The Regista - Man Utd vs Liverpool tactical review: Bruno at CB; Dalot invert; Ten Hag rewarded for innovation

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden reviews Manchester United's thrilling 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final triumph against Liverpool and declares it an all-time classic - including for it's daring tactical innovations over a pulsating 120 minutes.

In an FA Cup all time classic, we saw seven goals, new tactical innovations and a massive gap in the Manchester United midfield! But what stood out in this game, and how did Manchester United trump Liverpool...?

Here are the two starting teams from the game, United starting in a 4-2-3-1, and Liverpool starting in their 4-3-3.

DALOT INVERTED WINNING THE MIDFIELD

Manchester United started with Aaron Wan-Bissaka at left back (to match up with Mohamed Salah), and started Diogo Dalot at right back, who inverted into midfield.

Dalot would invert in the first phase of build up, allowing Scott McTominay to push higher up and be a nuisance between the lines with his physicality and vertical movement. This also then allowed United to have McTominay, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo and Diogo Dalot in a box midfield for counter pressing purposes, and to win that midfield battle early on.

The image above shows the base of Dalot and Mainoo in position to recover the ball if it breaks, this allows McTominay to be higher up, and attack the box (leading to their opening goal).

In the first half before Liverpool's equaliser, here are the average positions for Manchester United.

The midfielders were close together, making it hard for Liverpool to win the midfield battle (often being a 4v3 overload for United in this area) and stopping Liverpool's central progression.

The timing of when to jump and press (especially Mainoo for the first half hour) and the way United were