Manchester United managed to walk away with a win at Hull City thanks to some ‘never-give-up’ attitude from the team. Some good work work from Rooney saw Marcus Rashford score a goal that sent the United fans at KCOM stadium into a roar. Hull City felt that they would walk away with a point after they did a sensational job in keeping United at bay but it was not meant to be.
Manchester United keep narrow
Manchester United continued using their wingers and number 10 in a more creative role with freedom to roam behind their striker Ibrahimovic and worked well with their wingbacks to break defences like they did in previous games. Shaw and Valencia once again providing width with their runs, at the same time ensuring not to get hit on the break will have pleased Mourinho quite a bit but it was Hull who did a magnificent job of not letting these wingbacks get their way. Pogba was deployed once again, as a player to break through the midfield, and he came agonisingly close to scoring his first goal.
As shown, the wingbacks pressed further forward while attacking. This also saw United have a whopping 279 passes in comparison to Hull’s 79 passes in the attacking third. Hull indeed did a fantastic job considering United dominated in every aspect of play. The dominance, however, was more evident when United brought on Mkhitaryan and Rashford, thereby increasing the pace in attack with their runs at the opposition. Mkhitaryan and Valencia are a more formidable force than Mata and Valencia as the pace is not compromised. This could prove to be a key partnership in the season. The runs from Rashford and Mkhitaryan proved to be more effective than it was from Martial and Mata and this could be a more formidable wing force in the upcoming games.
Hull’s Gritty Defense
Hull City deserve an applause for their solid defensive work inside the box which saw only one take on inside the box end up being successful. Playing with a 4-5-1 that switched to a 4-3-3 in attack saw some high-level pressing which often forced Ibrahimovic to drop deeper. United had attempted 23 take ons with 13 being successful.
Source: – Fourfourtwo.com/statszone
The centre-backs, combined with the central midfielders, pressed every United player in the Hull half third who had the ball, forcing them to misplace a pass or try something fancy. The end result was that the player with the ball had to be quick either on his feet or in his thinking. Their keeper did a brilliant job in his positioning as well, something which will have gone unnoticed and unheralded. Below is a brief layout of how Hull pressed United’s players when they were in their defensive third.
One can say Mike Phelan did a sensational job and after that play, there will lot of people favouring him for the managerial role. In the end, it was a brilliant assist by Rooney that saw Manchester United walk away with three points making it 9 out of 9. Fantastic, high flying and heading into the international break, United fans have a lot to be happy about.
