Swansea City came from a goal down to beat Manchester United for a third consecutive time as Garry Monk side’s go joint 3rd in the Premier League table.
Also for the third time this season, Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis were on the scoresheet and were the match winners as the pair linked up for a stunning winner just 5 minutes after Ayew headed in the equaliser.
Full detailed tactical Match Analysis with screenshots as Garry Monk made a key tactical change shortly after Mata’s opening goal to help his side get the win and manage their lead for the remaining 25 minutes of the match.
Swansea’s victory over Manchester United was arguably their biggest and best against the former Champions. Louis van Gaal’s side have vastly improved compared to last season after some big Summer signings – they proved that in the first 20 minutes, where they dominated possession but struggled to create many clear-cut chances on goal due to a lack of creativity in midfield.
Pressure from both sides early on
Both sides applied good pressure early on in the game, with neither side able to play the ball out comfortably from the back. The Swans sometimes pushed 6 or 7 players into United’s half to limit their ability to play the ball through the middle, while Fabianski was also forced to kick long.
You can see examples of Swansea’s pressure above and below. Above, defensive midfielder Jack Cork – who was often sitting in front of the 2 centre backs, as you’ll see further on in the analysis, is actually Swansea’s most advanced player, while below, Ashley Williams also pushes forward to apply pressure, as Manchester United are surrounded by opposition players.
Swansea’s discipline at this was excellent though. Despite the likes of Williams and Cork pushing forward to apply pressure, they knew instantly when to back off and get back into their defensive positions – usually doing so when United managed to get to within 10 or so yards of the half way line.
The Swans would soon get back into a good defensive shape when needed as United make their way into Swansea’s half, but the home side dominate this area with a line of four, and United struggle to penetrate through the middle.
United also applied good pressure on the ball. Jack Cork (below) is forced to play the ball back to his goalkeeper, who is then under pressure and is forced to kick long and out of play.
As a result of both teams applying good pressure early on, the game couldn’t flow. There was a lot of head tennis at times during the first half as the Swans in particular were unable to get the ball down and pass in an opening 20-minute spell that was dominated in terms of possession by the visitors.
United’s lack of attacking creativity
But despite having almost 70% of the ball in the opening quarter of the match, van Gaal’s side lacked attacking creativity in the centre of midfield.
With United outnumbered in the middle, as you can see below, they best hopes was trying down the wings as Swansea defended quite narrow early on, with Ayew and Routledge moving inside to keep things compact and to limit the space.
Sometimes the wide option wasn’t available (below) and Schweinsteiger is forced backwards thanks to good pressure from Shelvey.
When the ball did go wide, United showed their lack of attacking creativity. They were mostly like statues, a constant lack of movement and the likes of Mata had little to work with when in possession in these wide ideas.
Below is an example where they don’t even look like a team, playing and working effectively together as one. United’s right back is clearly stuck for options out wide on the right below. His closest team-mate – just in front of him – just stands there, and doesn’t move alongside him to give him a passing option. This could have allowed his side to get the ball inside to Schweinsteiger who’s in space in the centre. He can’t afford to move over as he’ll leave big gaps if his side were to lose possession.
As a result of the above, the Manchester United right back – along with Mata most often have to move the ball backwards with little target to aim for in front of them.
The example below involving Mata happened on numerous occasions in the first half. Wayne Routledge does well to constantly drop back and help Neil Taylor out in defence. As a result, they can’t attack down the wing, instead, Mata is desperate for the runner through the channel and into the shaded area below, but it never comes and United once again struggle to threaten Swansea’s penalty area.
Below, Mata again finds himself in a similar situation, Shelvey closely marks his only passing option inside, and Routledge is back defending again to prevent the visiting side from attacking down the flank.
Swansea’s effective defensive shape
You could see Swansea’s effective defensive shape in some of the previous screenshots above. Their discipline without the ball was excellent throughout, frustrating United and not allowing them much space at all to work with in the opposition’s half.
Below, United move forward with the ball but they’ll soon end up ‘going down a cul-de-sac’ like in some of the previous screenshots. Routledge dropping back in support, Shelvey marking the only one United player in the centre and Rooney and Herrera out of the picture amongst Swansea’s defence meant that they constantly had to keep on recycling possession back and for from defence to the edge of the final third.
Swansea playing narrow with central wingers
Garry Monk set up his side quite narrow from the start, keeping things compact in the middle. With Jefferson Montero ruled out of the game due to injury, Wayne Routledge started and played in a far more central role that Montero would have played.
Above, Routledge and Ayew are both in the centre of the pitch, and this gave United space out wide if they won possession. Both ‘wingers’ had to be quick to get back to defend. Routledge was always quicker at doing this, and Ayew (Above) is slow to get back as left back Shaw can receive the ball here and run into the red shaded area of space in front of him.
This allowed United to score their opening goal early in the second half.
With Routledge often operating through the middle, as you can see in the screenshots below, this meant that Neil Taylor had to push further forward than he’s had to this season to provide a wide attacking option.
Rooney isolated up front
Rooney had the fewest touches of any United player in the first half and it’s hardly surprising. His team-mates simply couldn’t get him involved in the game as you could see in the previous screenshots.
He had nobody playing off him, no one to link-up with with and it was if he was just hoping for long, direct balls or crosses into the box. 
