ERIK TEN HAG’S tactical tweak made the difference in Manchester United’s comeback victory over Aston Villa.
The Red Devils were 2-0 down at half-time after a dismal opening 45 minutes.
Fans booed the side off at the break and they responded by turning the game around to win 3-2.
Key to the comeback was tactical switches that Ten Hag made.
United struggled to create chances in their previous game, which ended in a 2-0 defeat to West Ham.
Alejandro Garnacho started on the left-wing with Antony on the right that day.
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Both became predictable as they cut in on their stronger foot and failed to supply Rasmus Hojlund.
A shocking stat revealed the winger’s passed to the striker just once combined against West Ham.
Garnacho was swapped on to the right-wing for the game against Aston Villa and Marcus Rashford came in on the opposite flank.
Unai Emery played such a high-line and a tweak by Ten Hag saw them expose their defence.
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Man Utd were more direct in the second-half with long balls in behind the Villa backline.
Garnacho has blistering pace and his speed was a constant threat.
The Argentine was allowed to drift further inside off the touchline as shown by his touch map and average position.
His diagonal runs were difficult for Villa to pick up and they got their first warning via Garnacho’s offside goal.
But they failed to learn their lesson as again Rashford timed a run in behind well and was found with a direct pass.
Garnacho darted across Alex Moreno to get in between the posts to score and trigger the comeback.
He was again found more centrally for his second goal, picking up the ball just off Hojlund.
Bruno Fernandes instead provided the width on the right as Garnacho got into the box to score and level the match at 2-2.
And finally Hojlund netted his first Premier League goal to seal the three points.
The switch in position by Garnacho also helped United press from the front better.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka also got tighter to Jacob Ramsey and it stifled Villa’s ability to progress the ball up the pitch.
Fans were impressed by the move that Ten Hag made and some even believe Garnacho is ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo when he was aged 19.
One fan said: “Erik ten Hag tactically outclassed Unai Emery in the second-half last night.”
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Another added: “You can see glimpses of how Ten Hag wants to play but the execution is most of the time poor.”
A third commented: “Ronaldo was very frustrating until 2006, so yes. Garnacho is more mature at 19 than Ronaldo.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
