LASK vs Manchester United — UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Preview
Last weekend, football fans had the opportunity to witness thrilling clashes among many domestic leagues across Europe as the big names aim to create a push in order to boost the squad’s confidence with a positive result. This will allow them to have a good preparation before the next wave of European matches in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League Round of 16.
For the second-most popular continential competition, competition is getting fiercer through every round since many big names are still in the race for a spot at Stadion Energa Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland next May. One of the favourites to qualify for this year’s final is Manchester United as the English team is looking to secure their second Europa League trophy in just five years.
They will face a dark horse of the competition, LASK Linz from Austria, after Valerien Ismaël’s side beaten AZ Alkmaar, Man United’s group stage opponent, 3–1 on aggregate. Given this is their first year competing in the Europa League’s knockout round, they have done way better than what is expected from them after topping their group and secured a place in the Round of 16 quite comfortably.
As both teams are having good forms before the match, this first leg matchup between the two sides is expected to be an entertaining match for the fans. This tactical analysis will provide a preview of the clash between LASK Linz and Manchester United in the Europa League Round of 16. Along with that, with the use of statistics and footages, we will forecast the tactics that both Valerien Ismaël and Ole Gunnar Solskjær will use at the Linzer Stadion.
Roster glance
Having gained three points from a narrow 1–0 win over SSV Mattersburg with an almost strongest lineup, it can be predicted that LASK will continue to use the names that have helped them qualify for the Round of 16 for the first time in their history. But they won’t have the service of their two key centre-backs in Phillip Wiesinger and Petar Filipović after the former received the second yellow card in the second leg match against AZ and the latter reached the limit of three yellow cards.
Ismaël won’t have to worry too much, though, given that they still have three back-up centre-backs who is fit to play in the match. Two of the names that can start for the Austrian side are Christian Ramsebner and Markus Wostry after these two gained 541 and 823 minutes respectively. Left-back Marvin Potzmann and left-winger Husein Balić are also not available for this match as they continue their recovery from an ACL and muscular injuries respectively.
For Manchester United, their key players in Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford will continue to miss out after not involved in the team’s 2–0 Manchester Derby win after they recovering from an ankle and back injuries respectively. Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka remain doubtful but Solskjær will hope the duo can be fit before the team’s trip to Austria. Other than that, the Norwegian manager will have his strongest lineup to pick from which included new signing Bruno Fernandes and French striker Anthony Martial.
LASK’s build-up
While it can be seen that the attackers have played a crucial role in LASK’s rise this season, it is their build-up phase that allows the likes of Joao Klauss or Marko Raguž to provide the goals for the team. As the defenders have the ball inside of their half, they tend to move the ball in a slightly high tempo to avoid being suffocated by the opposition’s press.
Usually, all three centre-backs will involve in the build-up with the two outside centre-backs tend to stay slightly wide and create connections with the wing-backs. Meanwhile, Gernot Trauner will stay centrally and this allows him to have a good perspective on how the situation unfolds. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise to see him leads the team in terms of the total number of long passes made in the Europa League this season with 53 (joint-best with Reinhold Ranftl). Furthermore, 75 progressive passes and 63 passes into the final third are also decent numbers and it shows the crucial role he plays in LASK’s build-up phase.
His colleagues playing next to him, Phillip Wiesinger and Petar Filipović, are also key players during the offensive transitioning phase as they tend to become the link between the overlapping wing-backs with the defensive line. As they receive the ball from Trauner, both will have the option of starting an attack down their respective flank using a lofted pass over the defensive line to encourage the wing-back to overlap and pin the defensive line down.
Trauner can also take on a similar responsibility by controlling the ball in the middle of the field and send long passes into the direction of movement of the wing-backs and wingers. They will become one of the attacking options that LASK will be looking to make the most out of against Manchester United as they can exploit their opposition’s mid-block and use movements from out wide to drag the defenders back into the defensive third.
