Goodison Tactics: How Everton can and will hurt Manchester United
Everton face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday in the early kick-off in the Premier League.
A win would take them to the top of the table, but a win for the Red Devils would take them to the top of the table.
Now, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side possesses a lot of quality and have a world-class attacking unit with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, and Jadon Sancho, to name but a few.
So we know how the Red Devils can cause the Toffees problems, and it would be a waste of time analysing the Red Devils’ threats when we can focus on how the Toffees can cause problems.
In the six Premier League games so far, the Red Devils have conceded in every game bar one, so the Toffees can score, and given that they have scored in every league game, we would be very surprised if Benitez’s side don’t at least get a couple of goals.
WhoScored state that one of the Red Devils’ main problems is the number of individual mistakes they make.
This first tactical breakdown doesn’t lead to a goal but really should have.
This should have ended up in a goal, and it would have been down to two individual errors.
First, the pass from Maguire is poor, and then de Gea’s clearance is even worse.
However, Manchester United were not so lucky in this next analysis, and Young Boys scored a late winner.
Now there isn’t necessarily a way to force individual mistakes like these, but these errors suggest that some players at Manchester United lose their concentration easily.
Therefore, if the Everton plays stay switched on throughout the match, they should be able to profit from these potential individual errors.
However, another way in which the Toffees can expose the Red Devils is through counter-attacks, as Newcastle United showed.
The Toon lost 4-1, but their goal was a fine counter-attack that Benitez could look to replicate.
So, that goal was very simple and was essentially two passes before Manquillo found the back of the net.
Now, with the likes of Demarai Gray, Abdoulaye Doucoure, and Andros Townsend, the Toffees have plenty of pace and power, which should expose this Red Devils defence.
It should be an intriguing game on Saturday, and we would be very surprised if the Toffees didn’t at least score a couple of goals because this Manchester United defence can be exposed.
In other Everton news, a key trio have been spotted back in training for the Toffees.
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