Louis van Gaal on Thursday revealed that ‘triangles’ are behind the upturn in form that has put his team on course for a return to the UEFA Champions League. Thanks to recentimpressive wins against Tottenham and Liverpool—in which the Red Devils’ deployed a 4-3-3 formation—, van Gaal’s men have opened up a five-point gap in the race for the topfour. The Dutchman says that his favored formation opens up the possibility for triangles all over the field.
Van Gaal’s formation looks more like a 4-1-4-1, however on transition it looks like a traditional 4-3-3 with Fellaini as a target and Mata pinching in. Tottenham lost because they couldn’t mark Carrick, Fellaini was making inside out runs and was also playing underneath Rooney, and playing against Totenham’s 4-2-3-1, defensively Totenham didn’t press Carrick, which allowed Carrick to change the point of attack by creating a lot of 2v1 on the wings with Young and Fellaini.