Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [16th - 20th August 2014]-LvGOUT!

BaZ87 said:
I wish Redknapp would have shut up and let Carra explain zonal marking properly so that we don't get the moronic comments about zonal marking every week.
Click to expand...

I wish Redknapp would shut up on a permeant basis, Jamie and 'Arry.
 
Utd looked completely devoid of creativity in attack. So slow and ponderous. Rooney + a limited strike partner in Hernandez and a limited player in Mata behind them is a poor trio.

Mata can pick out passes but he needs the players around him to do the running, make the space and angles with their runs. Fabregas will run, receive the ball and turn away from a player, run 5-10 yards and create an angle for a pass but Mata is far far less dynamic. he likes to get the ball and pretty much stand still looking for the pass. You need dynamic players around him moving then he'll make the pass. But in terms of receiving the ball deep and driving the team forward, he's not remotely that kind of player and they really needed that today.

Then Rooney trying to pick out throughballs just as usual didn't work.

The gif above of Fellaini shows what kind of player he is, he'll do that in almost every game, the ridiculous thing is that elbow was literally two seconds after an elbow(less bad contact though) with his left elbow. He tried to get him once, Ki went the other side and he got him hard a second time. **** of a player.
 
McBain said:
I can't remember seeing Arsenal as wasteful as that in recent times, so many passes go astray from 5-10 yards.

Cazorla in particular, seemed to give the ball away every time he had it.

What the hell is Wenger playing at putting Sanogo on instead of Giroud....
Click to expand...

Arsenal today, poor as hell. Ramsey and Sanchez were poor today, played the same in preseason, giving the ball away exceptionally cheaply from simple lazy passes, Ramsey looked significantly worse than preseason games, Sanchez the same as his two previous performances. It was the times he hung on to the ball turning in circles before losing it when a simple pass into another player was available the whole time. Frustrating as hell, it slowed attacks, killed any chance to counter, was pointless, never goes anywhere, and there were passes on the whole time. He did it throughout the world cup and his time at Barca.

I've said before at what he's great at, he's very good, but literally for not even 1 minute in his appearances have we attempted to play to his strengths. He'll get sharper and hopefully the team will adjust to play to his strengths more but there is a significant problem.

One of the issues is we now have Walcott, Sanchez and Ramsey, they are three players that at their best are played into the box with either a ball that can be hit straight away or maybe 1-2 touches. Outside of the box their shooting isn't up to much, defensively poor, lazy passing and (more for Walcott/Sanchez than Ramsey) aren't good at picking up the ball at the half way line and driving to the box.

I don't think the team would be good with those three players in the same side, all looking to do the same things and also meaning starting less players who can make the passes or drive the team forward behind them.

Then you have Cazorla and Wenger's ineptitude, Cazorla was the worst player on the pitch by a massive margin, he was utterly hopeless. He is very poor out wide, not a single part of his game suits it. He has no pace, he has no trickery, he isn't strong and doesn't have a particularly good cross. Even though he's poor out wide usually today was another level. Leaving him on was a monumental mistake and Wenger did it willingly.

Striker gets no service, zero threat down the left, zero delivery and just nothing coming down the left. Change the striker not the left winger. Such decisions have cost us over, and over, and over for a decade.

We don't lose out on the league title due to quality of the squad but due to stupid decisions like leaving Cazorla on. Where was Campbell, guile, pace, trickery, delivery and shooting, everything the game lacked in one player... who can play in the position our worst player was in.... so we don't make that substitution.

That decision and similar will cost us points throughout the season, it did last year and every year. I like Cazorla, but his game is almost exclusively throughball/1-2 style passing based, he is good through the middle with a good striker and midfielders around him. But he's wasted at Arsenal, he won't get enough games and they won't be in a position he's any good in. We should have sold him and brought in players we need more for his and our good.

We could have quite easily, due to the lack of Palace's attacking intent and our crapness, brought on Giroud for Cazorla and switched to something closer to a 4-4-2 and put two bigger strikers upfront and tried to play a different way. We had exceptionally few shots on target and outside of the two goals I think only a single other shot even slightly troubled the keeper, Wilshere's, and even then it was a pretty simple save that the keeper only made look a bit difficult. 90 mins at home and we basically threatened from two set pieces and looked useless for the rest of it.

Very poor start to he season, poor tactically, poor usage of Sanchez, poor sub choices. As with every other year, with exactly no sign of change in Wenger's tactics, approach to different types of team, woeful substitution choices and utter inability to see which player is hurting the team the most and sub them will cost us any shot at the league title... again.
 
Just got in after eating at my Dad's after getting back from Old Trafford. Missed the first 15-20 mins after sitting on the M6 for about an hour after an accident near stoke which closed the motorway.

Great atmosphere in the away section. Swansea weren't great (Taylor especially looked poor, slow and easily beaten by Januzaj) and a draw might have been a fair result after the United performance at the start of the 2nd half. United looked vulnerable at the back and lacking quality overall in midfield.
 
bloodline76 said:
...but we won DM. Go on crack a smile ;)
Click to expand...

