Man Utd tactics
Louis van Gaal shuffled his forwards in attempts to improve his side’s offensive threat. United kept their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation looking to dominate possession, pin the opponents in the offensive-third, switch the ball from one flank to the other before gradually penetrating.
Daley Blind assumed a key role in building attacks from the back as the centre-back partner of Chris Smalling. Both central defenders played the ball short into midfield to start things off.
Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger worked from the base of midfield, with Carrick mainly recycling possession as a deep-lying playmaker while Schweinsteiger occasionally made late runs to support play in more advanced positions.
Juan Mata worked from the right attacking midfield position, where he drifted inside to float between the lines. Jesse Lingard assumed the Memphis Depay role as a dribbler, adding an extra-dimension to United’s game by coming in off the left flank to his trusted right foot.
Wayne Rooney operated as a supporting striker, dropping behind CSKA’s midfield unit, where he linked up play before making runs into the box to support Anthony Martial.
Martial completed the offensive formation as the centre forward, frequently peeling into the inside left channel where he created overloads with Lingard and Marcos Rojo on the left side.
The Manchester giants pressed high in a 4-4-2 formation when defending with the aim of winning the ball early and subjecting the visitors to sustained pressure.
Rooney and Martial led the pressing, with Mata and Lingard working from the sides of midfield. Carrick and Schweinsteiger double-pivoted in front of the back-four to provide a screen for the defenders.
CSKA Moscow tactics
CSKA boss Leonid Slutsky knew that United would not have a potent aerial threat up top, so he set his charges up in a compact 4-4-1-1 formation to pack the area just in front of the penalty box and force United sideways and backwards.
The plan was to pick moments to press high and nick possession in dangerous areas, before dropping back to conform to the compact 4-4-1-1 defensive shape.
When United had good possession in CSKA’s half, Ahmed Musa started the pressing as the main centre forward, while Bebras Natcho helped close down United’s central midfielders just behind the Nigerian forward.
Georgi Milanov and Zoran Tosic worked as wide midfielders, flanking Alan Dzagoev and Pontus Wernbloom to form the midfield line of four.
Tosic and Milanov protected the full-backs, while the central midfielders – Dzagoev and Wernbloom – worked just in front of the central defenders to squeeze the space between the lines and deny United a way through the middle.
When in possession, the pacy Musa made runs in behind United’s high defensive line to get on the end of clipped balls over the top. Tosic and Milanov supported those counter-attacks as natural wide midfielders operating from the right and left flank, respectively.
When the visitors had good spells of possession in United’s half, they attacked in a 4-1-4-1 offensive formation with Wernbloom as the main sitter. Milanov and Tosic supplied service from the flanks, while Dzagoev pushed on to join Natcho as the central attacking midfielders.
Key tactical changes
United enjoyed about 70 per cent possession throughout the game, as was to be expected, but they laboured to their victory because they initially struggled to break down CSKA.
Ashley Young provided some decent crosses as an overlapping right-back, but United lacked a good target centrally. The hosts’ intricate play through the middle was not quick or sharp enough to penetrate CSKA’s defensive unit and there was no space for the pacy Martial to threaten in behind.
In the last 15 minutes, Van Gaal changed the system to add an aerial threat in United’s offensive work. Marouane Fellaini became the supporting striker, with Rooney leading the attack.
Lingard switched to the right flank, where he hugged the touchline in the final-third looking to open up the pitch and link up with the overlapping Young as a natural right winger. Memphis came on as a reverse left winger, supplementing the efforts of the wide men on the right by delivering in-swinging crosses from the left.
The visitors retained their shape, but Slutsky also wanted to pinch a late goal so he turned to Musa and Seydou Doumbia as the forwards. Those strikers completed the game as transitional players, looking to threaten on the break in a 4-4-2 formation.
The changes from both managers worked in United’s favour, there was a slight improvement in terms of the hosts’ attacking threat. Van Gaal’s men eventually bagged that goal that ended their drought and pushed them to the top of the group with a deserved narrow win.