But there are two major problems here for LASK before the match. Firstly, as mentioned, Ismaël won’t have the service of both Filipović and Wiesinger for this match since they are both suspended. Given they are crucial players during the team’s build-up phase, the former Wolfsburg manager should consider other players who can play in their roles among the squad.
From the graphs below, it can be seen that Trauner remains as the focal point in the team’s build-up as he tends to have the ball on the edge of the defensive third and starts to distribute from the area. The club’s captain also links up with Wiesinger and Filipović with him making seven successful passes to each of them in the Europa League this season. After the two outside centre-backs receive the ball, they will act as the starting point of the team’s attack as they aim to progress the ball down either flank for wing-backs and wingers to receive.
It can be seen that both Wiesinger and Filipović rarely look back after they receive the ball from Trauner as they don’t register any successful passes among each other and Trauner. This will prevent the opposition from being able to push their players forward to execute the press, which can lead to the defenders losing the ball inside their half. Since they tend to position themselves near the halfway line, losing possession when playing out from the back can hit LASK hard as they won’t have enough players to counter against the opposition’s counter-attack, which is the second problem that LASK need to be aware of.
Similar to the situation below against AZ, notice how the wingers attempted to stretch the field by positioning themselves out wide to provide two viable attacking options for Oussama Idrissi to lay the ball towards. Along with that, LASK defenders can also find themselves vulnerable when defending against strikers and attacking midfielders who have high positional and spatial awareness, in this case, was Myron Boadu. The Dutch prospect stayed right behind Wiesinger’s back while still making sure he was not offside and this allowed Idrissi to make a through pass into his run, put him into a 1v1 situation with goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.
Returning to LASK’s first problem of not having the service of Wiesinger and Filipović, Ismaël needs to find two suitable replacements to fill in their place. Another factor that he should also consider is that Ramsebner and Wostry haven’t been tested in the ball-playing defender role quite often and this can hinder the team’s ability to play out from the back.
A viable option that the French manager can use is to revisit a veteran who had played a crucial role in Oliver Glasner’s tactic just last season. Emanuel Pogatetz hasn’t played much this season and has registers only six minutes in the Europa League this season. It can be one of the factors that make Ismaël hesitates in picking him for the squad and along with his lack of match fitness, he might not be an option that the former Crystal Palace defender wants to use. Still, Pogatetz is a player who understands how Glasner wanted his side to play and since Ismaël opts to pick up his tactic when he succeeded the Austrian manager, the veteran defender can come into handy in a big match like this.
Another option that can also be considered is converting one of the central midfielders, in this case, James Holland, into a centre-back. Having formed a close-knit connection with Peter Michorl at the heart of the midfield, the Australian midfielder provides a solid defensive work to allow Michorl to join the attack along with the attackers. He involves in more defensive duels than his partner with a total of 78 compared to 43, while also having a higher number of offensive duels with 41 to 30. If being converted into a centre-back, Holland can take up the role that Wiesinger has been taking on as he will become a stopper to prevent the attack from progressing and has the license to bring the ball out of defence with his dribbles. His place, therefore, can be replaced by either Stefan Haudum or Valentino Müller as these two have racked up a considerable amount of minutes in the Austrian Bundesliga this season.
LASK’s attack against Man United’s defence
After successfully playing out from the back and progress the ball forward, LASK players also tend to move the ball slightly quick inside the opposition’s half. Again, the idea of preventing the opposition from having enough time to make a tackle and regain possession is kept from the team’s build-up phase. To do so, they will have to rely heavily on the positioning of the advanced options to get the ball into the final third and the penalty area.
One of the attacking options that the Austrian side can make the most out of is using long passes from the back to encourage the attackers to attack the space behind the defensive line. From the first image of the article and the situation below against TSV Hartberg, it can be picked out that LASK attackers tend to position themselves near the defensive line in order to pin them down. As there is an option of pushing the defenders higher to support the press and picking up long balls from the opposition, the attackers’ position will prevent that as they constantly provide a threat of breaking the offside trap to move into space behind them.
