The Regista - Man Utd vs Liverpool tactical review: Szoboszlai the carrier the key; Mainoo capable of more

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden examines Liverpool's exciting draw at Manchester United on Sunday and says the key to the game was the individual quality both midfields boasted on the day.

This game provided end-to-end football (becoming a theme in Manchester United matches), offered a well-worked set-piece opener, a Kobbie Mainoo beauty, and a few tactical takeaways.

The main highlight though revolves around the midfield battle, and the ball carriers influence in this game...

SZOBOSZLAI PULLS UNITED APART

The main takeaway for me was yet again the midfield gap of Erik ten Hag's side (well covered by now). But in this game, the way Liverpool carved that space to suit their attacking pattern was by dropping Alexis Mac Allister deeper (sometimes even further than Wataru Endo) and leaving Dominik Szoboszlai in isolated spaces with Casemiro.

This image shows the two purple circles (dragging United's initial press forward) and then the space Szoboszlai could operate in (the yellow circle).

Another key point to consider is United's refusal to step forward and back up their press, having their normal man-to-man approach from the front, but their deeper reserved approach at the back (leaving this massive gap we spoke of).

This allowed Szoboszlai to play on the shoulder of Casemiro, and look to receive the ball within driving distance from goal, knowing if he could get the ball facing forward he could drive into the space, either forcing a United defender to jump out (leaving space to attack for the forwards) or to create his own space for a shot.

A side note to this point is to emphasise the importance of ball carriers against a man-to-man pressing approach.

By having players that can carry the ball