Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [20th - 21st September 2014]
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
IMO there wasn't much wrong with them last season aside from mismanagement, they were a title winning team and their away form was one of the best in the league wasn't it? they just couldn't break organised defences which sat back down which is why their home form was so poor and why they had that memorable game attacking like a Sunday league side against Fulham.
This season LvG is having to cope with key players (primarily defenders) having abandoned ship due to the Moyes effect and a severe lack of confidence, the rest of the league now see United as beatable and are going out against them looking to win and not just contain.
If they had appointed a proven manager like LvG last season as a continuity to Ferguson they'd probably be in a much better shape right now.
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I was suspended for the weekend 
so couldn't comment at the time!
What a weekend of football! Glorious
.
Manchester United look mesmerising going forward, but then it fell apart and the team is obviously bereft of confidence, you could see it drain out of them. Defensively absolutely terrible, again. However Clattenburg was hilarious
. Leicester were excellent too.
Liverpool were poor. Manchester City and Chelsea was a good game, fascinating, nice to see Chelsea shake lose the shackles of their performance last season and go out and attack Manchester City... oh wait! Chelsea were not as negative as last seasons match, but still hugely, hugely defensive and negative. Pardew is still captain of the sinking ship Newcastle.
Sheffield Wednesday won, couldn't get to the match due to illness, however seemed a good performance and slightly fortunate to get all three points. Sheffield United lost .
So... Cosimo is now quoting himself for that post count.
so couldn't comment at the time!What a weekend of football! Glorious
.Manchester United look mesmerising going forward, but then it fell apart and the team is obviously bereft of confidence, you could see it drain out of them. Defensively absolutely terrible, again. However Clattenburg was hilarious
. Leicester were excellent too.Liverpool were poor. Manchester City and Chelsea was a good game, fascinating, nice to see Chelsea shake lose the shackles of their performance last season and go out and attack Manchester City... oh wait! Chelsea were not as negative as last seasons match, but still hugely, hugely defensive and negative. Pardew is still captain of the sinking ship Newcastle.
Sheffield Wednesday won
, couldn't get to the match due to illness, however seemed a good performance and slightly fortunate to get all three points. Sheffield United lost .So... Cosimo is now quoting himself for that post count
.
Caporegime
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- 18 Oct 2002
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Just got done watching the Utd game in full (was mostly watching the race on Sunday at the time).
I wouldn't say Utd were mesmerising going forwards at all. They lacked pace, direction, cohesion. They scored a couple nice goals but a huge majority of their attacking play was listless crap. Di Maria was the only one really driving forwards with the ball. Rooney kept roaming everywhere getting the pass then usually passing backwards again, he had the odd good moment pushing towards the opposition goal one of which created the goal but his willingness/ability to pass forwards hurts the team badly. He really so obviously wants to be a play maker but isn't good at it.
The three man narrow midfield was awful, there was no sensible idea of who should mark who, who should drop wide to help the fullback and when someone drops wide to help where they should stand in midfield and what they should do defensively.
fitness also appears to be an issue, Leicester did have multiple chances to score and lots of good counters in the first half but the second half Utd just got worse and worse. Di Maria was tiring but so was just about everyone else. Blind, Falcao, Rojo, Rafael have all barely played though Rafael was one of the few who for me was very good all game long but he was pretty much the only defender playing in position who has played in that position for years. SO many times they ran the overlap on a fullback and the midfielders weren't tracking the run the second player made leaving the fullback screwed, even then Rafael did well.
Blackett..... was god awful at every moment throughout the game. From the penalty he conceded which was stupid to the absolutely pathetic attempt to win the ball seconds earlier, painfully weak attempt to fight the ball to win the header. His positioning for every goal is awful, he is frequently tempted to run out of the back line to follow someone he thinks might get the ball but left a gaping hole every time and was slow to get back. His starting position on almost every counter attack was horrendous. For the 4th goal he didn't look behind him and was running at Laet's pace watching what he was doing, utterly oblivious to the guy running in behind him. He should be ignoring Laet and matching the guy running through the middle. Blind, Smalling and Rooney could all have dropped 10 yards deeper than they stopped as the ball came out of the Leicester box but all reacted like they'd definitely get the ball back. If they'd all dropped 10 yards further back(and all had more than enough time to do so) they'd not have conceded.
The mistakes got worse as they clearly got more tired but Blackett was woeful throughout, Smalling wasn't great after he came on, Evans has been poor, Rafael as said was the only player who performed over the entire game.
Falcao had moments, his cross was great but a lot of poor touches, some good movement though, he needs games. Rooney was meh throughout, RVP should have scored at least one more. Di Maria was generally good, Herrera/Blind/Di Maria with Rooney also helping just have no idea where they are supposed to be defensively.
