Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [7th - 11th February 2015]

Tute said:
I don't understand how we can field a front five of Falcao, RvP, Di Maria, Rooney, and Januzaj and still look completely and utterly rubbish. It just baffles me.

I really pray to god that LVG isn't trying to breed the attacking flair and excitement out of the team.
Click to expand...

Sometimes throwing good players together doesn't always work, and it's not like West Ham are a bad team, they're well organised etc.

It is a bit strange though, needs fixing, I'm sure we can field a midfield and attack that can offer a lot more as a unit.
 
sigma said:
They hardly ever seem to shoot, I wonder what the stats are for the match today.
Click to expand...

It would certainly explain the absence of Herrera - whenever he gets the ball he looks forward and tries to get something happening. Yet instead we're playing Fellaini and hoofing the ball up to him?

I really expect rolleyes for what I'm about to say - but "hoofball" is not the United way. In fact I'm struggling to think of any top team which employs such a system.
 
sigma said:
They hardly ever seem to shoot, I wonder what the stats are for the match today.
Click to expand...

18 shots , 6 on target for both teams (I think anyway)

Man Utd just don't have the dominant central midfield from the Keane /Scholes era (yeah that long ago)


Remember - WHU are not exactly a bad team this season, beating Liverpool and City earlier on this season and still well in the top 1/2 of the table


edit Carra is calling it right completely re - Falcao and RvP , their movement is terrible
 
Last edited:
Agreed, I was discussing with a friend during the week that this was a match we could lose as WHam are pretty decent this season.

After last season I guess it was always going to be tough - next season will be the one that LvG will be getting stick if we are struggling, especially as we'll hopefully be in Europe... scary thoughts.
 
Sheffield Wednesday played as poorly as they have all season in the first half. Improvement in the second half, soft penalty saved a point. Woeful finishing, lacking creativity and a horrible pitch all played their part.
 
Tute said:
I don't understand how we can field a front five of Falcao, RvP, Di Maria, Rooney, and Januzaj and still look completely and utterly rubbish. It just baffles me.
Click to expand...

Lack of pace and energy?

I know Liverpool are not having a great season (that might change now Sturridge is back) but they still blow a lot of teams away with their pace and energy, the same could be said for Spurs and Southampton. Man UTD are typified by Rooney standing around in midfied playing easy/ineffectual passess whenever he gets the ball just to pad his passing success rate.
 
Manchester United were absolutely turgid today. I cannot remember the last time I thought Manchester United actually played well and thoroughly deserved to win the match.
 
Caragher is being such a dumbass about this. His example of the West Ham attack was two Utd defenders in their half with one significantly further back and a West ham player who could run at an angle and find space. Then he compares it against RVP and Falcao with 3 at the back behind them, 2 fullbacks VERY close, 4-5 yards away from the strikers and two more West Ham players on the half way line with no Utd midfielders anywhere near. It was 7 West Ham players vs 2 Utd players and saying the players weren't making the right runs and blaming them.

He's also complaining that RVP is telling Valencia to play it into midfield rather than to him, that's because one, he knows Valencia is terrible and two, the strikers have absolutely zero support with the midfield so far away.

He's comparing ENTIRELY different things. Utd's defence, having two guys in their own half vs West Ham having 7 players in the same situation. It's absurd, Caragher is completely absurd here.

The big problem was Utd's defence wasn't nearly as well disciplined and Utd's strikers had exceptionally little support. For strikers to do well the midfield needs to be worried about midfield runners, the defence needs to be worried about wingers, strikers, late midfield runners. When 7 players can stare at two players and feel zero threat anywhere else it's a painfully easy day. Utd's midfield is dire, Rooney again today was doing the "hmm, pass forwards, nope, I'll turn away and pass backwards, why not".

In the exampled Caragher was showing, Valencia was jogging forward from the right back position, 25-30 yards into his own half still, the he was basically as far forward as any midfielder, there was no urgency from anyone to get forward and get at West Ham. Had RVP run off into the corner he'd have killed himself running after it, been marked by 3 players and his support would be at the half way line. Just because you can blast it into a corner or run into a corner doesn't mean it's worth doing it.
 
Last edited:
Surely its the strikers job to move the centre backs into positions they don't want to go, not allow the centre backs to stay close together and stay a cohesive unit.

Falcao and RvP didn't show enough energy in the right areas of the pitch, Fellaini was the wrong sub in one sense too late in the match.
 
Just for arguments sake, for the next game I'd like to see:

------Blind
Herrera - Di Maria
------Mata
Rooney - Wilson

Something like this might end up working a lot better than just packing all the big names in. The above lacks physicality, which we can add with Fellaini, but it shouldn't matter too much if we keep the ball well.

Rooney is no good as a central midfielder, IMO. :(
 
Robbo said:
Just for arguments sake, for the next game I'd like to see:

------Blind
Herrera - Di Maria
------Mata
Rooney - Wilson

Something like this might end up working a lot better than just packing all the big names in. The above lacks physicality, which we can add with Fellaini, but it shouldn't matter too much if we keep the ball well.

Rooney is no good as a central midfielder, IMO. :(
Click to expand...

Utd are usually better at home this season, and we have Burnley midweek so its not going to make an easy direct comparison - but IF that team is chosen I would crack a bottle of bubbly!!!

Tummy said:
Fellaini is not good enough. Falcao, Van Persie, and Rooney are woefully out of form.
Click to expand...

Personally , right now I would let Falcao go back to Monaco, and I would sell RvP (otherwise we owe him a rumoured £10m for completing his initial 4 year contract). Whether its Cavani or someone else, I would go big for a striker in the summer as well as two centre halfs and a full (right) back.

Sell a couple of the current centre-halfs (wishful thinking but Fellaini too) and maybe one or two others and get in the likes of Pogba (that kind of player, as I still don't believe he will come back to Man Utd).
 
Last edited:
See Allardyce stirring, about it was hard when a team like Man Utd start lumping the long ball up to players like Fellaini :) Kept a deadpan straight face too.
 
Robbo said:
Not good enough for a pretty flair team, but when you need to lump it, he's invaluable.
Click to expand...

Not that surprising when you have three 30 year old strikers permanently in the team - or as near as damn it (and one of those drastically out of position).



edit - I know its sacrilegious but right now I would prefer to see Herrera as the creative part of midfield over ADM - I know the latter can be a fantastic player, he just too rarely shows it for Utd at present.
 
Last edited:
Robbo said:
Not good enough for a pretty flair team, but when you need to lump it, he's invaluable.
Click to expand...

I wonder where Man.U. would be this season in a theoretical 'Lump It' league?
It seems they've used that tactic a lot and gained quite a few points late on by using it.
 
JohnnyG said:
I wonder where Man.U. would be this season in a theoretical 'Lump It' league?
It seems they've used that tactic a lot and gained quite a few points late on by using it.
Click to expand...

Third long ball team I seem to recall (mind you Chelsea were above us in that table too....so not sure how that one works out )
 
JohnnyG said:
I wonder where Man.U. would be this season in a theoretical 'Lump It' league?
It seems they've used that tactic a lot and gained quite a few points late on by using it.
Click to expand...

A few weeks previously there was the stat banded about that Manchester United had played the most long balls so far that season.

Van Gaal. Tactical. Genius.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom