This has been playing on my mind since before the match and after it but I don't know why we didn't change our system when we knew Man Utd would play 4-4-1-1 (with Fellaini just off Rooney).
We should quite simply have gone for a diamond in the middle as follows:
Mignolet
Toure - Skrtel - Sakho
Sterling ------- Can ------- Moreno
------ Hendo --------- Allen -------
--------------Coutinho ------------
------------- Sturridge ------------
* Emre Can should have been assigned the duty to mark Fellaini
* Sterling and Moreno should have pushed really high up the pitch and occupied Blind and Valencia respectively
* Sakho (with the help of Allen) should have taken care of Mata
* Toure (with the help of Hendo) should have taken care of Young
Offensively, Coutinho would have been nigh on impossible to mark as Carrick and Herrera would have been matched up against basically Allen/Hendo/Can when we were on the attack and Sturridge would have occupied both Jones and Smalling but they would have also have had to have kept any eye on Sterling/Moreno if they beat their markers (Blind/Valencia respectively)
What actually happened was that Fellaini was up against Allen all match and Moreno and Sterling were pegged back by Mata and Young which allowed Valencia and Blind to play as high up the pitch as they wished (they were basically camped in our half most of the match). Henderson at times was occupied against both Carrick and Herrera.
Looking back at it, we should have changed our system a touch for this game.
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