Speaker A
Manchester United have made a poor start to the new season, largely due to the fact that our defense simply isn't good enough. However, on the flip side, more positive things. I think in possession, United are incredibly underrated. I
AJAnalysis explains why Manchester United's midfield, especially Tielemans and Kobi, is better than expected despite a poor season start.
Key Takeaways
- Manchester United's midfield is more effective and dynamic than commonly perceived.
- Staggered positioning of Tielemans and Kobi creates superior passing angles and disrupts opponents.
- Quick, one-touch passing is key to accelerating play and stretching defenses.
- Bruno Fernandes benefits from the new midfield setup, enhancing overall team possession.
- Despite defensive issues, the midfield's unique style offers promising tactical advantages.
What the video covers
- Manchester United's poor start is mainly due to defensive weaknesses, but their midfield is underrated in possession.
- The video focuses on the new midfield dynamic centered on Yuri Tielemans and Kobi as a double pivot.
- United's midfielders stagger their positioning rather than playing in straight lines, creating better passing angles.
- Bruno Fernandes' role has evolved with the new midfield pair, improving ball movement and tempo.
- Tielemans excels at quick, one-touch passing that accelerates play and vertically stretches opposition defenses.
- The staggered midfield setup also disrupts opposing midfield structures, providing a tactical advantage.
- United midfielders receive the ball with an open body position, enabling forward passes rather than flat-footed reception.
- Despite concerns about the players' pace, the midfield compensates by moving the ball faster than opponents.
- The midfield also effectively uses dribbling and quick touches to draw defenders and accelerate play.
- The video concludes that the midfield shows great potential and uniqueness compared to other Premier League teams.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Manchester United's season start and midfield overview
- 00:58Double pivot concept and United's staggered midfield positioning
- 02:25Positional setup and receiving the ball with an open body
- 03:45Defensive compactness and pressure in midfield
- 04:43Tielemans' quick passing and vertical stretching of opposition
- 05:55Examples from Everton match and midfield effectiveness
- 06:55Midfield dribbling, tempo control, and accelerating play
- 08:40Conclusion: Midfield potential and future outlook
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
think the new midfield dynamic is really starting to click. Now, this midfield dynamic that we are going to be talking about today is largely going to be focusing on Yuri Tielemans and Kobe because they are the double pivot. But
Speaker A
think the new midfield dynamic is really starting to click. Now, this midfield dynamic that we are going to be talking about today is largely going to be focusing on Yuri Tielemans and Kobe because they are the double pivot. But
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do is to discuss things positionally, the way that United are receiving the ball and the way that we are initially setting up because we always talk about football in straight lines. We talk about line breaking passes and you think
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we will also be focusing a little bit on Bruno Fernandez as well and what he does for this Manchester United team and how things are a little bit different for him now with the new pair playing behind him. So the first thing that I want to
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And this is how so many conversations in football go. It'll be the same in possession as well. We talk about a double pivot. Two players playing alongside each other. But for United in the past couple of games, this hasn't
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do is to discuss things positionally, the way that United are receiving the ball and the way that we are initially setting up because we always talk about football in straight lines. We talk about line-breaking passes and you think
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straightforward for them. So the second we stagger ourselves a little bit, we're able to open up a few more angles. And I think this is something that Tielemans and Maynu are doing incredibly well. Uh but I also think Bruno Fernandez comes
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anytime we talk about a formation, we talk about it, for example, like a 4-2-3-1, four at the back. So, we talk about this in a straight line across the back four.
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two ahead of them playing a little bit higher. And what they want to do as a midfield too is to be compact, right? We spoke about this with our United defensive video the other day. Off the ball, you want to be close together. You
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And this is how so many conversations in football go. It'll be the same in possession as well. We talk about a double pivot, two players playing alongside each other. But for United in the past couple of games, this hasn't
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ball. And this is where staggering your midfield can really start to cause some problems because if Tielemans is deeper, but you want to get pressure on him, it means that the right sided center midfielder has more of a jump that he
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been the case. They're not playing next to each other. They're playing on staggered lines. And the reason why they're doing this is because everyone else in football is playing on straight lines. Defenders want to play in straight lines because it's much more
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higher in this straight line. So, this is something that United are doing very, very well. You can see that here.
