How were Van Gaal's men undone?
It's been a while but our resident tactics expert Jon Trew of inspirefootballcoaching.com is back with his first piece of the season, to show us exactly how the Swans set about spoiling Louis Van Gaal's home debut
Garry Monk’s first game in charge as the permanent Swansea boss could not have gone any better. The hard work that has clearly gone into pre-season saw a strong Swansea performance deservedly winning at Old Trafford. Monk, who was 12 years old when Louis Van Gaal began his coaching career, set his team up to not defend with negative tatics but to compete and get forward at every opportunity. Gone was the passing with no-end product from the end of Michael Laudrup’s reign and the return to attempting to control the game with forward passing influenced by Brendan Rodgers.
Monk served his apprenticeship under 5 different managers at Swansea City - Kenny Jackett, Roberto Martinez, Paolo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers and most recently Laudrup. He has surely what is an unique opportunity to take the best from each of the managers and instill his own philosophy into the team, the beginnings of which I believe we witnessed in the 2-1 win over Manchester United.
Team + Tactics
Much has been made of the tactics employed by Monk during pre-season amongst the Swansea faithful. In my opinion there is only one formation (and variations of it) that fits the players that Swansea City have, and that is 4-5-1. It’s possible to play Leon Britton as a pivot in front of the defence, two men sitting like against Man Utd or play the wingers higher up the pitch to create a 4-4-3. Influences from Brendan Rodgers were clear but with Monk’s own stamp on the tactical side.
Pre-season saw Monk experiment with Gylfi Sigursson out on the right amongst a few other tests, though this by Monk’s own admission was more to do with giving players minutes for fitness rather than for formation or tactical purpose. I expect to see a lot of variation in the way Swansea play especially after seeing a few things at the end of last season which could be of interest (more complex set plays, long throws, higher quicker pressing further up the pitch etc...). Monk will set out his Swansea team according to the opposition and will be prepared to make some bold choices.
Van Gaal decided to change the formation from 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3 second half - a formation which Man Utd did not use in pre-season matches. This goes to show how tactically perfect Swansea played in the first half. The team carried Monk’s instructions out astutely and did it without reverting to negative tactics. Even when Man Utd were in possession of the ball Swansea were in control of the match and ‘The Red Devils’ never really looked dangerous in the final third.
Defence
When in possession, Swansea deployed four at the back with the two central defenders in Williams and Amat playing deep and the wing backs, Rangel and Taylor, in a more advanced position. Just in front of the central defenders sat Ki and Jon-Jo Shelvey - they played much deeper than normal. These 6 players and Fabianski bossed the defence and passed the ball around with ease when in possession. They allowed a smooth transition from defence to attack and were disciplined throughout.
4-4-2 - when Man Utd’s defence were in posession of the ball in their own half:
When Swansea didn't have the ball, Sigurdsson pushed up [his work rate was phenomenal - Ed] and Swansea’s formation became 4-4-2. This allowed us to put a much greater level of pressure on the Manchester United defence.
4-1-4-1 - when Man Utd had possession in the Swansea half:
Shelvey dropped a bit deeper when Man Utd threw a few extra bodies forward at the end of the first half and his position was taken up by Gylfi Siggurson. This meant that Bony dropped back and became more of a false number 9, a role often played by Michu in his first season at Swansea.
Man Utd goal kicks
As can be seen from the stills, Swansea marked the defenders man for man which meant De Gea had to go long and gave Swansea a chance to win the ball in the midfield as Manchester United had no aerial dominance. This is markedly different to how we'd normally set up and shows the Swans were adhering to tactical instructions strictly throughout.
Swansea goal kicks
Interestingly, the Swansea centre backs did not split to either side of the penalty area (as has long been the norm as we look to play out from the back) and the Swans chose instead to play the ball long up to Bony.
This drew the unconvincing Man Utd defenders out of position but also as mentioned gave Swansea an aerial advantage.
Attack
Swansea reverted to the possession based dominance of the Rodger’s era as opposed to the fast counter attack of Laudrup’s tenure. The first goal was a classic example of build up play and it took 29 passes before Ki cleverly slotted the ball away. For the first goal, Bony cleverly blocks Jones from making a tackle and gives Ki time and space to find the net. For the second, Bony’s quick free kick leads to the attack down the left wing. Both of Bony’s involvements were due to Bony coming deep into midfield to pick up the ball and again in both instances it was a ‘long’ pass from Jon-Jo Shelvey which started the attack. (i.e. not a long ball in the traditional sense).
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| Shelvey found Bony with passes from deep for both goals |
It’s also worth noting how quickly support came upfront for Swansea. They managed to get bodies into the box and cause problems in and around the penalty area. Very often last season chances were not converted due to lack of presence and the final ball. Swansea had a bit of luck with the second goal when Routledge miss hit his shot, but the point is Siggurson was on hand to convert the opportunity so Swansea made their own luck and deserved to be the victors at the final whistle.
Conclusion
Garry Monk showed glimpses of what to expect under his leadership in matches at the tail end of last season. The victory over Man Utd showed that the young manager has huge potential after the experience of working with top young managers, which will allow him to build his own philosophy and to do it ‘the Swansea way’. Garry Monk most definitely won’t let the players rest on their laurels and will be focused on taking three points at home to Burnley this weekend.
Many thanks to Jon for his excellent analysis of the match. Make sure to follow him on Twitter @jon_inspire and check out his company Inspire Coaching