Sunderland returned to Old Trafford for the first time in nearly a decade as they looked to build on an impressive away outing at the City Ground last week; however, they ultimately left empty-handed against a Rúben Amorim side who themselves had been on rocky ground following a poor showing against Brentford last time out.
Despite the allure of Old Trafford during the Premier League era, recent seasons have left Manchester United looking far more vulnerable, and therefore Sunderland arrived with
an appreciation for their opponents but a clear desire to extend their unbeaten run in the league.
After a quick first-half sucker punch, Sunderland found themselves in trouble and required Régis Le Bris to hold his hands up and change his system. How did Le Bris get things wrong on Saturday, and what can we learn for the future?
Sunderland Line-Up
In a slightly audacious team selection, Le Bris named two changes from the side who dug deep to keep a clean sheet and all three points from the City Ground last week. In a purely attacking change to the system, in came Simon Adingra for Chris Rigg, having been reduced to just cameos from the bench in recent matches due to the change in shape/system adopted. On the other side, Chemsdine Talbi was given a rest, and in came Bertrand Traoré for his first league start after some nice touches to help control the game last week against Nottingham Forest.
With the introduction of two inverted wingers from the outset, it was clear that Le Bris was looking to bring the game to Rúben Amorim and exploit the fact Amorim likes to overload going forward by pinning both Traoré and Adingra high and wide to expose Manchester United; however, we’ll discuss this in more detail below and how it didn’t play out as expected on the day.
Opposition Line-Up
Rúben Amorim made several rotational changes for this game, given the opposition he faced, utilising it as a good opportunity to rest Matheus Cunha, Manuel Ugarte, and Harry Maguire in favour of Lenny Yoro, Casemiro, and a Sunderland reunion for Amad, following his absence for a family-related bereavement last week.
Operating with his ultra-attacking 3-4-2-1 system, Amorim has an entirely unique approach to how he likes his teams to play, revolving around overloading the attacking third and operating with two No.10s that freely rotate behind a central striker in half-spaces to confuse opposition players and prevent a true man-to-man marking system working. When the system works, it creates chaos in the final third and provides pockets of space for his players to make quick passing exchanges and overwhelm the opposition, but it often leaves large swathes of space to be exploited, hence Manchester United’s inability to keep a clean sheet through their first six games.
Le Bris Overthinking or Amorim Out-Smarting?
Within the opening half hour, Le Bris was quick to see that he’d got his tactics wrong on the day, and credit to him for holding his hands up in this regard, making a change and stopping the bleeding from what could have ultimately been a painful afternoon, but how did things all go so wrong?
In theory, Le Bris opted to utilise two direct wingers to help pin back Manchester United’s ‘wing-backs’ and thus limit their ability to overload, which in turn would allow his midfield and defence to continue operating under their man-to-man press, which had worked so well during the opening games of the season. With Adingra and Traoré sticking high and wide, both Amad and Dalot were restricted in how far they could set their starting positions, and this then allowed both Xhaka and Sadiki to pick up the two central midfielders and pushed both Mbeumo and Mount out wide to be man-marked by our full-backs.
Where Sunderland ultimately came undone was actually at their own game. Amorim was quick to realise the system Le Bris had tried to adopt and therefore comfortably surrendered possession in the middle third of the pitch and went long during build-up, encouraging Sunderland’s full-backs to push forward. By almost teasing the attack-minded Masuaku beyond halfway, he created gaps for Amad and Mbeumo to exploit in transition and tested Robin Roefs on several occasions down Sunderland’s left.
Before long, Manchester United had found themselves in acres of space, and when players of Mbeumo’s quality have time to pick a pass or drive inside, it can only spell trouble. Mason Mount was able to pluck a weighted cross out of the sky after going unchecked by Le Fée, who, given the points mentioned above, was torn between tracking Bruno Fernandes and Mount, which allowed the latter to peel off behind him and open the scoring.
The second goal ultimately came from some poor defensive judgement from an area where Sunderland have been so dangerous this season and showed the flip side of players who haven’t yet formed long-term partnerships with one another. The lads will be disappointed with this one, but I’m sure it’ll be analysed during the week. At this point, Le Bris admitted his mistake and matched United’s system with a 5-4-1 system in order to prevent any further embarrassment.