Moreover, Ismaël tends to deploy Klauss and Raguž as the target man in his 3–4–3 formation and they both have the physicality to see off challenges from the defenders. When the centre-backs send long passes forward to the attackers, they usually the player who receives the ball first since they opt to drop from their position, dragging one of the defenders along while still receiving the pass with their back heading towards the opposition’s goal. This concept was deployed in Klauss’ equalising goal, which is the situation below, in their match against Hartberg.
Both Klauss and Raguž have been key for LASK this season after the two players played 34 matches across all competitions respectively. The former, who returned to the club on loan from Hoffenheim, continued to thrive after playing a crucial role in Glasner’s last season with the club. He already has 17 goals in all competitions to his name and is in no doubt looking to improve that record as the seasons progresses towards a tough stage.
For Raguž, this is his first season with the club after joining from FC Juniors OÖ and he has already proven his ability after constantly performing at the best level. With the performance that he has already demonstrated this season, there is no doubt that he will emerge as one of the best contenders to replace Klauss when he returns to Hoffenheim in the summer. With 11 goals and 3 assists to his name in every competition that the team participated in, the Austrian striker is competing with FC Salzburg loanee Samuel Tetteh for a starting spot next match.
They will become two possible attacking threats for the Austrian side to count on given their contribution to the team’s attack this season. And, more specifically, in this match, Klauss and Raguž will receive support from wing-backs Rene Renner and Reinhold Ranftl from out wide. Even from last season under Glasner, Ranftl has been playing as an attacking wing-back with the responsibility of overlapping forward and aim to stretch the opposition’s defensive line.
These two don’t usually involve in the team’s build-up since they opt to stay high with the attackers and will encourage the centre-backs to make progressive passes for them to receive inside the final third. They can capitalise their teammates’ movements which will create space for them to move into, similar to the situation below against AZ. By continuing to overlap, they will enter the space being created quickly and also being able to receive the pass without being marked. There, Renner and Ranftl tend to send crosses into the box and capitalise Klauss’ physicality and aerial ability to find the goals for the team. This will be one of the key methods that LASK aim to make the most out of when they have the ball inside the opposition’s half.
Since they are a wing-oriented team who look to progress their attacks down both wings, it does not come as a surprise to see the frequency of crosses being made inside the final third is at a high level. It can also be noticed that the Austrian side tend to attack down the right-hand side more often and make the most out of Ranftl and Thomas Goiginger’s crossing ability. They are also the two players who have registered the highest number of crosses with 52 and 20 respectively.
On the opposite side, though, Potzmann has done a good job for the Austrian side this season after arriving from Rapid Wien in the summer with 16 crosses attempted and completed 50% of them. But given that he is out with an ACL injury, Renner will be the player who steps into the left wing-back role that he has made it his during the first stage of the season. While the number of crosses he attempted is not too high (9 crosses attempted in the Europa League this season), he is the most efficient crosser in the team with 55.6% of his crosses are successful. Although it remains clear that the right-wing of Ranftl and Goiginger will continue to be the main attacking direction of LASK, the left-wing of Renner can also become a viable option for the team if they are not able to create attacks from the opposite side.
But LASK will have to overcome a significant obstacle from Manchester United first in order to get the ball into the penalty area. Since the decision to deploy a 3–4–1–2/3–4–2–1 formation from Solskjær occurred in January, it is clear that the English side have shown a clear improvement in terms of their defending ability. Besides their 2–0 lost against Liverpool, they have never conceded over one goal whenever they use these two formations according to Wyscout.
In their last match against Manchester City, a similar formation was also used and it brought them three points without conceding any goal. And all of that defending effort paid off thanks to a disciplined defensive shape that the players created, similar to the shot below against Club Brugge. Whenever they don’t have the control of the ball, the players tend to form a 5–4–1 mid-block inside the middle third to allow the midfielders to support the press.
