Manchester United ended their three-game winning run with a draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Manchester United drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest despite leading at half time
Manchester United drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest despite leading at half time
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Particularly since the arrival of Pep Guardiola on the other side of Manchester, there has been an obsession in English football with dominating possession.
However, this season has seen a change in tack from Premier League coaches. The more direct approach has been welcomed back and having less of the ball is on-trend again, with Manchester United one of the teams keen to get from back to front as fast as possible.
In the victory over Sunderland United had more possession, but against both Liverpool and Brighton the Reds were comfortable without the ball, particularly against the Seagulls. Ruben Amorim's side were compact and waited for the right moment to pick them off.
Against Nottingham Forest, United had to change back to being the team in possession. United have been most dangerous in recent weeks when they have been in transition but in Forest they found a side that wanted to do exactly the same.
Sean Dyche has built a managerial career off making teams hard to beat. His teams are often physical and do not need to have the ball to provide a threat.
With the hosts happy to sit back, it was on United to have the ball and try and make things happen. Unfortunately for them, they found Forest tough to break down.
The Reds were not as free-flowing when they had the ball and were only ahead at half-time thanks to a goal from a corner. In the second half, their good luck ran out.
Inside five minutes Forest had the lead and United knew they needed to break them down to get anything out of the game. Amad's wonder strike saved the day but for large parts of the second half it was hard to see where the equaliser was going to come from.
From that perspective, the weekend draw should be seen as a warning to the Reds.
United are now a team that are happy to play on the counter and try and catch teams unaware. However, there will be more occasions to come - against the likes of Burnley, West Ham and others - where the Reds will need to be the team dominating the ball and they will have to find a new way to win those games.
In those matches, United would be wise to be quicker with the ball. When they looked most threatening against Forest they were spreading play quickly through Bruno Fernandes and causing overloads, particularly through Amad and Bryan Mbeumo.
Once the tempo slows, that is when the opposition look comfortable, so for Amorim the task must be to ensure that energy remains high. Make no mistake, the Reds' play has improved since October and undoubtedly United would have lost that game last season.
But if they are to become genuine top four challengers both this season and moving forward, Amorim needs to find a way of winning matches when they are the ones setting the tempo.
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