I don't much care about winning or losing, it was crap to watch, really poor football. I'd prefer to watch 90 mins of great football and lose than 90 mins of dire football and win.

It's pretty boring to watch 10 years of Arsenal where the same stupid mistakes that are plain as day are still being made 10 years later.
 
First games of the season are always a tough one. Just glad Arsenal picked up the 3 points. Some signs of very dangerous attacking play and very impressed with Chambers so far :)
Downside today was a lot of sloppy passes going astray and final ball was pretty poor at times. All things to be worked on and ironed out.

Also, ManU kicking off just like last year :D
 
drunkenmaster said:
The gif above of Fellaini shows what kind of player he is, he'll do that in almost every game, the ridiculous thing is that elbow was literally two seconds after an elbow(less bad contact though) with his left elbow. He tried to get him once, Ki went the other side and he got him hard a second time. **** of a player.
Click to expand...

He was fairly snidey for us, but I've noticed that he's gotten a lot worse since going to Old Trafford.

Would take him back (on a loan) in a heartbeat though.
 
Really disappointing day for us. After a decent pre-season, to perform like that...was sobering :( .

The "new" system is fine - if you have the personnel. We don't. Certainly not without Shaw and Evans. So it would have made more sense to me to revert back until we have players back or signed. Either way, to change it at half time wasn't right imo. It only served to further undermine an already nervous team. But Blacket at least showed promise. His passing ability is excellent but he needs careful handling.

Another issue I have with the system is that I am struggling to see evidence that Mata is worth the trouble. Add to that RVP's fitness and Rooneys inconsistent displays and I think the priority should have been getting the strongest defence instead. The attacking players are far more flexible and plentiful and so better to fit them around the rest than the opposite.

I still think Louis van Gaal is the right man. But he had a poor day and needs to learn from it. He can start by selling Fellaini, who I had foolishly started to pity but once again am reminded that he is a nasty, dirty thug.
 
Despite the results in the pre season games it was quite obvious United's midfield was slow needed drastic improvement. Why it would take a loss to show anyone that especially the manager I don't know.
 
I had a thought during the game that LvG was giving Chicharito, Nani & Fellaini (at the very least) their last chance - and none of them really did anything of merit.

Apart from wasting a good few free-kicks and corners (apart from the one Utd actually scored from), Utd were far too slow in the build up - excluding about 20 minutes after the break, and apart from a shot that Rooney blocked with his stomach, never really looked likely that Utd would get the 2nd.

I also think the 1st half is why imo wing backs have to be defenders 1st - and putting strikers / wingers in that roll is always going to cause problems in the EPL. Ive liked the look of Lingard (hope it isnt as bad an injury as it looked, although at least he tried to play on), and I dont need to say anything about Januzaj (and less said about Young the better, just because He played reasonably in pre-season against mainly euro opposition, has no baring on his ability in the EPL) they just arent suited to being wingbacks.

I like Fletcher as a person, and I feel for him losing 2-3 years due to the illness, but he shouldnt be anywhere near the 1st team (just like a handful of other players who got given chances yesterday)

With Evans and Shaw at the back I dont think Utd would have lost yesterday (although it probably would have been a score draw), but at least yesterday proved how desperately the squad needs strengthening - as if it wasnt obvious before.
 
Woot were back! So I'm still thinking 3-0 I doubt Lovren will get a good reception off Southampton though I reckon lambert will, sterling and countinho with the goals, countinho has said himself he just needs to add more goals to his game and at home will give him more confidence if he gets one. Emre can I expect to start has done very well in pre season. I'm expecting rodger to stick with same back four as dortmund with moreno maybe getting 20min run out
 
Robbo said:
No, the debt isn't the problem. It's covered and we earn a massive amount more than the debt costs to service.

We've got money, maybe the Glazers aren't keen on us spending it, or want to use it for other things, but it is there.

Fact is, if we don't buy some ready made quality, top four is a huge ask and will be dictated entirely by our injuries and opponents form (former of which have been really bad so far).

I've been saying all along this is the most important transfer window for us in recent history - we've got a fine manager who is more than capable of building us a great team for years to come, but he's not a miracle worker. Having to resort to Darren Fletcher as our best midfield option alongside Herrera is simply embarrassing. The guy has been ill, which is a shame, but he's lost it.

A very busy two weeks are ahead, or we're in serious trouble. Admittedly we were missing some important players today, but we do have a lot of injury prone players.
Click to expand...

Spurs fans complain about our midfield choices, but in comparison I would not swap for anything.

Sandro, Bentelab, Capoue, Paulinho, Dembele, Eriksen, Holtby ...can all occupy the middle two. All on around 60k a week.

Really do not understand why Fellaini and Herrera can't occupy that part of the pitch for you. Using Screech as a faux-centre forward is never getting you anywhere. Your not Everton.

Lots of players out there within reach, don't need world beaters to hold the middle and distribute the ball. Wasting time going after the likes of Vidal.
 
Mata wasn't worth his club record fee I said that from day one.

Our lack of pace was shown again today. We just lack that world class set of players who can pick up the ball and burst forward.

Kanchelskis can still make a comeback.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom