RSS Subscription

Subscribe via RSS reader:
Subscribe via Email Address:
 

Park peerless in United's decisive victory

Posted By joe On 07:50 Under
The general team display at Elderly Trafford swept away any doubts that United warrant a 12th Premier League crown with their defence solid, the midfield of Michael Carrick & Ryan Giggs working in ideal tandem & the frontline of Wayne Rooney & Javier Hernandez a force up front.


It is impossible to select individuals in analysing why Manchester United recorded a deserved victory over Chelsea which all but seals a record 19th top-flight league title.

The 30-year-old is often preferred on the left of midfield in United's huge games & although his defensive qualities put him ahead of Nani in the pecking order, they also offers a different slant to their assault.
This was evident from the start of the game when Giggs expertly found Park in an inside-left position, before they put Hernandez through for his 37-second opener which set the tone for a pulsating first half.

Park Ji-sung's display was chief among the highlights , the South Korean's work-rate & cleverness which helped to thwart Chelsea's three-man midfield.

That key pass to Park is highlighted below, & the areas in which his team-mates found him was markedly different to Antonio Valencia on the right.



Floating around in a space between the defence & midfield where Chelsea right-back Branislav Ivanovic did not require to go, Park proved a menace.
It also provided some fascinating clues about a developing midfield with United's Champions League final against Barcelona looming on the horizon.

"Firstly, Park set the tempo of the United team right from the start" says former Arsenal full-back & Match of the Day four expert Lee Dixon. "They obviously had been primed to start quickly but they took Chelsea by surprise & I thought they was the main catalyst for that.

"His work-rate is a given & what they come to expect from him, but I thought his intelligence of when to close down when Chelsea had the ball, & his choice of space at the right time was amazing.

"In assault they also occupies narrower positions but that makes the full-back think because they can go wide as well. They picks the ball up in areas that full-backs don't necessarily like to go in & mark.

"We tend to like staying in our area not far away from our centre-back, & they feel uncomfortable when they go in to that inside-left area unless they have lovely cover. It is something that puts you in minds: do I go in & mark him or do I stay where I am?

"The safe thing to do is stay where you are but because Park is so lovely on the ball like they saw for the aim, they is a dangerous person to leave alone. I thought they did a amazing job & they tore Ivanovic to pieces sometimes."

You could argue that United selected a five-man midfield again, with Rooney dropping in to help out Giggs, Carrick, Park & Antonio Valencia. But where the formationfailed last week against Arsenal, this time they were liquid in assault & solid in defence.

The key thing here is that although it might appear that Rooney was the playing in the space between Chelsea's defence & midfield the truth was that there were actually of them: Rooney, Park & Giggs.

Giggs may tend to over the ball in to that area receiving it there, but they was sorely missing from United's midfield at the Emirates last Sunday & based on recent European performances they is proving an ideal foil alongside Carrick.

& for someone like Chelsea's defensive midfielder John Mikel Obi that proved a nightmare.

When Carrick plays with Anderson or Paul Scholes, the central midfield pair line up more side-by-side, whereas with Giggs in the side Carrick plays a lot deeper, allowing the Welshman to probe in front of him.

That gives Giggs the chance to collect the ball in midfield & run at defenders, which commits them to a challenge. When this happens it can also leave gaps for Rooney & Hernandez.

Although Park moving infield might leave United narrow on the left side in assault, usually they have Patrice Evra who can overlap from full-back & fill the space that Park vacates.

When they are defending, Park is clever & fit to track back & pick whether to stay wide to help John O'Shea, as they did on Sunday, or come infield to assist.

That also goes for Valencia who tends to hug the touchline more on the right but was willing to shadow Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole.

Without that outlet on the left Chelsea were narrow, which suited Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

"Valencia will run all day, there were plenty of times when they was at right-back, & the amount of times Cole got in behind United's defence were few & far between so it shows they was doing his job.

"This week United got the balance right in midfield & got help in the right areas," Dixon adds. "Both Valencia & Park returned which sometimes freed of the defenders to actually step in to midfield from a defensive position.

"Chelsea's wider players Florent Malouda & Salomon Kalou tried to hunt for the ball, but they didn't stay that wide that often.

"Chelsea had plenty of players who were calm & they got hit by Manchester United who were in an attacking frame of mind. It surprised them & I think they thought that United would sit back & hit them on the break, therefore waiting for a draw. In fact, they did the opposite."

It may be stretching it to say that United will have learned useful lessons before they take on Barcelona at Wembley on 28 May, as the Catalans will offer a different conundrum to Chelsea.

Yet in the midfield where United's issues appeared to have stemmed from this season, they now appear to have made progress at exactly the right time.

& more importantly, in the event that they start the Champions League final at the same tempo they may be able to catch out their opponents again.

Post a Comment