Manchester United 2-2 Sevilla FC | Tactical Analysis

Manchester United were far superior for 80 minutes to Sevilla who found a miracle with 2 own goals to tie the game.

Manchester United

In possession

We started by looking at the position of Acuña, who was in charge of covering Antony by chasing him into the opposition half, suffering a lot in the 1 on 1s.

Although Acuña’s biggest problem is in his positioning with a lot of space left in his back in transitions, making it very easy for the right winger to receive and run into the box without any center back coming out to help.

Another weakness is when the winger jumps to press a center back, leaving the fullback of his flank free having Sevilla many doubts about who should cover him. As in this play where Fernando has 3 players behind him allowing Malacia to receive too comfortably.

Exactly the same with Martial dropping back to receive between the lines to link up. No center back comes out of position to cover him, receiving alone as no midfielder helps.

And the last key in United’s build up, Bruno Fernandes, appearing in all areas of the pitch, both to receive short passes from the defensive line as well as waiting behind the midfielders for long balls from De Gea.

With all these advantages United easily reach the final third where a front 4 is waiting, as in this play where in the edge of Sevilla’s box there is big superiority, 4 vs 2, making impossible to defend these situations.

1-0, 2-0

And this is how Manchester United scores both goals. Sabitzer attacking the back of the defensive line, a big gap between the center backs and a poor positioning by the center backs to try to intercept the pass.

Sevilla survived a tie that Manchester United should have settled before the second leg.