Some things I liked (in terms of ball retention and creativity) from the full backs that were included in the starting berth
Bissaka
Impressed he kept this in play
Shaw
This is a fragment of a post from 2019
Passing aside, Shaw's off the ball movement as an attacking weapon has been underutilized. I feel he could make a considerable impact at LB making infield runs in the half spaces and towards the box in goal scoring positions, while Chong momentaraily hugs the touchline. Take Spain at the 2017 U21 Euros for example, and the way they used Bellerin who consistently got into goal scoring positions by making infield runs.
I'm pleased we're seeing this materialise with Rashford whose added yet another string to his bow. With Bruno having a galvanising influence on Man Utd, we can expect opposition to make special efforts to neutralise his creative impetus. I remember back when we had LVG, and we played against Wolfsburg in the Champions League. They put pressure on Blind who was fundamental to the build up play, and completely left Smalling alone. Back to Bruno, in relation to the importance of full backs.
Below is a take on the tactics of Flamengo against Liverpool in 1981.
Taken from here
If Flamengo didn’t want to risk passing into a marked Zico though, they had other ways of advancing the ball. Andrade picked
out nice passes to the flanks, where Leandro and Junior would push forward from full-back. They would often send the ball
down the line to the wingers then underlap, making runs through the centre to receive a one-two. If the wingers came short
to receive the ball, the full-backs would sometimes overlap, pushing high up the pitch.
If
Flamengo Man Utd didn’t want to risk passing into a marked Fernandes though, they had other ways of advancing the ball.
Andrade Matic picked
out nice passes to the flanks, where AWB and
Junior Shaw would push forward from full-back. They would often send the ball
down the line to the wingers then underlap, making runs through the centre to receive a one-two. If the wingers came short
to receive the ball, the full-backs would sometimes overlap, pushing high up the pitch.
We've seen Rashford coming deep with Shaw making underlapping and overlapping runs. It was a tactic used against Spurs which would've otherwise caused them serious issues with the aggressive approach of Aurier who tried to get tight to Rashford, perhaps wary of the phenomenal performance of Rashford in December.
In normal circumstances Aurier would've been taken out of the game as he followed Rashford when he came deep, then Rashford would attempt to play Shaw in the vacated space. This was countered well by the athleticism of Sissoko, as well as Bergwijn whose arguably one of the most intelligent players in the league. The thing is most midfielders we come up against won't have the athleticism of Sissoko, and the more adventurous teams will be less inclined to have the wide players defending to the degree that Jose encourages.
