Match date: 26 October 2014

A match between Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho was always going to be a fascinating one. Mourinho arguably got his start under the guidance of van Gaal at Barcelona, having been brought into the club by Sir Bobby Robson. Despite their connection, van Gaal and Mourinho are different in how they want their teams to play. Van Gaal enjoys the attractive, attacking approach, while Mourinho is much more pragmatic in his approach, as we would see in this match.

Van Gaal set Manchester United out in a 4-1-4-1, with Daley Blind as the holding midfielder and Robin van Persie as the lone striker. Angel Di Maria played on the right with Januzaj on the left to start the game.

Mourinho had Chelsea line up in a 4-2-3-1 and with both Diego Costa and Remy out injured, Didier Drogba started up top.

Midfield Battle

Perhaps the most interesting part of the match was the centre midfield battle of each side. Fabregas, Matic, and Oscar against Fellaini, Mata, and Blind. Van Gaal set his side out with instructions to man mark the Chelsea midfield and we saw it throughout the match. Blind naturally marked Oscar, while Fellaini matched up against Fabregas and Mata marked Matic. It was incredibly effective at limiting the trio from having a greater influence on the match and was arguably Fabregas’ worst performance for Chelsea since his summer arrival (although he’s been in top class form since his move). Below, you can see an example of Manchester United’s man marking.

Even when Oscar rotated all the way from an advanced position to getting the ball from Chelsea’s centre backs after Fabregas and Matic were too tightly marked to receive the ball, Blind would follow.

This tactic also helped Manchester United find space in midfield, working well for Blind in particular. Fellaini and Mata were able to push Fabregas and Matic deeper when United had the ball by occupying dangerous areas of the pitch and forcing the Chelsea duo to stay with them rather than try to squeeze the pitch. Below is a good example of the amount of space that Blind was able to turn into when he received the ball. Notice that Oscar is coming off pressing De Gea. For much of the match, Oscar was the highest pressing player for Chelsea.

Overall, however, this was an effective plan for Manchester United in stopping Chelsea’s creators in getting on the ball. With Fellaini marking Fabregas, the former Arsenal and Barcelona player struggled to show his best form and create Chelsea attacks from deep. During his time at Stamford Bridge, the Spaniard has thrived in a deeper role, where he is allowed more time and space to dictate play, push forward, and pick out passes and it has proved incredibly beneficial for Chelsea as Fabregas has eight assists so far this season. However, with a much more physical presence marking him throughout the match, it was harder for Fabregas to get on the ball and dictate the play. Matic, who is good at playing vertical passes, although not even close to Fabregas’ ability, also struggled to get on the ball as he was closed down by Mata and van Persie’s positioning and so with both Fabregas and Matic unable to get on the ball, Chelsea were forced to play longer balls into Drogba as they looked to get into the attacking third.

It was equally difficult for Manchester United to play into central areas as Chelsea’s midfield played very narrow, with Willian, in particular, coming inside and allowing the wide areas to open up. What was interesting about Willian’s positioning is that Shaw would always be near by, regardless of how narrow or deep Willian dropped in attempting to get on the ball. Below is a good example.

When Manchester United had the ball, however, Willian’s narrow positioning allowed Shaw to get forward…

Manchester United Going Forward

Manchester United were clearly looking for van Persie’s feet as much as possible. The likes of Di Maria and Januzaj looked to drift inside before getting back out wide with the sole purpose of pulling a midfielder with them so that space could open up for Manchester United’s centre backs and Blind to bypass the midfield and play balls directly into van Persie’s feet, who would then lay the ball off. As the game went on, Manchester United began to find success in the wide areas.

Much of the success came after Di Maria and Januzaj switched flanks just before the 60th minute mark. At times point, Manchester United’s full backs became much more involved going forward and were able to push Willian and Hazard back into their half. Below you can see Shaw’s attacking efforts prior to Di Maria and Januzaj switching and following their switch. The full back pushed further forward and had more incentive to do so with van Gaal’s decision to take off Mata and put on James Wilson and have his side play in a 4-4-2.

Manchester United’s goal eventually came from a free kick from a wide left position, but it was only after Ivanovic got sent off for his second yellow card. The first was because of dissent after a foul on Di Maria and the second was for another foul on Di Maria who gave the Serbian much more trouble than Januzaj had.

Mourinho’s Changes at 1-0

It was little surprise that Mourinho looked to bring on John Obi Mikel after taking a 1-0 lead against Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Nigerian was brought on for Oscar, with Fabregas moving further up the field. Mikel is a favourite of Mourinho’s when Chelsea are in need of closing out a match, but as soon as the Nigerian came on, Chelsea looked to sit deeper and allowed Manchester United to have the ball, which allowed them to get more players forward and push back the likes of Hazard and Willian, which was mentioned above.

Even as Mikel was being readied to enter the field, van Gaal called on James Wilson to be subbed on, which changed Manchester United’s shape to a 4-4-2. In theory, this should have allowed Chelsea to have more control of the ball as they now outnumbered Manchester United in midfield, but instead it allowed Manchester United more of a forward presence and allowed them to get forward much easier as Chelsea began to drop deeper and Matic and Mikel stayed closer to an already deep Terry and Cahill.

As Chelsea surrendered possession to Manchester United, they made it more difficult to kill off the game by getting a second goal. Chelsea’s back four looked to play long balls into the wide areas in hopes of Willian and Hazard getting on to the end of it, but many were misplaced and allowed Manchester United to attack again. Even when they did get the ball further up the field, they never looked to go towards goal.

Conclusion

It was certainly a good tactical battle between van Gaal and Mourinho and the latter was incredibly close to winning it, if not for the late free kick and the absence of Ivanovic in the box as a result of the sending off. It was Fellaini who got the initial header on the free kick and interestingly enough, it was Ivanovic who marked Fellaini on all the previous set pieces.

Van Gaal’s decision to mark Matic, Fabregas, and Oscar out of the game was incredibly helpful to his side and relieved some of the pressure from the back four. The switch to a 4-4-2 with Di Maria on the left and Januzaj on the right allowed Manchester United to push Chelsea back and gain control of the match.

It’s usually not said that Mourinho got his substitutions wrong and had Ivanovic not fouled Di Maria in the position that he did, and perhaps even more simply didn’t get sent off, Mourinho’s substitutions would not be called under question. However, Chelsea notably dropped deeper when Mikel was introduced and it allowed Manchester United back into the match rather than killing it off.