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Manchester United played out a goalless draw against Valencia C.F at Old Trafford last night. The encounter was evenly contested in the first half when both sides played the match with a good tempo and intensity. However, United could not replicate that attitude in the second half and many of the players looked affected by fatigue. Valencia was sturdy in defence as they neutralized Romelu Lukaku's threat inside the box. Currently United and Valencia are placed on the second and third positions in the groups respectively.
Here are the major talking points and tactical analysis from the match:
#5 Change in approach from Manchester United increases initial intensity
After a pathetic display in the loss against West Ham United a few days ago, United needed to show more desire and intent to win in this match.
After all, this was the first Champions League encounter of the season at Old Trafford. United started of brilliantly and there was a good amount of pace and intensity on the field. The midfielders were disciplined with their passing and the wingers were always on the run.
Moreover, Eric Bailly’s presence surely added more solidarity and the team looked to play out the attack from the backline. The Ivorian challenged well for the ball and passed it ahead with purpose.
Even Nemanja Matic assumed a more dynamic role as he used his left foot to release Luke Shaw on the overlap.
Alexis Sanchez looked lively from the right flank and Romelu Lukaku interchanged positions on the attacking front regularly. Overall, Mourinho’s team seemed to dominate the proceedings early on into the game.
#4 Valencia target United’s major weakness:
Valencia took time to settle into the proceedings. However, they detected a loophole and tried to capitalize on it. Antonio Valencia was downright disappointing for United in the right back position.
The Ecuador international was porous in defence, as he left spaces behind for Goncalo Guedes to exploit. Guedes and Jose Gaya combined well from that flank to trouble Antonio Valencia was looked in trouble while covering up the space behind him.
Gaya and Guedes were the primary creative outlets for Valencia C.F as the Spanish side regularly broke on the counter attacks and Guedes tamed United’s captain to provide some hopeful deliveries into the box.
Antonio Valencia’s inability to either provide defensive stability or induce creative nous was well exploited by Guedes and Gaya.
Their partnership was commendable as Gaya overlapped quite well and that forced Alexis Sanchez to provide defensive support to Antonio Valencia. Accordingly, Valencia C.F neutralized United’s threat with a good tactical approach through which they attacked at the home team’s weakest link.
#3 Neither side broke the deadlock in the first half:
As mentioned in the first slider, United were pretty impressive in the opening stages of the game. they were regularly looking to explore more attacking options and the presence of Alexis Sanchez on the right flank somewhat provided a balance in the attacking pattern that has been missing since long.
Moreover, Sanchez had to cover up for Valencia’s poor display on the defensive front too. On the opposite end, Marcus Rashford had a very exciting half too.
The 20-year-old lad constantly looked to run at defenders and beat them with his explosive directness. He did not refrain from testing the goalkeeper from the long range either. Valencia were attacking well in patches too.
Their captain Daniel Parejo was unable to affect the proceedings and was regularly outrun by Paul Pogba. Hence on certain occasions, there was an absence of a player who could control the tempo of the match.
Gaya, their left back, ran behind Valencia and tried to test the David de Gea. However, Rodrigo Moreno and Romelu Lukaku were misfiring throughout the match.
Maybe, the underperformance of the respective focal points of attack restricted the two teams from opening the scoring.
#2 Valencia looked out of depth near the box:
Marcelino Torel’s side is undergoing a difficult season in the La Liga so far. Valencia are currently placed in the 14th position on the table. Moreover, they have scored only five goals and that pattern continued in this match too.
Despite having two insanely talented forwards in Rodrigo and Michy Batshuayi, the whole team failed to provide an adequate, consistent supply line throughout the game. Parejo usually sets the tempo from the midfield but even he failed to click against Pogba and resorted to committing silly, unnecessary fouls in order to stop the Frenchman on the run.
Guedes made the appropriate runs from the left flank, but his deliveries inside the box were extremely underwhelming.
His crosses failed to reach Batshuayi, who is incidentally fairly good header of the ball. Rodrigo drifted wide, tried to stretch the backline but Bailly’s solidarity ensured that they couldn’t notch a goal. Chris Smalling cleared the ball four times and United’s centre-back partnership looked relatively more assured.
However, Valencia’s threat from the right flank was neutralized by Luke Shaw who had a splendid game from a defensive perspective too.
When United blocked any possible passage to deliver a testing pass inside the box, Valencia clearly looked out of ideas. Maybe they lacked a definite creative acumen on the field. However, the Spanish side tried to compensate that through the athleticism of Denis Cheryshev and Carlos Soler.
That didn’t pan out well either and Rodrigo’s lack of ruthlessness in front of the goal summed up to Valencia C.F being unable to score a goal at all.
#1 Why did Jose Mourinho not use the substitutions?
One of the most visible factors from United’s overall gameplay was that the forwards were downed by fatigue. Romelu Lukaku was a bit hesitant to come out of his line after interlinking the play on some initial occasions. He was caught offside for the same and deservedly so.
Sanchez had an impressive first half but maybe the extra defensive work that he did in order to compensate for Antonio Valencia’s lethargic demeanour drained him physically too.
Though Sanchez was substituted for Anthony Martial, Mourinho did not use his other two substitutions. Marouane Fellaini had a rather listless game but he stayed on the pitch until the end.
The Belgian was bereft of ideas once he had the possession of the ball in the opposition half. However, he stayed on and his only notable contribution was heading out a corner while defending inside the box.
He could have gone out for Fred, as United’s Brazilian recruit has the ability to open up spaces and switch the play. Fred looks to transition the play into attacking scenarios very well and the team could have benefitted from his arrival.
Juan Mata is a left-footed who could have influenced the gameplay from the right flank too. The Spaniard has the tendency to read, judge and play his passes to perfection.
When the proceedings looked drab in the second half, Mourinho did not use his options from the bench.
Instead, it felt that he was satisfied with a single point, something that should arguably be not the main point of concern so early into the Champions League campaign.
