Gameweek 4: The Post Mortem. MNU v WIG, NOR v WHU

So. These sort of posts will be used to measure the accuracy of my previous analysis, and to make mental notes as to what to look out for in the future. I apologise if the previous post has been tl;dr but I will be trying my best to make things more informative/less opinionated besides the predictions section.

United 4 Wigan 0

Summary:

United exploited Wigan's space behind the wingbacks initially by pushing Welbeck wide, and when Wigan adapted, pushed Nani and Buttner forward to fill in the gaps to create chances. With Wigan's substitutions like for like, you could say that Wigan's tactical adaptibility compared to last season is really limited, and United's blueprint might be emulated by other teams as the season goes by.

West Ham and Norwich confirmed and executed their plan and created chances, but Jaaskelainen's form stopped Norwich and West Ham were wasteful. The introduction of Matt Jarvis did help West Ham, and it serves as a decent plan B should West Ham find the likes of Vaz Te ineffective. Norwich's Harry Kane also provided Chris Hughton with an encouraging performance, and should he start the next game, it will be unsurprising. Matt Jarvis might even get more game time over Vaz Te depending on how Jarvis copes with returning back to fitness, as well as if Sam Allardyce sees any benefit in playing him to expose relatively weak fullbacks.

Lineups:

With Wigan fielding the expected 3-4-3, there was a slight modification up front where Maloney played behind the two frontmen instead of wide of them. The gameplan is simple but unorthodox: Obtain and maintain possession via domination in the center of the park (McCarthy and McArthur), and utilise the advanced positions of the wingbacks to create chances and to rely less on the wingbacks to defend.  Maloney is being positioned in between the midfield and the frontmen, presumably to enforce the centre of midfield more and to play in "the hole".

United fielded a starting XI that was designed to exploit the space behind the wingbacks. With Scholes and Carrick in the middle of the park, Giggs and Nani started on the flanks, which is what I only half expected; Lesson learnt here that SAF does have a tendency to rest his best players before Champions League games, with the likes of Valencia, Kagawa and RVP rested.

Tactical Notes:

• United take advantage early with their strikers, but cannot capitalise

With Wigan's lineup and formation playing right into SAF's hands, the midfield of Scholes and Carrick were more than enough to handle the midfield trio (Giggs also did drift infield to help out), and as a result, Wigan were not able to assert their dominance in the game. United's gameplan had already paid dividends when an early long ball found Welbeck, who occupied the space Giggs was supposed to maraud into and won a penalty. It's not the fact that he won a penalty that should be highlighted; the fact that Al-Habsi had to come out of his goal to deal with Welbeck, instead of one of the three centerbacks, presented that opportunity for the penalty to be won. That aside, however, Wigan learnt their lesson quickly and combined with United being wasteful in the final third, were able to keep the game scoreless at halftime.

• Buttner being pushed further up to force the wingback issue

To Wigan's credit, they did try to assert themselves by utilising Beausejour and Boyce, and they were only let down by the quality of the wingbacks themselves. Buttner and Rafael weren't very rampant on the flanks, and Nani was relatively quiet. Buttner even made a couple of awkward challenges and was even carded on the stroke of half time. As the match went on, however, Buttner demonstrated what United have been severely lacking over the last season or two. Since a 3-4-3 can be exploited by using the space behind the fullbacks, instead of relying on one of the forward to stretch the game and receive it on the wing like Welbeck did in the first half, SAF pushed Buttner and Nani forward further to utilise that space instead. With Nani starting to appear on the flanks more and more, it was only a matter of time before attempts by Nani and Buttner resulted in two goals converted by Scholes and Hernandez respectively. The reason the game could still be stretched despite Wigan being aware of this error was the positioning of United's two forwards: With Welbeck and Hernandez remaining central, so were the three centrebacks, allowing Nani and Buttner to move into those spaces after receiving the ball beyond the wingbacks. You could even argue that despite Buttner's goal being fortuitous, the fact that he had so much space to move into created that opportunity in the first place.

