Manchester United met Southampton in the EFL Cup final on Sunday. Mourinho sought a 4th League Cup trophy, but was faced by a dangerous Southampton side with their free-scoring new signing Manolo Gabbiadini.

United’s ineffective buildup

One problem which United faced was their buildup, particularly early in the game. Southampton defended in a 4-4-2-0 mid-block with a focus on maintaining access to United’s central midfielders, Herrera and Pogba, as well as handling the occasional dropping movements from Mata, Lingard and Martial. As such, United’s centre-backs, Bailly and Smalling had a decent amount of time on the ball, and space to move forward into. However United’s centre backs, Smalling in particular (known for his deficiencies on the ball) were reluctant to bring the ball forward.

An important way of disorganizing an opponent is to provoke them out of their defensive shape – and one way of doing this is simply by carrying the ball until an opponent moves out of position in order to apply pressure, in theory allowing the possibility to exploit the vacated space. United were not able to disorganize Southampton in this way, due to their CBs’ unwillingness to carry the ball forward.

Instead, United circulated the ball slowly in defence, usually relying on Herrera and Pogba to collect the ball in order to attempt to progess further into midfield. This is not a new problem for United, and is an aspect of their game which could certainly be improved. On a more positive note, Pogba was probably the most effective midfielder in United’s buildup, where on occasion he was able to use his press-resistant qualities to turn his marker and advance with the ball.

Some of United’s better moments in buildup in the first half came down the left side, involving Rojo and Martial, who was able to move inside to receive the ball in the left halfspace behind Southampton’s midfield a couple of times when Southampton’s RCM moved forward to support Ward-Prowse in pressing Rojo. The buildup for United’s second goal also came on the left side, where they were able to exploit poor ball-orientation from Southampton with a well worked passing move, in which Cedric, Ward-Prowse and Davis were pulled out of position, leaving a large gap for United to exploit.

Overall though, United’s buildup was fairly ineffective due to the issues discussed, and United often ended up playing long passes towards Ibrahimovic, which is not uncommon for them. Because of this, United struggled to maintain possession in advantageous areas in the first half.

Southampton dominate in midfield

A far bigger problem for United than their buildup play however, was the way in which Southampton were able to dominate the midfield when in possession. United tried to defend mostly in a man-oriented fashion, starting in a 4-4-1-1.

Within this, Lingard would take to marking Romeu, and Herrera and Pogba were left outnumbered trying to defend against the rest of Southampton’s midfield – Davis, Ward-Prowse, Tadic and Redmond. United’s midfield were very uncompact, Mata and Martial did not operate in a ball-oriented way, preferring to mark their respective full backs, thus the amount of space which Herrera and Pogba were required to cover was very large.

This problem manifested itself in multiple scenes in the first half including for Southampton’s first goal, where Southampton were able to progress the ball past United’s midfield very well, with Redmond in particular heavily involved, moving freely into the centre. Redmond was able to run at United’s defence on multiple occasions due to the space he was able to find, which was preferable for him, given his speed and dribbling ability.

Another problem for United was the way in which Southampton were able to isolate Marcos Rojo, owing to the lack of defensive instinct from Pogba and Martial. The former, was fully occupied with United’s aforementioned difficulties in midfield, and the latter often stayed further up the pitch and nearer the touchline, waiting for counter-attack opportunities. As a result, Cedric, Ward-Prowse and Southampton’s attacking midfield were able to get some joy on this side – this was an aspect which was shown in both Southampton’s wrongly disallowed early goal, and their first goal, just before half time.

The lack of compactness and ball-orientation in midfield is another aspect which is not new to anyone who watches United. The problem is made worse by the passivity of United’s back 4, who rarely move up to close the space behind United’s midfield when they are attempting to press. Thus, opposition teams often are able to access the space in front of United’s centre-backs, and United often concede chances in this way  – particularly with runners from midfield. This match against Southampton demonstrated these issues clearly.

Mourinho’s second-half adjustment

Presumably because of the issues that United were facing in midfield in the first half, Mourinho chose to introduce Michael Carrick in place of Juan Mata after half-time. The intention of this change was probably to give United more stability in midfield, both in and out of possession. Furthermore, it was not unreasonable to replace Juan Mata, given his limited impact on the game in the first half.

In possession, Carrick gave United a fixed reference point with his positioning immediately in front of the centre backs. This was in contrast to the first half, where although Pogba and Herrera often dropped to receive the ball from the defence, neither acted as a true ‘pivot’in front of the centre-backs. This would be appropriate if the United centre-backs were to carry the ball out from defence, as it affords them the space to do so. However as previously explained, they were reluctant to do this, therefore  having Carrick as a player who could distribute the ball was helpful. Carrick connecting United’s buildup was also useful because it freed Pogba and Herrera to move further forward into advanced areas.

Carrick also helped secure the space behind Herrera and Pogba when United didn’t have possession. This is another way in which Herrera and Pogba were freed by Carrick – they could move more aggressively to pressure the ball without leaving a large amount of space behind them. Southampton were still a couple of times able to find Redmond behind United’s midfield, as Carrick was occupied by Tadic, however tight marking from Valencia meant that he was unable to turn and dribble in the way that he could in the first half.

Conclusion

As admitted by Mourinho after the game, it is fair to say that Southampton probably deserved to force extra time at least, or even to win the game. They took good advantage of United’s man orientations in the first half, however through some degree of luck, Mourinho’s second half adjustment and a talisman in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, United were able to win late on, bringing Mourinho his 4^th league cup, and bringing United’s trophy count level with Liverpool as England’s most historically successful club.