Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - See Mod Warning in OP, 09/11

zerks

zerks wrote: »

LVG has admitted he messed around with the formation too much,perhaps now that players are in a settled formation we'll see an improvement.Maybe this was why he stated before that they were finding it difficult to adapt to his "philosophy".

This word is starting to make me cringe the more I see it / hear it being said by LVG.

Backstreet Moyes

Pro. F wrote: »

I can understand people having a positive outlook on where LVG might take the club, but if you're describing Saturday's performance as anything other than poor then you are guilty of wishful thinking.

Has anybody stated they were happy with how we played i doubt it? But its a good habit to get into of winning when your not at your best.

So many times last season we conceded late when holding on against poor sides.

Backstreet Moyes

We look too disjointed going forward is the problem. Di Maria has been poor since he went wide and so has Janjuaz.

I would like to see something like this. Shaw and Rafael are more than capable of offering the width going forward with Blind covering them.

---

De Gea

---

----Raf

---

Jones

---

Rojo

---

Shaw

---

---

Blind

---

---

Di Maria----Fellaini

---

---

Mata

---

---

Rooney

---

Falcao

---

Lord TSC

I was happy with the preformances of Shaw and McNair. Blind did well when switched to CM (though didn't appear to do much at CB; he was never tested though). And DiMaria seemed to struggle with the fact palace played so, so defensively.

After that, of course it was like last year; it was the same players. Carrick back in CM, Valencia and Januzaj showing little down the wing together (though Val's defensive display was grand), Rooney failing to create anything, RVP isolated as a result.

I think we'll be much happier once Falcao is fit, Herrera is fit, our backline are fit and the likes of Blind can push back up again.

The Moldy Gowl

Even though I like Fellaini, we have been missing that creative thing from midfield ever since Herrera got injured.

Maybe I'm putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5?

Backstreet Moyes

Gowlasauras Rex wrote: »

Even though I like Fellaini, we have been missing that creative thing from midfield ever since Herrera got injured.

Maybe I'm putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5?

I think Fellaini has done quite well going forward where we are struggling is the creativity out wide. Di Maria and Janjuaz have had so many chances to put in decent balls and their service has been very poor.

Mars Bar

Lord TSC wrote: »

I was happy with the preformances of Shaw and McNair. Blind did well when switched to CM (though didn't appear to do much at CB; he was never tested though).

Except for that awful decision to let the ball bounce between himself and McNair!

Mars Bar

Mars Bar wrote: »

Except for that awful decision to let the ball bounce between himself and McNair!

Should have scored we were lucky

The Moldy Gowl

Nuts102 wrote: »

I think Fellaini has done quite well going forward where we are struggling is the creativity out wide. Di Maria and Janjuaz have had so many chances to put in decent balls and their service has been very poor.

Yeah Fellaini ha been the best player for us, but others have played badly.

Could herera be the foundation for the other players playing well, and Fellaini has overshadowed this by his own performances playing a different way to hererra? He is a better creator and passer than Fellaini.

I think I'm just over thinking it.

Gowlasauras Rex

Gowlasauras Rex wrote: »

Yeah Fellaini ha been the best player for us, but others have played badly.

Could herera be the foundation for the other players playing well, and Fellaini has overshadowed this by his own performances playing a different way to hererra? He is a better creator and passer than Fellaini.

I think I'm just over thinking it.

Think we would get much more out of Fellaini if we have 2 up front and the quality of crossing improves, particularly from Di Maria from set pieces. It's been frustratingly poor the last 3 games or so.

To note: Was excellent against Chelsea from a defensive point of view. Fabregas was non-existent.

Not sure if Hererra gives us this ^
Think Herrera is more creative but to be used against weaker opposition.

basillarkin

Mata has to start. One of Utds best players.

ericzeking

Gowlasauras Rex wrote: »

Yeah Fellaini ha been the best player for us, but others have played badly.

Could herera be the foundation for the other players playing well, and Fellaini has overshadowed this by his own performances playing a different way to hererra? He is a better creator and passer than Fellaini.

I think I'm just over thinking it.

Do we not play with a number 10 in midfield, who should be our creative fulcrum? The problem being we are playing someone who's best position is striker there.

Play Mata or even Herrerra in the midfield no 10 role and play Rooney as a striker.

Fellaini should not be the guy to loose out because we need what he offers too.

It can't be all creating from every position, we need some physicality, we need to defend set pieces and pose a threat at set pieces. And anyway Fellaini has been no mug on the ball himself.

basillarkin

basillarkin wrote: »

Mata has to start. One of Utds best players.

I would like to know how he's been one of Utds' best players?

Underperforming since he has signed.
Getting goals yes.
His creativity and balance have been lacking.

The Moldy Gowl

ericzeking wrote: »

Do we not play with a number 10 in midfield, who should be our creative fulcrum? The problem being we are playing someone who's best position is striker there.

Play Mata or even Herrerra in the midfield no 10 role and play Rooney as a striker.

Fellaini should not be the guy to loose out because we need what he offers too.

