MANCHESTER UNITED finally kick-started their Premier League campaign by beating Ipswich at Old Trafford in a thrilling 5-2 victory.
And while Bruno Fernandes will rightly get much of the praise due to his hat-trick and assist, the underlying factor for the win came down to a tactical masterclass by Michael Carrick and the introduction of two key players.
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In the latest episode of Tactics Exposed, SunSport’s Dean Scoggins outlines what key changes Carrick made to the lineup and tactics to bounce back from the opening day defeat to Hull.
Deano explains that the first key difference was in England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez, with the pair making a huge difference in passing ability between the lines.
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The Stretford End have been singing “Mainoo, United can’t play without you,” since last season, and it proved to be the case once again against Ipswich.
Man Utd lined up in a 3-2-5 shape in possession against the Tractor Boys which allowed Mainoo and Youri Tielemans to have space in midfield with Martinez also able to get on the ball and express his exquisite passing range.
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Mainoo resisted the temptation to drop into the backline, opening the passing angles for his Argentine team-mate.
The average position map shows Luke Shaw deeper than Mainoo while Diogo Dalot was higher, meaning he could move into space further forward when Fernandes wheels into space on the wing.
Mainoo moving further forward made all the difference to the Red Devils attack, and the 21-year-old had an excellent game.
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Deano explains that Carrick also made an effort to “declutter” his attack in the wake of the toothless showing against the Tigers.
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Marcus Rashford started his first Man Utd game since December 2024, and proved key in holding the width down the wing, also giving Mainoo more space in the middle, with example leading to the Matheus Cunha penalty incident.
Mainoo being able to go into those tight spaces and plug holes is a double-edged sword.
Deano expects the first choice pair going forwards will be Mainoo and new signing Carlos Baleba, rather than Tielemans or Andrey Santos.
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Thank Bruno
MAN UTD executed a see-saw trick featuring Fernandes.
As soon as the captain dropped deep to get the ball, the likes of Bryan Mbeumo or Rashford spun into behind to exploit the space left behind.
A couple of examples of this left Ipswich players stuck as they were unable to effectively mark attackers.
But that is where the likes of Baleba will become key, because he will be able to cover the huge spaces that will be left when players make their counter moves in reaction to the movement of team-mates.
Fernandes was left too deep under former manager Ruben Amorim.
But Carrick, the domino effect of Martinez and Mainoo being further up the pitch also allows for Fernandes to be higher up and therefore do his best work in the final third, where he can be most impactful.
Fernandes’ heat map against Ipswich showed he was not bothering with more of the defensive side.
A large part of the team now is trust between the different units, and if that trust is maintained then it will allow players to do their best work in positions where it matters most.
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Marc. Set. Go
RASHFORD would love to be spoken about for scoring goals and getting assists.
But the winger put in a supremely unselfish performance that was key to victory on his Old Trafford return.
One clip showed Martinez on the ball high up the pitch, but with Rashford hugging the touchline on the far side it opened space for his team-mates in the attack.
There is an amazing stat which shows that Mbeumo made 27 sprints against Ipswich, while Fernandes made 19, Rashford, 15 and Cunha, 11.
What Rashford is in a lot of these is the decoy run, holding the width to open the pitch up for his teammates to work their magic.
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But it has a two-fold effect as it allows Rashford the chance to go one on one with his full-back if the ball falls to him, or if it falls to Shaw who can then immediately feed a pass to him.