Unai Emery is at the wheel for Arsenal. Here’s how he revealed Manchester United’s main weakness and made them more exploitable…
Arsenal came out of their weekend fixture full of smiles, and rightly so. Fans of the North London side could walk into their school or workplace with a smug look on their face, wiping it from the usual culprits; Manchester United fans.
However, beneath all the friendly banter, there’s more reason for Manchester United to worry. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done superbly well, however, teams are starting to wake up and are pouncing on his main weakness.
Inviting pressure actually works against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
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Solskjaer is a very attack-minded manager. I mean, he has to be when he’s working with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba. However, this could also be one of his main downfalls.
On Sunday, Emery deployed a smart tactic to overcome the Red Devils. The Spaniard sat back at times and played the ball out from the back. While this could be seen as a negative approach, it quickly turned into a positive one.
See, United fell into Emery’s trap. They pushed men forward to try and get the ball back. With Shkodran Mustafi and Petr Cech on the pitch, they would have had more luck. However, Arsenal managed to play the ball out from pressure well and allowed their midfielders to work their magic. This was largely due to the immense work of Bernd Leno, both with his hands and feet.
This style of play benefitted Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil, since they were able to push forward whenever possible. Xhaka was mostly renowned for his early goal, which came as a result of United’s high-press.
Any team with a sole creator, which pretty much includes every big-six side, can use this method. I mean, Paris Saint-Germain even did the same in the away leg with Angel Di Maria.
Do you think Manchester United will crumble now their weakness is revealed?