It can't be all creating from every position, we need some physicality, we need to defend set pieces and pose a threat at set pieces. And anyway Fellaini has been no mug on the ball himself.

I'm not slating him at all. I have been one of his biggest supporters. Just an observation.

Rayne Wooney

We have been poor overall but are one point off Arsenal and two ahead of Liverpool, our main top 4 competition

The other two have been poor also but out of the three I think we can improve the most, and I don't think that's bias, we have Van Gaal who should get the team playing well and money if we need to strengthen in January

Will I Amnt

M!Ck^ wrote: »

I would like to know how he's been one of Utds' best players?

Underperforming since he has signed.
Getting goals yes.
His creativity and balance have been lacking.

Goals and assists seem to excuse Rooney or Nani on here but never count when it's Mata...

Will I Amnt

Will I Amnt wrote: »

Goals and assists seem to excuse Rooney or Nani on here but never count when it's Mata...

Oh Rooney has been poor also and I would be the first to point that out.

His first touch and lacklustre attempts at goal on Saturday were there for all to see.

Your Airbag

Will I Amnt wrote: »

Goals and assists seem to excuse Rooney or Nani on here but never count when it's Mata...

Many people had problems with Nani besides the goals & assist stats. He was very frustrating.

Rooney clearly works hard off the ball and has a lot to his game.

Mata really drew attention to himself with that goal off the bench. The press will go with him proving a point but Mata is not some sort of magical answer to our problems. He scored from a deflected shot that the keeper really should have saved. He got lucky.

If you were to take Mata goals and assists away he would have to be called shocking. Little creativity and poor workrate so far, he can be easily muscled off the ball too...

..but saying all that, being in the right place at the right time in a match takes intelligence. Sensing where to be and producing a goal/assist is a skill unto itself and takes very clever reading of the game. Mata is good at this and aslong as he keeps doing it he will keep himself popular with the fans and in contention for an automatic first team spot.

If those assists and goal dry up though, I can't see a reason to start him as he has offered little else besides this.

Mata is the new "were on an international break so lets argue about wether he good or not" player for us. Danny Welbeck and Nani have gone but now we have Mata to entertain us in that department.

Backstreet Moyes

My main problem with Mata is he just looks a shadow of the player he was with Chelsea.

sReq | uTeK

off topic but does anyone know how Shinji is doing since hes gone back to dortmund, I don't watch much german ball.

Timmyctc

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Oh Rooney has been poor also and I would be the first to point that out.

His first touch and lacklustre attempts at goal on Saturday were there for all to see.

His first touch was actually quite good for the most part. He received the ball well in a number of occasions, set himself well for the shot with his first touches then row Z with the shot.

Pro. F

Nuts102 wrote: »

Has anybody stated they were happy with how we played i doubt it?

You don't have to say that you are happy with the performance to downplay how bad it was and there have been a few doing that. I'm not going to quote them because I couldn't be bothered debating with all of them just now.

You yourself are downplaying the issues too:

Nuts102 wrote: »

But its a good habit to get into of winning when your not at your best.

So many times last season we conceded late when holding on against poor sides.

If it was the odd poor performance and a win then it would be useful to acknowledge how important it is to win when you are playing poorly. But it's not the odd poor performance, the vast majority of our performances have been poor and we've lost and drawn more than we've won, so the habit you are talking about is not even remotely an issue at this point.

The fact that you compare Saturday's game to last season shows that you are placing far too much emphasis on this particular result. We played poorly and won a lot of times last season too. It wasn't a sign that things were all right back then and it's not a sign now either.

Lord TSC

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

off topic but does anyone know how Shinji is doing since hes gone back to dortmund, I don't watch much german ball.

Think he is doing ok, but last I heard, Dortmund were bottom of their league :S

Timmyctc

Timmyctc wrote: »

His first touch was actually quite good for the most part. He received the ball well in a number of occasions, set himself well for the shot with his first touches then row Z with the shot.

Yea I remember that one Tim, I agree it was a nice first touch on that occasion.

But there were plenty of times in the game where he nearly fell over himself.
Too note; I hate the position he's playing in regardless. Up front with another striker is where he should be.

Brendan Flowers

Lord TSC wrote: »

Think he is doing ok, but last I heard, Dortmund were bottom of their league :S

While we're at it...anyone know how Hernandez, Cleverley, Powell, Keane and Zaha are getting on out on loan?

Brendan Flowers

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

While we're at it...anyone know how Hernandez, Cleverley, Powell, Keane and Zaha are getting on out on loan?

Hernandez.......

kryogen

Lord TSC wrote: »

Think he is doing ok, but last I heard, Dortmund were bottom of their league :S

Not anymore they are not!

Cantona's Collars

Just read that we scored 1 goal this season from 69 corners & haven't scored from the last 65.
That's pretty shocking.RVP was brilliant at taking them so why isn't he on them this season.It's as if anyone taking them gets a dose of Giggsitis-for 2 decades he took them and was useless.This trend is continuing and pretty poor form considering the amount of them we get.Perhaps LVG should bring in Pulis for a week to show how to do it properly.

