With Doku infield, it was Leny Yoro – United’s right centre-back – who was tasked with pushing up aggressively on him.
That is a difficult ask for a natural central defender, especially with Doku dropping as deep as his own half, and it was made more difficult as Foden also occupied those areas.
Yoro’s front-footed defending made the midfield battle a four against three – rather than four against two – at times, but he would often retreat when City’s players moved deeper as he did not want to end up too far from his backline.
By not committing entirely to backing up the press in a man-to-man fashion, United’s press was disjointed – meaning City had a free man somewhere.
United captain Bruno Fernandes touched on this after the match, admitting his team needed to be “more brave with full pressure” to prevent the opening goal.
“City take that risk against us – we need to do the same,” he said.
“I was trying to press Rodri because the aim of the midfielders was for one to jump on Rodri, with one of the defenders on Foden.
“In the first moment, I can cover both but Leny comes up so I go more on Rodri. And Leny was going backwards because of a miscommunication and we end up giving too much space on the pitch.”
A team-wide man-to-man press would ensure easy passing options aren’t available for the opposition.
As Fernandes mentions, it was the job of one of the defenders – namely Yoro – to jump on Foden. But the clever positioning of O’Reilly and movement of Doku meant he was left in two minds.
Foden was able to receive the ball under no pressure and carry it up the pitch – a situation that was replicated later in the game.