Defensively they need to be at least trying two of Rojo, Smalling and Jones with Shaw and Rafael. They need to sort out what they are doing with the midfield when they are defending, who goes where and what time because currently they are all over the place. Offensively Falcao needs games and Rooney can't play that no.10 type role.
Leicester have been extremely impressive in every game so far. They are exceptionally willing to counter attack at every opportunity, they use pace and don't over commit numbers forward. Just 3-4 players all running full pace which gets the defence back peddling and losing track of where everyone is. Pretty much every team has played into their hands so far, expecting a weak team, playing possession football, getting held up around the box and not getting back or leaving enough people back to cope with their counter attacking. Unlucky not to have several more points than they do. Solid enough at the back, well organised and great on the counter. Can't see a single problem with them staying up, wouldn't be remotely surprised by a top half finish.
I wouldn't say Utd were mesmerising going forwards at all. They lacked pace, direction, cohesion. They scored a couple nice goals but a huge majority of their attacking play was listless crap. Di Maria was the only one really driving forwards with the ball. Rooney kept roaming everywhere getting the pass then usually passing backwards again, he had the odd good moment pushing towards the opposition goal one of which created the goal but his willingness/ability to pass forwards hurts the team badly. He really so obviously wants to be a play maker but isn't good at it.
The three man narrow midfield was awful, there was no sensible idea of who should mark who, who should drop wide to help the fullback and when someone drops wide to help where they should stand in midfield and what they should do defensively.
fitness also appears to be an issue, Leicester did have multiple chances to score and lots of good counters in the first half but the second half Utd just got worse and worse. Di Maria was tiring but so was just about everyone else. Blind, Falcao, Rojo, Rafael have all barely played though Rafael was one of the few who for me was very good all game long but he was pretty much the only defender playing in position who has played in that position for years. SO many times they ran the overlap on a fullback and the midfielders weren't tracking the run the second player made leaving the fullback screwed, even then Rafael did well.
Blackett..... was god awful at every moment throughout the game. From the penalty he conceded which was stupid to the absolutely pathetic attempt to win the ball seconds earlier, painfully weak attempt to fight the ball to win the header. His positioning for every goal is awful, he is frequently tempted to run out of the back line to follow someone he thinks might get the ball but left a gaping hole every time and was slow to get back. His starting position on almost every counter attack was horrendous. For the 4th goal he didn't look behind him and was running at Laet's pace watching what he was doing, utterly oblivious to the guy running in behind him. He should be ignoring Laet and matching the guy running through the middle. Blind, Smalling and Rooney could all have dropped 10 yards deeper than they stopped as the ball came out of the Leicester box but all reacted like they'd definitely get the ball back. If they'd all dropped 10 yards further back(and all had more than enough time to do so) they'd not have conceded.
The mistakes got worse as they clearly got more tired but Blackett was woeful throughout, Smalling wasn't great after he came on, Evans has been poor, Rafael as said was the only player who performed over the entire game.
Falcao had moments, his cross was great but a lot of poor touches, some good movement though, he needs games. Rooney was meh throughout, RVP should have scored at least one more. Di Maria was generally good, Herrera/Blind/Di Maria with Rooney also helping just have no idea where they are supposed to be defensively.
Defensively they need to be at least trying two of Rojo, Smalling and Jones with Shaw and Rafael. They need to sort out what they are doing with the midfield when they are defending, who goes where and what time because currently they are all over the place. Offensively Falcao needs games and Rooney can't play that no.10 type role.
Leicester have been extremely impressive in every game so far. They are exceptionally willing to counter attack at every opportunity, they use pace and don't over commit numbers forward. Just 3-4 players all running full pace which gets the defence back peddling and losing track of where everyone is. Pretty much every team has played into their hands so far, expecting a weak team, playing possession football, getting held up around the box and not getting back or leaving enough people back to cope with their counter attacking. Unlucky not to have several more points than they do. Solid enough at the back, well organised and great on the counter. Can't see a single problem with them staying up, wouldn't be remotely surprised by a top half finish.
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Manchester United were mesmerising when compared to the opening games of the season, compared to last season going forward and it only lasted until Leicester got their first goal .
Leicester are a tidy side, often watch them when not at Hillsborough, oh god, another team I follow...
and again, no surprise they're doing well. They have a very good attitude and work ethic on the pitch, organised and disciplined. Full of pace and energy across the pitch too, with some experience where it counts. Also, fantastic goalkeeper and Ulloa is a fantastic forward.
Still, could not beat Sheffield Wednesday at H'borogh last season.
.Leicester are a tidy side, often watch them when not at Hillsborough, oh god, another team I follow...
and again, no surprise they're doing well. They have a very good attitude and work ethic on the pitch, organised and disciplined. Full of pace and energy across the pitch too, with some experience where it counts. Also, fantastic goalkeeper and Ulloa is a fantastic forward.Still, could not beat Sheffield Wednesday at H'borogh last season
.