As the opposition progress the ball forward, the players will remain disciplined and retreat into their defensive third. It is important to maintain the defensive shape in front of the box while also avoid moving out from their respective positions, which, if happens, will allow the opposition to capitalise gaps in between the defenders back to receive passes. The two defensive lines have the option to remain conservative and not to execute the press immediately and, at the same time, staying close to each other to prevent short combinations being created in the channel.
The midfielders will be the more active line as they aim to close the opposition’s ball carrier down while also monitoring the possible passing options around him. If there are wing-backs who overlap up the pitch, Man United’s wing-backs will also move out to close him down, similar to how Brandon Williams did in the situation above. As they attempt to keep the ball from entering the penalty area, the centre-backs must also be aware of any crosses coming into the box and with players who are active in the air like Harry Maguire or Phil Jones, this allow the team to monitor physical strikers better.
Since LASK are a wing-oriented team, Man United need to be able to stop attacks coming from both flanks, especially down LASK’s right-hand side. Williams and Luke Shaw will be tasked to minimise the threat that both Goiginger and Ranftl create either from their crosses or their dribbling ability. Meanwhile, on the opposite wing, with Frieser tends to tuck inside more often, he will create a 2v2 situation inside the box if Shaw decides to step out of his position to support Williams out on the right-hand side. Furthermore, with both Klauss and Raguž are players who are good in the air (38 and 36 aerial duels attempted in the Europa League this season respectively), they will provide a decent aerial threat for LASK and Man United defenders need to be aware of these two.
High up the pitch, Man United players tend to be man-oriented when they press the opposition’s build-up. Right from the goal-kick situation below against Man City, it can be noticed that the English side’s attacking trio already pushed forward to press the available passing options that Ederson Moraes had around him. Furthermore, with the involvement of Ilkay Gündogän and Rodri, Fred was also encouraged to move forward and support them, still, this was where they showed a possible scenario that LASK can deploy to bypass the press.
In the situation above, both Martial and Fernandes already marked both centre-backs and positioned themselves in a way that prevented them from connecting with other players around them. Still, with James opted to close Ederson down, he left Silva unmarked and the Spaniard’s body orientation allowed him to receive the ball.
Furthermore, with Fred being covered by Rodri, the former Atlético midfielder still had the chance to pick up the pass from Ederson, moved it to Silva and laid it back to Ederson, and they did just that. It forced James to be in a 3v1 situation, and if both Fred and Martial attempted to close Man City’s two midfielders down, they would leave Fernandinho unmarked and allowed the Brazilian midfielder to connect with João Cancelo out wide.
LASK can create a similar scenario using the involvement of all three centre-backs and two central midfielders. Since Matić rarely moves away from his position, only Fred would be available to support the press or Man United would have to encourage one of the wing-backs to join the attackers. LASK’s back-three would be marked by Man United’s attacking trio while Michorl and Holland can move close to them and attract Fred to move forward. This will put the former Shakhtar player in a 2v1 situation where he will have to get in front of these two if he aims to cut down passing lanes between the midfielders and the centre-backs.
The scenario of one of the wing-backs joining the press is possible, though, given that either Williams or Wan-Bissaka can move forward to create two banks of three when they press the opposition. Still, notice the positioning of Rodri and Bernardo Silva as they attempted to sit in between the two lines of pressure. Their positioning attracted the attention of Matić and Fred, leaving Sergio Agüero to move freely behind their backs and allowed Fernandinho to find him with a direct pass. Also, the use of an inverted wing-back in Oleksandr Zinchenko in the situation occurred just a minute later than this situation is also interesting as it allowed Bernardo to drift wide and support Phil Foden.
Man United’s build-up
Assuming that LASK fail to break down Man United’s defensive shape and are forced to lose the ball inside the final third, this will allow the English side to start playing out from the back and work their way up into LASK’s half. Similar to how their opposition build-up, Man United’s build-up also include the involvement of three centre-backs and two central midfielders. They also attempt to push their passing block a bit higher up in their half to allow the attackers to connect with Matić and Fred.
