Man Utd's NEW 4-2-4 Explained

With the appointment of Ruud Van Nistlerooy & René Hake, Erik Ten Hag has implemented new tactics at Manchester United ahead of the 24/25 season, but what are they? In this video, Statman Dave takes a look at Ten Hag’s new 4-2-4, it’s strengths and weaknesses, and how it could change Man Utd’s fortunes for this season…

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► Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED
Track Name: "Smile"
License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.

[Zagreus_]

One “problem” I always see with United is that they never look like they have an extra man, it always seems like the opposition has the extra man.. The best sides look like they have an extra player, I don’t know why I never get that feeling with United.

[nathanlagat]

How old were you when you realized you can copy comments by tapping it 3 times 🔥

[jeffreymokwunye]

Statman dave, I don't know much about ruud's style at psv, but I do know ETH didn't start playing 4-2-4 when ruud came, our game against city in the FA cup final, that was our defensive structure, with rashy, Bruno, Scotty and grana pressing upfront and kobbie and amrabat as the double pivot then AWB, varane, licha and Diego

[SoccerinMN]

The more I look at all these shapes, analyses and overthinking of formations, the more I am convinced that everything is a dynamic 4-4-2 and the key is football IQ, hard work and skill. Maybe I am just old too lol

[jeffthedonn]

Great analysis as usual. With more players incoming I believe the implementation of this system will be better especially in that backline

[LUFFYLOVESLOFI]

What was interesting from what I saw yesterday, Casemiro worked in a more advanced role while Kobbie sat a bit deeper.

Casemiro was wonderful going forward (even last season, he was playing a lot more progressively than I’d thought) & with Kobbie sitting deeper, it allowed him to go back & forth without getting run over & allowed Mount & Bruno to press very highly.

I think Mount was very crucial with this as well, off the ball he was blocking a lot of space & it was really felt when he got subbed, the model lost a bit of structure & it allowed Fulham to hurt the defense on the counter, especially when Licha was over aggressive & created space to go forward.

Maguire, as brilliant as he was, isn’t really the guy to clean up after a mistake on his partner’s end (although he did manage to do one in against Pereira on the counter, but it isn’t what we should expect from him consistently.)

I wonder, with this new set-up, how Ugarte would fit in. I was really hoping for his signature, still sort of am, because in the 3-6-1 model, he would’ve been the cleanup guy that would cover all the spaces left behind by the press in the opponent’s half.

[lelouch_v]

It reminds me of what ragnick tried to do during his spell at United with his 4-2-2-2

[emzettacolney]

All this team needs is consistency. On one game they play like one of the best, and the other day they play like one of the worst

[anthonybardsley]

With some really top finishers we should be scoring goals galore.

[intriguemonger]

Dave, you are a tactical football oracle.
Literally saw this played out last weekend
Definitely appreciate your insights

[andrewmcdonagh]

Cheeky "Manchester Shitty" at 10:13 😉

[Dj_KingTee]

This Is The Formation I Think We Gonna Play Tonight, Dalot On The Left Maz On The Right With Bruno As A False 9 And Mason As A 10

[spencerheeney]

Statman Dave, you make me forget about all my problems 💋

Hope Man Utd has a good season 🫦

[arijitsannamanda]

I really wished you showed some disadvantages with this press too. Like how opposition players can break it down and united can answer back.

[duanemulanda]

With the squad we have this 4-2-4 might be our best formation tbh

[IR._]

Would be interesting to see where Hojlund and Zirkzee come into this. I guess Zirkzee could replace Mount in certain games as a bit of a 10/9.5. But no obvious place for Hojlund given the way he plays

[Kalvin]

Oh man, this analysis has given me hope. Hopefully it works out perfectly and we finish top 4

[celestiner]

If Maguire plays behind Casemiro and we lose today, then Casemiro is gonna be roasted, which was what the English media did last season.

[jakobpienaar]

And yet pundit would have us believe ten Hag has no plan or team lacks identity. 4-2-4 to work, those centerbacks needs to push up to close up those spaces, otherwise it’s gonna be 23/24.2 all over again. Phew..

[EmmanuelOnyono]

As of today's match, we need just to be clinical but anyways, impressive work bro, continue to get us more analysis to help for better understanding of games.