Wigan Athletic 0-4 Manchester United: United kick off the New Year with easy win

There are some teams that keep on passing the ball and never quite get the goals, and then there are quite a few who keep on punting the ball into the box hoping for a chance flick-on. There are many more categorization in game-play but there is another kind of team that is not so common, the clinical type that may not get many chances but score on the ones they get, like Manchester United.

Manchester United, thanks to their overwhelming attack have been a goal scoring machine this season. They kicked off their New Year with a 4-0 away win at DW Stadium against Wigan. It was not very exciting but titles are won this way only. Not spectacular but efficient.

TEAM SELECTIONS

Manchester United:

After the busy Christmas period, Ferguson made five changes to his starting eleven from the last game, bringing in Ferdinand, Rafael, Giggs, van Persie and Hernandez for  Vidic, Smalling, Kagawa, Welbeck and Valencia, in a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 setup.

Wigan Athletic:

Roberto Martinez’s Wigan was largely the same except for the replacement of Jones in favor of James McArthur, in a side which continued their relatively unusual 3-4-3/3-4-1-2 shape.

MATCH SUMMARY

Wigan started off well enough slowing the Red Devil’s tempo right from the start. However, around the half hour mark, United shifted into their right gears.

A continuity of corners made sure that Wigan were on the back foot due to Van Persie’s brilliantly delivered corner kicks. One such corner was poorly cleared by McCarthy resulting in an Evra shot parried away by Al Habsi. It almost looked like Wigan would clear the ball but United’s resident goal poacher Chicharito was the quickest to respond, and put the ball into the goal.

And it was soon two. Hernandez was fortunate that the ball fell to him after ricocheting off two striped shirts. He moved forward and passed to RVP in the box. It was a very good pass illustrating his overall growth as a player. The defender blocked off the Dutchman’s left foot. Was RVP bothered at all? No, as his right foot is just as good. He shifted the ball and caressed it home. Pure class.

Into the second half and United dominated for the first fifteen minutes. Wigan were poor, continually coughing up possession off the ball in their own half. Soon after, Hernandez had his second when an RVP free kick’s resultant rebound fell into the path of Chicharito’s swinging right foot. The Mexican striker is a magnet for dropped balls in the box.

When Michael Carrick was subbed off for Kagawa, Wigan finally got to enjoy some much needed time on the ball. In the dying embers of the game RVP made it four due to Wigan’s horrible defending. The Premier League’s top scorer got a simple cross ball from Welbeck in a world of space. The rest was formality. 4-0 and game over.

TACTICAL DECONSTRUCTION

Ferguson was spot on with his team selection which paid rich dividends.

Carrick was one of United’s best players as he regularly broke down the hosts’ attacks in the middle, before initiating proceedings for his team. His distribution was impeccable until the 69th minute, when he was given a well-deserved rest.

A key weakness in Wigan’s formation is that their wingbacks, Boyce and Beausejour, are isolated and have to cover a lot of ground on their own. They effectively do the defensive as well as offensive part of the flanks resulting in Evra and Giggs having an easy time on the flanks, similarly mirrored by Rafael and Young. A simple heat map comparison between Giggs and Boyce would suffice, courtesy ESPN:

The Welshman cut inside more, to the extent that his ‘red spot’, the part of the pitch where he was most, was in a position that you’d expect the left CM to be. Giggs’ positioning meant that United neither left themselves open on the wings – because Evra is good enough to deal with the aging Boyce – or lost the midfield because he and van Persie both left their formation position to help Carrick and Cleverley to deal with the Wigan midfield three.

VERDICT

In the absence of Rooney and Kagawa, RVP played the withdrawn striker role not covering as much ground as Rooney but being just as effective. Almost 40% of his action area was between center circle and in the 30-yards up to the penalty area, in contrast to a comparatively tiny percentage in the penalty area. He connected Hernandez and the midfield and displayed his repertoire of finely crafted attacking skills all the while getting two goals, what more can you ask.

The win means that United maintain their 7-point lead over the top of the table and kick off the New Year in style.