in the team’s attacking moves, as Jesse Lingard’s clever off-the-ball movements ensured that there was enough space through the centre and from the left for Lukaku and Sanchez.
Pogba provided some delightful long balls and sumptuous passes that breached the opposition’s defensive line quite easily. Sanchez’s work rate was impressive, and the Chilean was a major threat from counter-attacks as well.
Romelu Lukaku scored two goals, missed two easy chances, but ran across the field and there was dynamism in United’s gameplay that was missing from long.
#1 Burnley’s Predictability Factor
Sean Dyche’s men defied odds last season as they cruised to a seventh-position finish in the league. However, coming into the current season, the Clarets have found it hard to find their feet in the league and visibly looked out of steam against an energized United team.
Burnley’s direct, long-ball, low-block approach somewhat became predictable and United formed their overall game pattern according to that.
They neutralized Burnley’s threat by playing Fellaini, whose aerial dominance ensured that Pogba was served with second balls to launch quick counter-attacks. Dyche’s men lacked craft and creativity as such, and United took advantage that, thus turning the encounter into their favour despite being a man down in the final quarter of the game.
