Louis van Gaal’s and José Mourinho’s caution comes at cost of creativity
Manchester United and Chelsea followed their managers’ instructions to a T and the match suffered for it
Former colleagues Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho are reactive managers, varying their approach for the specific task of particular opponents. Both reacted too much here, handing their creative players strict defensive tasks and nullifying their own attacking potential.
Van Gaal’s Manchester United started by man-marking in the centre of midfield. Daley Blind watched Oscar, while Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini concentrated on stopping Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fàbregas respectively. This tight midfield marking was a feature of Van Gaal’s strategy with Holland during the World Cup and, when combined with a spare man at the back, is effective at stifling the opposition’s creativity.
United’s midfielders often found themselves in very defensive positions – at one point, Eden Hazard was dispossessed by a combination of Fellaini and Mata on the edge of their own box. This was effective in a purely defensive sense, but meant Robin van Persie was isolated throughout.
Chelsea were not using such strict man-marking tactics but Oscar, the most advanced midfielder, expended most of his energy helping Didier Drogba to press the centre-backs and Blind, United’s deep-lying playmaker. Fàbregas also got tight to opponents, and Chelsea ensured they got numbers around Ángel di María quickly, leaving Matic to patrol a large space in front of the defence. As a result Chelsea were not as structured or as compact as we have come to expect, and were forced into a succession of fouls – many simply clumsy, but some tactical, when players found themselves out of position.
Manchester United’s man-marking in midfield often created space for Gary Cahill to come forward with the ball.
Both sides’ determination to track opponents created a fast-paced midfield zone, based around constant movement, but no one had much time on the ball: by virtue of man-marking opponents, everyone found themselves closely tracked at turnovers of possession. The creative play of Oscar, Mata and Fàbregas was barely noticeable, and while space often opened up in the centre of the pitch, it relied on players in other zones to exploit it. Chelsea’s Gary Cahill, not particularly renowned as a creative centre-back, charged into that space three times in the first half.
Neither team created much following long passing moves, and chances came from relatively basic approaches: United looked dangerous when hitting the ball to Robin van Persie quickly, Chelsea were effective when pressing high up the pitch, while the goals came from set pieces. There were lots plenty of talented attackers on show, but all were preoccupied with their defensive tasks.
