United played a well-targeted first half, and even though two goals were blown, they still entered the dressing room with a 1-0 advantage to achieve a crushing advantage on goal (12-0). Pogba's return from injury did give the Red Devils a specific "advantage quality" to the midfield, and Lonnick's side is also maximizing this.
Many people did not expect that after a 15-minute break in midfield, Burnley's first shot pierced the door guarded by De Gea and once turned the game around. Maguire has undoubtedly become the object of public criticism again, but this shows something deeper: the Red Devils' concept of team building has become outdated, invite Ronnick to "save themselves", and the management has given enough authority?
It can even be said that without the system and thinking of the overthrow and reconstruction, Manchester United may only be able to introduce the world's first all-round midfielder to improve the upper and lower limits of this team.
[Pogba brings 'specific qualities', Manchester United play a quality half]
Whether Pogba's future is at Manchester United or not, there are still many people who hope that he can help the team out of the difficulties in the second half. French stars whose strengths and weaknesses are already very obvious also need to perform well on the pitch and fight for a better "future".
What is pogba's greatest quality in the Manchester United midfield? High-altitude confrontation. Even though he has lost his ability to get rid of the Red Devils when he first arrived at the Red Devils, it is an indisputable fact that he is superior to Fred in terms of physique and ball control.
The most direct manifestation is the two best chances (including goals) of this game.
Figure 1+2: Midfield header confrontation, which became the key starting point for Manchester United's two attacks
Almost the same routine is the successful confrontation of the midfield to complete the high ball, all B Fei does not stop the ball to find Sancho on the left, all Sancho sends a score to Luke Shaw on the high-speed edge, and Luke Shaw uses the pass to find his teammate in the box (Pogba/Cavani) and completes the shot.
United won 3-1 over Burnley in the first leg, and De Gea had a 20.8 percent success rate for a long pass at the back and 33.3 percent for the game. This is obviously due to Pogba's post-appearance: he has succeeded seven of his 10 high-altitude tackles in this game, while Nemanja Matic, who partnered Wheat at the back in the first leg, has only 3 high-altitude confrontations and only 1 success.
[Wehost from silence to eruption, Manchester United's midfield problems are fully revealed]
We all know that Burnley plays team football that is played high. With Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes, they once fought to the top half of the table. Now, after Barnes has grown older, injured and Wood has been poached by Newcastle's liquidated damages, they have brought in Dutch centre-forward Wehost from the Bundesliga.
His strengths and weaknesses are very prominent: shooting sticks, can shoot the ball, but the tall physique brings a lack of flexibility under pressure. To put it bluntly, when you fight closely, his utility will decline significantly.
United's double-high back was also to some extent a help to the centre-back who had a defective ability to raise the confrontation, and Manchester United also completed the restriction on Wehost most of the time: he only succeeded in 5 of the 18 confrontations in this game, especially the high ball, and only succeeded once in 7 confrontations. The double-high back was clipped high when Wehost was retreating, and even Luke Shaw relied on his solid physique to effectively fight when he was ground-topped.
Figure 3+4+5: Almost all of United's midfield is involved in the restrictions on Wehost
But at the beginning of the second half, United were "educated" by Wechost. What's the problem?
Figure 6: Burnley showed a new strategy at the beginning of the second half
After half-time, Weehost's position became more flexible, relying on running to shake off the Manchester United centre-backs; the Manchester United double-high back lacked mobility in the two penalty catches, and was successfully captured by the premise of burnley midfielders. More critically, once Burnley uses the defensive turn to attack or empty space to complete the impact, when Manchester United can't follow the defense, once the defensive line can't follow the defense, then there is a huge space around Wehoist.
Figure 7: A panoramic view of Burnley's equalising goal
Burnley counter-attacked to the front, the United midfield did not have enough maneuverability to interfere, and finally let the opponent send the output pass; J-Rodriguez quickly counter-inserted the combination of Dalot and Varane, waiting for the opportunity to receive the ball; Wehost directly retreated from Maguire's side, getting the opportunity to catch the ball in the open position, and Maguire was just "sticking to the position" without a premise. Wehhorst can have a more relaxed space to change direction in the face of wheat's running rebound defense and Maguire's slow up-and-coming.
Next, Varane had no choice but to close behind Maguire and be sent by Wehost with a wonderful diagonal pass, allowing J-Rodriguez to get a one-handed chance. And his mobility and choice ensure that he can "get stuck" and not let Maguire sabotage it, and finally score a single knife.
[Upgrading the midfield is a must, but Manchester United's root cause is not here]
Enough media, celebrities and fans are shouting: it's time for United to upgrade the midfield.
Upgrading the midfield can indeed bring improvement to this Manchester United team, a better midfield than "Fred + Wheat", obviously more able to rely on confrontation and coverage to cover the front and back of the field, if you increase the ball holding and creativity, it will undoubtedly make Manchester United's combat effectiveness have a significant improvement. That is, the upper and lower limits can be raised.
But Manchester United's problems are not completely solved by upgrading the midfield.
Manchester United are a British-minded club whose "two-pronged, light midfield" strategy over the years will be very evident in the specific problems of The England Academy. After the beginning of this century, English football began to refer to the youth training model of Germany, Spain and other countries, but it did not change their inherent thinking. Most of the talents cultivated are still focused on "specific areas" or "specific qualities". To put it bluntly, the advantage projects are more prominent, but the comprehensiveness is very scarce. Under the blessing of the tactical system improvement and big data system, modern football has very strict requirements for the comprehensiveness of players.
England's youth academy has seen frequent results or good seedlings in previous years, but have they produced convincing enough performances in the first team? Subsequent developments will be clearer.
Manchester United is the most direct representative, and even if the centre-back brings in Varane, who is a high-quality youth training and has a good comprehensiveness from the mainland, he is still not very good in terms of confrontation. The reinforcements on the front line are also the type of players with specific qualities but not all-round attackers. In the past and now, Ibrahimovic, Cavani and C Ronaldo introduced by Manchester United have all been the leaders of all-round attackers, but they are already veterans and are being invaded by the years.
In contrast, Chelsea and Manchester City have begun to fully Europeanize. Liverpool, which also has a strong British mindset, has formed a situation of "continental players occupying the core axis" under the creation of Klopp. As a result, they can succeed under the right manager and United are still running into walls. The previous failures of Van Gaal, Mourinho and Sochaux should also be re-examined.