It can also be pointed out that both wing-backs, Williams and Wan-Bissaka, also stay high up the pitch along with the attackers as they also aim to stretch the opposition’s defensive shape. It will be interesting to follow the duels between Williams and Ranftl on Man United’s left-hand side and between Wan-Bissaka and Renner on the opposite wing given that they will encounter each other many times both during their respective team’s offensive and defensive situations. Furthermore, with Matić being somewhat a deep-lying playmaker, the Serbian midfielder will be looking to make direct passes to either Fernandes, Martial or James to start the attack. His partner, Fred, is more dynamic and can move forward to support the attackers in progressing the ball into the penalty area.
It is also worth noticing that most of the build-up players, except for Lindelöf, tend to make passes towards the left-hand side more often. Indeed, as the graph below indicates (please ignore that haircut from Fred and Lindelöf) that the tendency of players making passes to the left-wing is quite decent and one of the players who receive the most passes from the build-up phase is Juan Mata.
In total, the Spaniard receives 27 passes from his teammates during this season Europa League campaign, a number demonstrates his key role in the team’s offensive transitioning phase. With the arrival of Fernandes, the Portuguese midfielder can also become the focal point of the team by dropping from his position and receive the ball on the edge of the middle third. While it is hard to combine both Mata and Fernandes in a single formation, if these two do start along with each other, Man United’s build-up phase will be benefitted significantly as the former Chelsea midfielder will usually pick up the ball from the defence and send it forward to Fernandes. There, he will capitalise his dribbling ability to progress the ball while attracting the attention of the opposition’s defenders, allowing the likes of Martial or James to move into space being created.
Still, against a high pressing side like LASK, Man United defenders need to be careful not to be suffocated and lose possession inside their half. Man City did employ a similar man-oriented press as Pep Guardiola’s side aim to win the ball high up the pitch and use one of the wingers to close the David de Gea down to prevent short passes from him. They had plans for that, though, by encouraging Wan-Bissaka to move slightly away from the pressing area and gave de Gea a viable passing option to get the ball out of their defensive third.
LASK have their own distinctive principles about their press as they aim to commit players forward and gain numerical superiority inside of either the middle third or the opposition’s half. Furthermore, the players tend to be quite aggressive in regaining possession and they will attempt to close space around the ball carrier while making a tackle to make him loses the ball. There, he is forced to either make a long pass forward and it will be picked up by LASK’s centre-backs or make a backpass towards the goalkeeper and restart the build-up.
While Man United have proven to be a possession-oriented side during the last few matches (they hold an average of 60.32% of possession during this season Europa League campaign), the English side should be aware of LASK’s high pressing. The home side tend to be aggressive and quick when it comes to regaining possession quickly inside of the opposition’s half, which can cause a significant problem for Man United’s centre-backs to deal with. Still, by being able to read the situation properly and maintain the three-man concept among themselves and with the central midfielders, it is possible to bypass LASK’s press and hit them when they are lacked players to defend.
Man United’s attack against LASK’s defence
As Man United are able to progress the ball into the opposition’s half, they will also turn wing-oriented as they aim to attack down the left-hand side more often. Usually, they will continue to progress the ball centrally given the talents they have in the area like Matić, Fred, Fernandes or Mata. After they bring the ball out of defence, the players will attempt to attack the space between the opposition’s defensive line and from there, laying the ball out wide for Williams to send crosses into the box.
Luckily, this is also the aspect in which LASK were exploited constantly in their second leg match against AZ. In the situation below, notice how Calvin Stengs capitalised a huge gap being created between the defensive lines as he dribbled the ball into the area. Still, if not for Trauner’s positioning in this situation, Stengs would be left with no passing option and could even lose possession since both Filipović and Wiesinger could approach to tackle the ball away from him.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for LASK in this situation as Boadu’s positioning intelligently dragged the Austrian centre-back out of his position and moved close to him to mark him up. This immediately broke the team’s offside trap even when Ranftl’s positioning was also a bit strange and could be the reason that led to Trauner’s decision. Still, Boadu was able to receive the ball from Stengs and then laid it off to Dani de Wit but then was caught off with Boadu being caught offside (not too related to the mentioned situation below).
