Tactical Preview: How Man United will secure bragging rights vs Leeds | OneFootball

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Manchester United have travelled to Ireland to face Leeds United in a huge friendly match.

Both sides are in the final stages of their pre-season preparations as the season kicks off on Friday, 21st August.

United have so far won two, drawn one, and lost one of their four pre-season games to date.

The most impressive results have been a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid and also a brave 1-1 draw with European champions Paris Saint-Germain.

This is how they can achieve another positive result against Leeds United.

Continue to press high

One of the most impressive aspects of Manchester United’s performance against Paris Saint-Germain was their ability to continuously press high up the pitch.

Amad was particularly effective at this, as he usually is.

United’s goal stemmed from excellent work by the Ivorian off the ball, and he released Bryan Mbeumo, who made no mistake as he fired across goal into the bottom corner.

Michael Carrick will expect all his attacking options to work effectively off the ball, and the return of Matheus Cunha to the team will also see an increase in this productivity.

Move the ball with purpose

Like most teams, United look a completely different proposition when they move the ball forward with speed and precision.

Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans both came on as substitutes on Saturday and will expect a greater number of minutes this evening.

Both players will be key to United’s ability to pass forwards rapidly, and they showed a glimpse of this when they combined quickly to release Joshua Zirkzee one-on-one with the keeper last time out.

What’s more, new signing Andrey Santos has also demonstrated a sound ability to break the lines with his passing, and this will be something United supporters will be keen to see tonight and throughout the season.

Block target men

Daniel Farke’s Leeds love to employ a target man, with the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin bothering defences and keeping them honest throughout the entire match.

It is likely that Harry Maguire will be tasked with wrestling with him, and he will play a key role in the boxes.

In addition, Leeds can also be dangerous from back-post crosses, so it is vital that the United defence is switched on to this in a way they are sometimes guilty of not being.