With the game won, Sir Alex pulled a move that surprised even more by bringing on RVP and Powell for Scholes and Giggs. Powell's role was assumed to directly replace Paul Scholes, but RVP's role essentially pushed McCarthy and McArthur further back, as Wigan had to deal with 3 forwards and Nani. With United receiving long balls on counterattacks, there was a huge space in between defense and midfield for Wigan, which Powell duly took over and scored the fourth goal himself. The fact that despite receiving the ball outside the box, his first touch before scoring beat Gary Caldwell, who was supposed to be marking one of the three forwards anyway.

Fantasy Implications: 

This game probably highlights Wigan's weaknesses more than United's strengths. It is safe to say, however, that Shaun Maloney for Wigan will probably be responsible for Wigan's good fortunes this season. With United, the only lessons that I can take from this is that in a midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Giggs, Giggs would probably be the most advanced of the three, and he'll could potentially be a lethal differential in big games, where United tend to crowd the midfield and play the same trio to control the flow of the game.

Norwich 0 West Ham 0

Lineups:

Norwich field the same XI as last week, but with Andrew Surman replacing the injured Pilkington. West Ham had no surprises up their sleeves either, fielding the same XI as last week. Matt Jarvis is back on the bench recovering from an earlier injury. With West Ham's 4-2-3-1 lining up against Norwich's 4-4-2, both sides stuck to their gameplan early as West Ham relied on their frontmen picking up the pieces from aerial duels, and Norwich relying on their widemen to make the difference.

Tactical Notes:

• Both sides executing their strategies well, but equalled by keepers

 Both sets of players executed their strategy with relative success, with Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor missing a series of chances in the first half, and Norwich having the majority of their chances from the wings. Surman, Snodgrass and Holt in particular took advantage of the space between centreback and fullback to take shots (in fact Surman very nearly won a penalty that way), which Jaaskelainen was equal to. Mohammed Diame also fulfilled his role and had a few cracks at goal himself.

• West Ham react first, Norwich try to use pace to outnumber Noble in midfield

The second half, however, showcased West Ham's "Plan B", where he brought on Jarvis, whereas Norwich subbed like for like in Harry Kane and Steve Morrison. Norwich, however, dominated the early exchanges and something changed: One of the strikers started dropping back in order to outnumber Mark Noble in midfield, which led to chances from Harry Kane and Simeon Jackson. On another day, West Ham might have been punished if not for the in form Hammers' keeper. Matt Jarvis took a while to get into the game, but he did have a couple of looks at goal, intriguingly from the centre of the pitch (his sole effort at the edge of the box was the only one attempted by West Ham). Meanwhile, Norwich recognised the quiet effectiveness of Mark Noble stopping their midfielders and relied on counterattacks at pace instead to create their best chances, which came in stoppage time when Kane again had the chance to seal the game from a counterattack where Norwich robbed the ball off Diame. Another interesting development near the end was when Harry Kane exposed Demel for pace, and if not for another save, Snodgrass could've scored as well.

Fantasy Implications:

If you are a fan of the Numbers Game, Snodgrass is your best bet. 6 shots at goal with 2 shots on target certainly warranted a goal at least. As reiterated on most sites, Jaaskelainen looks to be an in form keeper (I profited from him too with a clean sheet and 2 bonus points) but don't count on him too much to keep clean sheets consistently. Among West Ham's "Golden 4" of Vaz Te, Diame, Taylor and Nolan, Kevin Nolan remains the most consistent of them, while Diame's progress will be monitored here on in. Matt Jarvis is also worth a mention here as he might replace Vaz Te once fuly fit, but Sam Allardyce's plan will only become clearer with more games played. It is interesting to note that Joey O'Brien started ahead of McCartney, which might signal a decent 4.0 differential if he holds down that place.