With that being said, by having individuals that can both dribble the ball and intelligently positioning in unoccupied space across the pitch, like Bruno Fernandes, Man United can create a similar scenario like this or just simply attack the space behind LASK’s high defensive line without being caught offside. Since his arrival from Sporting Lisbon last winter window, Fernandes has been one of the top performers for Solskjær’s side. He boasts with a good playmaking ability to create chances for his teammates while can also offer a dangerous attacking option with his dribbling ability.
In his first five Premier League matches, he already registers a total of three assists and 0.59 assists per 90, two decent stats for a new signing like him and especially given that the numbers only expect him to register a total of 0.97 xA (Expected Assists) and 0.18 xA per 90. Furthermore, he also creates 2.85 smart passes, 0.76 key passes per 90 and 5.51 passes to the 16-yard box all per 90. These numbers indicate that he is a focal point in United’s attack and will continue to play in the same role when the team travel to Austria.
But two of Fernandes’ traits that Trauner and his colleagues should acknowledge are his positioning and spatial awareness. The Portuguese attacking midfielder is excellent in capitalising gaps in between the defensive line as he tends to use his vision to pick out unoccupied space across the pitch. Furthermore, he has a decent understanding of his teammates to make the most out of the gaps that they create for him.
In the situation below during United’s first-leg match against Club Brugge, Fernandes showed how good he is to pick out space available for him and connect with his teammates to progress the ball into the 16-yard box. After Juan Mata attracted the attention of Hans Vanaken and pulled him close to Brandon Williams, Fernandes immediately noticed space being created behind Vanaken’s back. Without losing a single second, he started to enter the area and made himself available to pick up the ball from Williams, from which he continued to help the team move the ball into the penalty area. Fernandes can certainly become Boadu in the situation above and capitalise gaps in between LASK’s defenders to receive the ball from Nemanja Matić and Fred while also encouraging Anthony Martial and Daniel James to surge forward if the home side ever lose the ball during their build-up phase.
Still, one of the problems that Man United face when they have the ball inside the opposition’s half is the ball carrier tends to find himself lack of passing options when playing against low-block teams. During the first half of the match, Club Brugge had done well to create a 5–4–1 low-block inside of their half and defended zone 14 quite well. The players remained discipline as they opted to stay in their positions to prevent Man United from creating short combinations in between the lines.
Furthermore, it can be picked out from the shot below is how Club Brugge created overloads out wide to prevent Man United from distributing the ball down both flanks. By having one centre-back and one wing-back moved out wide to mark the ball carrier, in this case, was Shaw, the former Southampton player had no option to progress the ball forward. Furthermore, with Percy Tau closing on him, he had to make a backpass towards Matić and forced the team to restart the attack.
This is something that LASK can look to exploit as their 3–4–3 formation can turn into a 5–4–1 if they can encourage both wingers to move back and join up with the rest of the defence. It will allow them to create overloads out wide to prevent Williams and Wan-Bissaka from making progressive runs down their respective wings while also monitoring at best the attacking trio centrally.
Furthermore, with LASK players tend to be aggressive when attempting to regain control of the ball, they can tackle the opposition’s ball carrier to win possession back and create counter-attacks. It is worth pointing out that the home side is fairly dangerous when it comes to creating quick counter-attacks using the pace of Goiginger and Dominik Frieser on both wings while receiving support from both wing-backs Renner and Ranftl. But one thing they need to make sure first is their discipline as players can become hot-tempered at times and this can lead to them receiving unnecessary yellow cards or even red cards, which will force them to miss the second leg of the tie.
Set-pieces situations
From Man United’s match against Man City, it can be noticed that they have already prepared free-kick routines which can also be used during this match. Firstly, Fernandes’ first free-kick of the match showed something that LASK need to acknowledge. While the Portuguese midfielder is known for his free-kick taking ability, there can still be situations where his attempt does not end up as a goal for the team and this is one of them.