Amorim Creating Chaos
Whilst it may seem like a simplistic concept, Sunderland’s defensive strength this season so far has come through their ability to combine a man-marking system with a zonal press in order to funnel teams to the touchline before forcing them to cross and trusting the defensive contributions of their centre-backs to deal with any danger as and when it arrives.
Where this system failed against Amorim, however, was in Manchester United’s ability to draw out the Sunderland midfield through their transitional play and essentially utilise the two No.10s as floating decoys, creating open driving lanes inside the half-spaces for Amad to attack with ease.
Notice how the exploitation of Sunderland’s shape meant that a corridor of space would open up for either a driving run or cross, as Sunderland’s midfield were dragged out of position and defenders were hesitant to step up and leave Šeško isolated one-on-one. As can be seen above, OptaJoe showcased the exploitation of Masuaku’s positioning during the first goal, and the number of passes down Sunderland’s left indicates that this was clearly a pre-determined tactic prior to kick-off.
Changing Shape to Weather the Storm
With the introduction of Dan Ballard on the half-hour mark, Sunderland unfortunately required a system sacrifice, and therefore, despite creating Sunderland’s biggest chance of the game so far, Simon Adingra was hooked, and Le Fée took his position on the left side of midfield.
Matching Amorim’s shape allowed Sunderland to persist with their man-to-man marking system, and the lads looked far more assured from a defensive standpoint for the remainder of the afternoon. Ballard was able to deal with Šeško’s aerial dominance much better, winning 8/10 aerial duels and 3/4 of his ground duels against the Slovenian, who had been a thorn in the side of Alderete during the first half, winning the first contact.
Whilst I’d agree that Sunderland looked more promising with a more conservative system and grew into the game once adopting a 5-4-1, it must be said that the game state had changed entirely by that point, and Manchester United had no real need to commit bodies forward with such urgency, hence the lack of real threat at Robin Roefs’ goal during the second half.
Decision Making
Whilst Manchester United didn’t really have a need to push during the second half, Sunderland did still manage to fashion several good opportunities to threaten Senne Lammens’ goal during his first league start for the club, two of which came through the introduction of Mayenda out wide in the second half. Whilst Mayenda made a poor decision to shoot during his first opportunity, he did quickly learn from his mistake and threaded Chemsdine Talbi in for a great chance just before the end of the game.
Although Talbi’s shot was easily saved, given the position, it was another poor decision-making moment for Sunderland’s young forward line. Encouragement can be gathered from both players creating chances and will hopefully come as a learning experience for them should these happen again in potentially game-changing moments later in the season.
An additional mention for Chemsdine Talbi’s second cameo on the left flank. Whilst he was signed and categorised as primarily a right-sided player upon his arrival, Talbi looks comfortable operating in his preferred inverted position, which he played quite often for his previous club, and certainly looks to be much more direct when operating off the left.
Dusting Off and Looking Forward
Even though Sunderland will be disappointed they’ve come away from Old Trafford empty-handed, this will be a ‘welcome to the league’ moment for a lot of our players as they adapt to the ruthlessness of the Premier League and will act as a good learning curve for many of the squad going forward. In some ways, had the result been offered to us back in August, we’d have not batted an eyelid, and therefore focus should remain on our home fixtures as where we should be looking to achieve the most success this season.
Bertrand Traoré showed why he has previously been able to compete at this level, having a 100% dribble success rate and acting as a useful outlet on the wing to help relieve pressure. Lutsharel Geertruida had another impressive cameo and looks to be pushing for his first start, and Robin Roefs once again made his price tag look even more impressive with a string of great saves.
Given the start Sunderland have had to the season, the lads had almost earned the ability of a free-hit at Old Trafford, and Le Bris will have certainly privately apologised to the players for getting this one wrong through his tactical selection on the day.
Returning Back Home
With another international break looming, Sunderland will return to action against a struggling Wolves team in two weeks with the intention of clinching another victory on home turf. It looks as if all of our late additions are finally up to speed, and this could see Le Bris change his preferred starting eleven ahead of this one in an attempt to maintain the feel-good factor at home so far this season.
In a tough league like the Premier League, we’re always going to lose more games than we win as a newly promoted side; therefore, it’s important we rule this one as a bad day at the office for the lads, we pick ourselves back up, and we go again with a great chance to add some points on the board next weekend.
