I mean you're suggesting individual players might have worked hard but they were doing so independently. Not in any kind of coordinated way. I think that is an underestimation. Keane and thw rest were top level footballers. They probably didn't make a big deal out of it, didn't have a trendy phrase for it but I'm sure had the intelligence to purposely win the ball back as a group.
Again I suppose its memory and perception. I don't think of Bruce/Pallister or Stam/Johnsen as playing particularly deep. Maybe not on the halfway line like City but advanced enough. Just because Bruce was slow doesn't mean he played purely on the edge of his area.
It's a shame with all these interviews they do with Keane and others they don't ask about this stuff. What those teams worked on, what the collective idea was going into a game. Would be very interesting.
They pressed as a unit to a limited degree but most of our strength was in winning individual battles, on or off the ball. The wingers would destroy the fullbacks, Keane and Ince would dominate their individual midfield battles, that’s the game we played and we were very effective at it at home so I don’t see it as a criticism at all, just an observation.
It’s all relative. United played higher up the pitch than most teams they played against, but then no team in England played a pressing game at that point.
Before Heysel Liverpool were a symbol of tactical modernity on the continent (while e.g. Forest were the symbol of English traditions) but after the ban all English clubs had taken a step back. Once we got on top in the league we had great individuals but consistently underperformed in Europe, and once we got past the excuses of the foreign player quota, the focus went to our tactical choices being better suited to the domestic game than the continental one.
We just weren’t one of the tactical innovators and at that time very few teams were playing a pressing game, Sacchi’s team stood out in the same way Michel’s Ajax did.
Agreed it would be good to get more insight on that, but I’ve seen Rio, Giggs and Rooney talk about Sir Alex’s tactics in the past and they just don’t have any insight to offer. A lot of footballers aren’t that articulate and Rooney was among the worst of the bunch in that regard, but if they’re able to articulate so little, it also fits with the narrative that Sir Alex didn’t place much emphasis on tactics.
He covered off the necessities but most of his focus went on getting great individuals in his squad and getting them motivated. Which also fits with the likes of Keane, Rooney and Giggs not being very good managers, as they had little tactical insight to pass on and no-one can create Sir Alex’s motivational power.