Tactical Analysis: How Manchester United lifted their first trophy in six years

Manchester United defeated Newcastle to win the club’s first trophy in six years Sunday. It wasn’t their best display of football but to quote one of their midfielders, finals aren’t for performances, they’re for winning.

How did they do it?

It starts with the tactical plan. Here we see captain Harry Maguire and essentially acting captain Bruno Fernandes make last second preparations for how this trophy lift is going to go.

Then it comes to the handoff. Maguire briefly gets a second hand on the trophy to ensure he’s got the right grip. That’s key for a two person trophy lift, you don’t want the trophy flying out of one persons hand.

He’s got the grip right, he drops his second hand. The two look at each other to ensure we’re ready to go. Everyone has to be on the same page here.

Next step, get low. The power in the lift has to come from your legs. Wouldn’t want to throw your back out lifting up the mighty cup of Carabao.

Now we’re ready for action. Good job staying low for a bit of time to build the tension, but not too long that everyone starts to get restless.

Then because of sponsorship reasons we take this baby back onto the pitch to do it all again. This time we keep the cup low for a bit longer to build a little bit more tension. Smart move, because everyone knows you can’t do it the same way twice. Nice little changeup here.

As for what happened on the pitch? As per usual Casemiro did everything and Rashford scored a goal. Here’s a good article that breaks that all down.