The_Kew_Tour

zerks wrote: »

Just read that we scored 1 goal this season from 69 corners & haven't scored from the last 65.
That's pretty shocking.RVP was brilliant at taking them so why isn't he on them this season.It's as if anyone taking them gets a dose of Giggsitis-for 2 decades he took them and was useless.This trend is continuing and pretty poor form considering the amount of them we get.Perhaps LVG should bring in Pulis for a week to show how to do it properly.

On average a team scores from a corner 1 from 45 attempts. Or 1 in 10 games.

But I do see what you mean in a way. Think its more the quality of those deliveries that seem be awful.

kryogen

RVP and Rooneys in swingers seemed to be working well enough though I wouldn't have the figures to hand

Vic Vinegar

Gees, imagine if we'd have signed Vermaelen... he would have fit in nicely, i don't think he's played a game for Barca yet due to being a perma-crock.

Nalz

Phoenix wrote: »

Not to mention the win yesterday was very sweet!

ugh, that signature... fairly big and in ya face no?

ericzeking

Thought Di Maria put in some good ones on Saturday in that area everyone was talking about last week where it just clears the first man and is whipped close to the 6 yard box, the keeper claimed one unchallenged but there were one or 2 others in that area too... we just had no one attacking the ball in those areas. We were kind of particularly light in the set piece department on Saturday since we had Blind and McNair as our centre halves as opposed to say Vidic and Ferdinand in times gone by.
Short corners might have been a better option to give Fellaini a chance to wriggle himself out of the headlock he was invaribly in!!

Mars Bar

I think we just don't have the players who attack the ball well in the air to score from corners. Vidic was a beast at taking everyone in front of him out of it to get his head on it.

Fellaini could have two headed goals from corners in the past two games only for some goalkeeping and good defensive positioning.

Rayne Wooney

We had a problem last season with set piece goals too in comparison to Fergie's last few years

Strange one

advertsfox

The chosen Juan looks lovingly into the camera at the end *swoon*

http://vimeo.com/111304715

Your Airbag

The most annoying thing about Saturday was the fact that even though we won we are left a little frustrated.

I hate the term moral victory but the last two games against Chelsea and City saw people proclaim moral victories *shudders*. We played well in both, especially the start and end of the City game. People claimed progress in our style and the players getting to grips with LVGs philosophy *shudders*.

All of that progress was nowhere to be seen on Saturday and we scraped a home win to Palace. We looked tepid in attack. The amount of possession held was a positive. 72% iirc.

Palace sat back I guess, parked the bus almost and only countered, at least I think they did, my memory seems to be pushing as much of that snooze fest out of my brain as possible. Palace are an organised outfit so its hard to be free flowing in attack when your facing a brick wall but I would have expected a little more in the final third.

Hangballlouie

Love this tweet from Falcao.

https://twitter.com/falcao/status/531843810482200577

It is in relation to the story about his knee in the Guardian. The stuff papers can get away with printing is madness. I hope he comes back to full fitness and leaves Utd as soon as he can. I hate when a player I like plays for a team I dislike.

Mars Bar

He's very eloquent.

Will I Amnt

It's awful quiet in here, is the internet still working?

The_Kew_Tour

Anyone wanna bet how many injuries will result from International week

Headshot

Will I Amnt wrote: »

It's awful quiet in here, is the internet still working?

Ya its to quiet

Will I Amnt

Headshot wrote: »

Ya its to quiet

Better?

J. Marston

Koscielny is out for another month according to some journalist on Football Weekly.

So it'll be Arsenal's rickety defence vs our rickety defence. Should be a good laugh if nothing else.

Only about two weeks to go....

Rayne Wooney

Jackson had a quote in one of his articles from Van Gaal saying playing with two up front unbalances the team

Looks like 433 could be here to stay, lots of games for Januzaj with the lack of competition we have out wide

Should be bringing Nani back as soon as we can

Liam O

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Jackson had a quote in one of his articles from Van Gaal saying playing with two up front unbalances the team

Looks like 433 could be here to stay, lots of games for Januzaj with the lack of competition we have out wide

Should be bringing Nani back as soon as we can

Rooney and Mata are twice as good as Januzaj out wide too. Nani will probably get injured again as soon as he comes back anyway

Rayne Wooney

Liam O wrote: »

Rooney and Mata are twice as good as Januzaj out wide too. Nani will probably get injured again as soon as he comes back anyway

Rooney Mata Di Maria
............Falcao........

Against Arsenal's defence would be heavenly, no chance of it happening though

mcratsix

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Rooney Mata Di Maria
............Falcao........

Against Arsenal's defence would be heavenly, no chance of it happening though

I'd say we'll likely see

Herrera Di Maria
Rooney
Falcao Van Persie

bucketybuck

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Rooney Mata Di Maria
............Falcao........

Against Arsenal's defence would be heavenly, no chance of it happening though

Would be even better if any of them was in form.

Rayne Wooney

bucketybuck wrote: »

Would be even better if any of them was in form.

Neither is RVP, or Januzaj

So all our forwards are off form