Therefore, in case his cross or shot got blocked by Man City’s defenders, there will be players who are ready to win second balls and both Williams and James were tasked to do so in the situation below. Furthermore, the use of Wan-Bissaka, who stood behind the taker, also helped them in recovering the ball quickly when the ball bounced back from the wall and Matić’s positioning on the far side of the box allowed him to approach the 6-yard box if there were any rebounds available for him. While Man City had the numerical advantage in front of Ederson’s goal, Man United planned to at least regain possession when the free-kick was not successful and they did just that using James to win the loose ball that bounced back from the wall.
The situation that led to Martial’s opening goal of the game, though, was more of extensive research that allowed Man United to understand clearer Man City’s defending free-kick routine. According to David Alexander Hughes’ post on the Manchester Evening News, he said that Man City tend to leave their best headers deep while using an attacker, usually, Agüero, Sterling or Mahrez, to stand close to the taker. The intention of this is to clear crosses being sent into the box and if either one of the attackers can regain possession, they poised to run on a counter while also set them up into a 1v1 situation if the ball is clipped to one of the opposition’s attackers.
In the situation below, Agüero was tasked to stand near the taker and as a caution act, Gündogän was also instructed to support the Argentinian striker as this can create a 2v1 situation against Martial. But the problem that Man City faced here was the German midfielder’s position was next to Agüero and this prevented his sight of the ball when the pass was made towards Martial’s run. Without support from Foden as he had to look out for Williams and Gündogän was slowed to react, the Argentinian striker could not catch up to Martial and allow him to enter the box without being marked.
For LASK, though, they don’t have any special attacking set-piece routines that need to be paid attention to but they do have a defending routine that Man United should acknowledge about. Usually, the intention of the Austrian side when they have to defend against a corner is to overload the 6-yard box and have many players who are ready to block shots. The situation below showed exactly that as they had successfully overloaded the area in front of Schlager’s goal and technically eliminated the two AZ players inside that area out of the situation.
To make sure that no short options are provided, they can also have two players who mark the edge of the box in front of the taker to prevent any low crosses that can attack near post or short options being provided behind their back. One player will move out of the box to create a 1v1 situation with the player who is tasked to attack the ball from deep and if he can regain possession, he should have the option to dribble forward and create a counter-attack for the team.
But one problem remains with this routine. Notice how AZ created a 3v1 situation with one of LASK’s defenders and this can be the place where Man United hit their opposition. In this situation, the Dutch side deployed centre-back Ramon Leeuwin, who can provide an aerial threat if a lofted corner was taken, Owen Wijndal and Dani de Wit, who can make follow-up shots directly after receiving the ball from the corner or win second balls and then make shots towards the goal. Solskjær can opt to use a similar thing by having one aerial dominance player and two players who can create and convert chances in the 3v1 situation or doing the opposite thing as this can become something that Man United can make the most of to find an early goal in the game.
Conclusion
Having been an exciting team to follow during this season campaign, LASK will hope that they can secure a positive result at their home ground to create a momentum for the second leg. It is important not to let Man United score away goals while also having a lead that they can be comfortable with heading to Old Trafford next week, and although this remains a difficult task for the Austrian side, Valerien Ismaël will have several plans in his mind to make the best out of the team’s attack and get things to tighten up at their end.
Entering this matchup being the favourite to secure the overall win, Manchester United will want to get off to a good start as they aim to pick up their form and confidence after securing a 2–0 win in the Manchester Derby last weekend. Furthermore, given that they are still unbeaten against Austrian clubs (won 7 and drew 1) and have not conceded any goals in Austria, this will become a huge momentum as they travel to the Linzer Stadion to play against LASK. Nonetheless of how the match unfolds, it is expected that this matchup will be one of the fascinating ties to watch in the Europa League Round of 16.