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straightforward for them. So the second we stagger ourselves a little bit, we're able to open up a few more angles. And I think this is something that Tielemans and Maynu are doing incredibly well. But I also think Bruno Fernandez comes
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to move the ball. We're not receiving the ball flatfooted with our back to goal. We're receiving the ball with an open body diagonally. So now we can play forward. So this is something that I think United are doing very well and
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into this as well. So let's just sort of explain why this works. And we'll use the Everton match as an example. We know that Everton often reverted to more of a midfield three out of possession. So we had the one deeper midfielder and then
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Something that the United midfielders did well was took the right amount of touches. Now sometimes that's going to be a load of touches. Sometimes you need a moment where your midfielder gets the ball down. He takes loads of touches and
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two ahead of them playing a little bit higher. And what they want to do as a midfield two is to be compact, right? We spoke about this with our United defensive video the other day. Off the ball, you want to be close together. You
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However, something that Tielemans in particular really possesses is the ability to pass quickly. And when I'm talking about passing quickly, I don't mean firing a pass forward. I mean only taking one touch before then quickly releasing. This is something that Yuri
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want to be tight. You want to be difficult to play through. So, you want to defend in these straight lines so you feel connected. You feel like you're together with your teammates. However, you also want to get pressure on the
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he would bring a new tempo to the Manchester United midfield. So Tielemans himself may not be able to run at 100 miles an hour, but importantly, the ball can always move faster than the man. And that's something that is really crucial
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ball. And this is where staggering your midfield can really start to cause some problems because if Tielemans is deeper, but you want to get pressure on him, it means that the right-sided center midfielder has more of a jump that he
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receiver. Some people are capable of playing a progressive pass quite quickly, but sometimes they'll play it into a situation where actually, yes, we've progressed the ball, but I'm just putting my teammate in trouble.
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needs to make. He needs to get up into this position to apply pressure to the ball. Now, if we look at the three midfielders for the opposition, they're now far more stretched than they were or would be if Tielemans was a little bit
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ball. So they might have still completed the pass. So statistically it would still look good, but it doesn't account for the speed with which Tielemans is playing. And what it allows us to do is vertically stretch the opposition more
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higher in this straight line. So, this is something that United are doing very, very well. You can see that here.
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finding quick passes in the middle, we're now vertically stretching the opposition. And this is why United have been so effective at moving the ball through the center. Very, very good at progressing through central areas. But importantly as well, you know, Tielemans
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There's clearly a stagger going on in the United midfield, but more importantly, it's creating a stagger in the Everton defensive midfield, and that's where United are able to get an advantage. And it also, of course, changes the angle with which we're able
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back to a center back to a center back, then to a wing back. It was all very slow. Tielemans now is releasing that ball wider and much quicker and that's something that United have to do particularly in games where we are going
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to move the ball. We're not receiving the ball flat-footed with our back to goal. We're receiving the ball with an open body diagonally. So now we can play forward. So this is something that I think United are doing very well and
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And I think this was something that people were a little bit concerned about when we signed Tielemans, when we're thinking about partnering him with Kobe Manu because everyone knows they're not the quickest players in the world, are they? They're not they're not the
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we're finding really good solutions. Now, something else that I think United did really well in the Everton game, especially despite the poor result, you know, I think it was a good performance and we made that clear the other day.
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However, they are still incredibly effective at accelerating the play. And I'm not even talking about passing. I'm talking about dribbling, about drawing players in and then accelerating away from them. They've been absolutely fantastic at that. And the key here is
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Something that the United midfielders did well was took the right amount of touches. Now sometimes that's going to be a load of touches. Sometimes you need a moment where your midfielder gets the ball down. He takes loads of touches and
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take that player out the game. And we know that in modern football, if you can take a player out of the game, you can then speed things up. And I just think they've been absolutely incredible at doing this. Now, KBI is someone that we
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he sort of takes the sting out of the game and he waits for his teammates to arrive into position. A little bit like we can see from Tielemans here. He chooses to slow right down because he knows that the forward option isn't on.
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the opposition to come right close, really put him under pressure, and then he's going to roll away from them. And he takes that player out of the game, and now he's got room in front of them.
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However, something that Tielemans in particular really possesses is the ability to pass quickly. And when I'm talking about passing quickly, I don't mean firing a pass forward. I mean only taking one touch before then quickly releasing. This is something that Yuri
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The second you take a player out the game, you open up space. The second there is space on a football pitch with these players in the attack, that tempo naturally is going to increase. And that's something that KBY does
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Tielemans is doing really, really well. And I think he's one of the best in the world at this, at playing a quick pass to quickly move the ball forward. It was something that we discussed quite a lot when we first signed him. The fact that
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Carrick would encourage him actually to not take a big touch out of your body, actually to sometimes take a small touch and keep the ball in your body. Now, on that occasion, Hackne was referencing the way that you could then release the
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he would bring a new tempo to the Manchester United midfield. So Tielemans himself may not be able to run at 100 miles an hour, but importantly, the ball can always move faster than the man. And that's something that is really crucial
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springing away. But what Tielemans was actually doing the other day was actually rushing towards the ball quite a lot. So he was meeting the pass. He was going towards the ball. So let's say Landre Martinez is in possession. He
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to the way that Tielemans plays because he isn't the quickest player himself, but he can always release the ball a little bit faster. Now, what I like about Tielemans in particular here is that he's always thinking about the
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control it close to your own body, the opposition sort of recognize that as a cue of we might be able to go get him now. We might be able to sneak in there.
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receiver. Some people are capable of playing a progressive pass quite quickly, but sometimes they'll play it into a situation where actually, yes, we've progressed the ball, but I'm just putting my teammate in trouble.
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He sort of it's like a flick of a switch. He flicks those hips open and then quickly pushes the ball away. Like here, Tielemans meets the ball. It's a tight first touch. It's really close to him. He doesn't get the ball out of his
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Tielemans doesn't do that. He recognizes when his teammate is ready to receive the ball. Like this bit of play from Tielemans through to Bruno Fernandez happened so quickly. Other midfielders would have taken more time. They would have taken more touches to move the
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It's slow from Tielemans the way that he's playing, but that slow is smooth. And that smooth then allows him to be fast and he's able to go past people.