Above is a typical Manchester United attack down the flank. Ayew chases Shaw who’s in possession, he’ll soon pass to Depay who’s closely marked by Naughton. The only option inside is Wayne Rooney, but he has Fernandez, Williams and Shelvey is close proximety and no player to quickly pass to if he receives the ball.
The same can be seen below. He actually does receive the ball below, again – surrounded by four Swansea City players – nobody playing off him and not one team-mate in the centre. United are vulnerable if they lose possession here, which is likely given Rooney’s lack of support. Wayne Routledge is in a good position to receive the ball and counter attack into the space.
Rooney’s only hope is for long, direct balls like this one below. Shaw’s ball sees Rooney get the better of Fernandez who can’t cut out the pass, but Williams makes the first of two excellent tackles on the striker to deny him an opportunity to shoot on goal.
United’s opener
Swansea City conceded a soft opening goal just 3 minutes into the second half. Andre Ayew was slow to get back and track Luke Shaw’s forward run.
Below, Naughton is too soft in the tackle, he loses a 50-50 he should win – allowing Shaw to continue his run into space down their left.
It was quite unbelievable then to see a low cross go across the 6-yard area – without any real pace either. Ashley Williams is in a good position here to simply meet the ball and clear it out for a corner kick.
He must not realise that Mata is waiting to come in at the far post. The Swansea skipper doesn’t react until it is too late, and before that Mata is in to find the net from close range. A really poor, soft goal for the Swans to concede as theirdefensive discipline and overall shape had been excellent up until this point.
Swansea struggling in midfield
Swansea City began to suffer from similar problems than Manchester United did in the first half – a lack of presence in the middle of the pitch.
United improved in terms of their play without the ball. 
Above, United dominate the middle third with 6 players in this area, and not one Swansea player in the shaded area. Like United in the first half, the Swans are forced to move the ball wide, but there’s no way to bring the ball back inside.
Below, Fernandez attempts to bring the ball out from the back, but United do an effective job of closely marking both Jack Cork and Jonjo Shelvey.
Below is an even better example of how Swansea started to struggle in midfield. Ayew is surrounded by United players and the Swans lose their grip in midfield. 
Swansea change their shape
Manager Garry Monk is quick to see the problem and makes a change. Routledge is replaced by Ki, and the Swans now have a flat 3 in midfield in front of the back four (below). Ayew moves further inside alongside Gylfi Sigurdsson behind the main striker Bafetimbi Gomis.
Louis van Gaal cowardly criticised his players for struggling to adjust to Swansea’s change of shape. But he can hardly blame his players when they are instructed to play and operate in a certain way, instructed by him – the manager!
The only changes he made were after they went a goal behind, and that was bringing on Young and Fellaini, and getting his side to resort to long ball tactics and crossing that Fabianski and the defence had little trouble with.
Swansea’s equalising goal wasn’t a result of the change of shape though. Wayne Rooney made an awful pass that Williams could easily intercept before moving forward into space.
Shelvey and Sigurdsson move out wide to stretch United’s defence and to create space through the channels.
Williams feeds Sigurdsson below. Blind has to come across and close down Sigurdsson, leaving Smalling on his own to defend against Gomis and Ayew.
Ayew makes up plenty of ground to race through the middle and to get on the end of the cross to head home the equaliser.
Swansea’s winner
Swansea’s winning goal was just pure class. Ayew had attempted a long, direct pass with the outside of his left boot in the second half, but Gomis skewed a shot wide of the post. It was from this point that the Swans finally got going, and soon created a flurry of chances that should have seen them go 2-0 up before the break.
Manchester United’s man marking (example further above) didn’t last too long. Memphis doesn’t close down Ki Sung Yueng (below). The South Korean can cut back inside from passing inside to Shelvey.
Below, Shelvey can play a first time pass up to Sigurdsson, who gets the ball out of his feet quickly – and turning before feeding to Ayew.
Ayew plays another outside-of-the-boot pass for Gomis to run on to and it’s inch perfect. Gomis runs on, and slips it past the goalkeeper who should have done better.
Swansea’s 4321 defensive shape
Swansea City managed the remaining 25 minutes of the game brilliantly. They didn’t sit back and defended their narrow lead, but balanced it well between defence and attack. 
The trio of Ki, Cork and Shelvey worked brilliantly in front of the defence and there were moments when they were able to counter attack and look for a third.
United’s backline is awful below, it’s not in a solid line and they were very fortunate that the assistant flagged for offside against Gomis, rather than Shelvey who receives Ki’s pass.
United resorted to hitting long balls to substitute Fellaini and sending in crosses via Ashley Young but the Swans always had these covered. The high crosses were always dealt with by either Fabianski or the 2 centre backs, and Monk later brought on defender Kyle Bartley to give the team extra aerial support against the Belgian.
Below is a diagram of United’s passes in the final 15 minutes. The majority of them are sideways passes, often out wide as they looked to send in crosses as often as possible. There’s also a few diagonal long range passes aimed towards Fellaini just inside the penalty area but this always resulted in them losing possession.
You can also see a lack of successful passes in the final third which demonstrated that they barely threatened despite chasing an equaliser.
United’s one big chance came in the final few minutes (below), but Rooney delayed his shot for far too long allowing Williams to recover and make an excellent tackle.
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