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ball. So they might have still completed the pass. So statistically it would still look good, but it doesn't account for the speed with which Tielemans is playing. And what it allows us to do is vertically stretch the opposition more
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footballers. And I think that intelligence and that technical ability will always allow you to change momentum and tempo way more than what any physical trait ever could.
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because we know that our wide players Brian and Bumo and Marcus Rashford are going to make these runs in behind. And when they make these runs in behind, it causes the opposition to drop off a little bit. Then if you've got Tielemans
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Here it is. 74 out of 81 passes at the weekend and eighth eighth in the Premier League for passes into the final third in game week three. That is a player that can play in a deep position and
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finding quick passes in the middle, we're now vertically stretching the opposition. And this is why United have been so effective at moving the ball through the center. Very, very good at progressing through central areas. But importantly as well, you know, Tielemans
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play. Now, that's probably something that he does need to work on a little bit more actually to tell the truth. I think he can get better at that. We saw in the first week against Hull that he struggled a little bit, but I think when
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will move the ball out wide at speed as well. So how many times have we seen United in the past couple of years moving the ball very slowly across the back, particularly under Ruben Amarim, would slowly move the ball from a center
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has come into the side, we've seen Tielemans completing far more of his passes and I think his selection has been much better. And it's moments like this, it's this line breaking pass to Bruno Fernandez is just incredible. Most
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back to a center back to a center back, then to a wing back. It was all very slow. Tielemans now is releasing that ball wider and much quicker and that's something that United have to do particularly in games where we are going
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can take responsibility. And I think particularly against Everton, we know that this was effective because we've barely discussed Landre Martinez. United had a good performance in possession the other day and literally been mentioned partly because of how the opposition
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to dominate the ball. Tempo is key and these guys are smashing it. Now, something else that is really impressing me about this midfield too is their ability to shift their ability to take the ball and shift the momentum.
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When Lassandra Martinez has come out of the team, we've had a real problem. But Tielemans is addressing that and he played very well at the weekend. And of course, in terms of playing as that linking player, Kobe Mayu is again one
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And I think this was something that people were a little bit concerned about when we signed Tielemans, when we're thinking about partnering him with Kobe Manu because everyone knows they're not the quickest players in the world, are they? They're not, they're not the
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absolutely fantastic. And then when you get Bruno Fernandez but also Matteas Kuna as well coming into midfield they can also receive the ball. So you can fire it off of Tielemans into Matteas Kuna. He can drop the ball off for KBY
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fastest. They don't cover ground at the quickest rate that you're going to see in the Premier League. Someone like Carlos Belaba or Mason Mount would be much better at playing in that way.
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Now the exciting thing is this is only three games into the season. There is still so much more to come because first of all, these players are going to get much fitter. They're going to get much sharper. But more importantly, they're
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However, they are still incredibly effective at accelerating the play. And I'm not even talking about passing. I'm talking about dribbling, about drawing players in and then accelerating away from them. They've been absolutely fantastic at that. And the key here is
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think tactically United can improve as well. I think we can add more layers and more concepts to our ideas. It's really, really exciting at the moment. I know the start to the season is very frustrating. Um there's absolutely
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that slow is smooth and that smooth is fast. And that's really sort of the mantra for this United midfield. That's how they work. So t
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It is a serious issue. I think in possession with the way that we attack the box, we can improve as well. But the bit in between at the moment I actually think is quite good. I I think what
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we're doing on the ball has a lot of potential. I think it's very unique. I think it's different to most teams in the Premier League, but I think that's a great thing. It also means at times it's not going to work and it's going to take
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some getting used to, but I think there's so much potential there. and to have a unique idea in midfield is something that really excites me. I think it's a great potential idea for Manchester United to do something a
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little bit differently because the rest of the league isn't so sure on how to deal with it and I think our midfield can be exactly that. Does it need work?
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Yes, kinks that need to be ironed out of course. But I think the United midfield is in a really good place. We've got players to come into this still in Mason Mount, Carlos Balaba, Andre Santos is always going to be in the conversation.
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I think the United midfield is in a really good place very early in the season and I don't know the last time that we were able to say that. So whilst a lot of the coverage this week has been
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a little bit negative, I think it's important to remember that there are good things happening at United as well.
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And as I've said a few times, it isn't time to crash out. It's time to learn the lessons, to trust the process, and sort of stick with Michael Carrick and his ideas because we're seeing in midfield that it can really, really
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work. Um, but I feel like I'm waffling a little bit now. I feel like I am yapping for the sake of it. So, we're going to wrap up the video there. Thank you guys very much for watching this one. I hope
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you have enjoyed it. If you have, why not leave a like on the video, subscribe to the channel, and get your notifications on. And as always, I'll see you in the next
Topics:Manchester Unitedmidfield analysisYuri TielemansKobiBruno Fernandesdouble pivotfootball tacticspossession footballPremier LeagueAJAnalysis
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