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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 19:10:50 GMT
Di Maria in a more suitable position is at least something, surprised Valdes hasn't got a game though.
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Post by Nemanja79 on Jan 23, 2015 19:20:12 GMT
Who's the captain? Carrick?
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Post by Dave on Jan 23, 2015 19:22:38 GMT
Yes he's our vice captain now.
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Post by Dave on Jan 23, 2015 19:37:10 GMT
Seem to be setting up with back four and diamond, hoorah  |
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Post by Nemanja79 on Jan 23, 2015 19:41:01 GMT
Seem to be setting up with back four and diamond, hoorah Hopefully... The choice of a ref annoys me heavily. Chris bloody Foy, can't stand the fecker! |
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Post by Nemanja79 on Jan 23, 2015 19:46:33 GMT
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Post by Nemanja79 on Jan 23, 2015 19:47:49 GMT
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Post by Nemanja79 on Jan 23, 2015 20:55:20 GMT
First half impressions:
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United: Fecking awful up front! No support whatsoever! Rojo makes a run (by a mile our best player) and there is no one to support him there! Fecking dull! Jones' passing, just feck off! Bling is scared to take on his man. I'll celebrate a day when Fellaini is sold. Carrick is slow as feck, no first team player anymore for a top club. Januzaj doesn't know how to shoot. Strikers doesn't have the service.
di Maria and Valencia, here and there, mostly nowhere.
Big meh.
Cambridge: 1. Really League 2 quality but big heart shown, fearless.
2. McGeehan's haircut.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 22:01:27 GMT
what was the formation?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 22:18:23 GMT
Very poor, so we all want the 4-1-2-1-2, well there we had it and it still wasn't good enough. I'm blaming nobody but the players tonight (actually I'll give the manager a bit of criticism for still not playing Herrera).
Defended well but we were playing vs Cambridge, we dominated possession.....but we were playing vs Cambridge. Yes we created a few chances but the attacking play overall was still very poor and left a lot to be desired. Everyone in the final 3rd far too ponderous, with seemingly no ideas of how to break down a side. The strikers missed whatever chances that came their way.
I don't put our poor attacking play down to the forwards alone as the build up is poor and slow all the way through the team, as Nemanja says Rojo regularly goes forward with the ball but there is absolutely nobody making themselves available for him, he's forced to check back and slow the game down. I also agree that he was by a mile our best player tonight, he relished the physical battle. Jones can't pass, he can't shoot, he can't read the game, he has no technical footballing skill whatsoever and this is often to the detriment of our attack, lots of long hopeless balls out of play, plenty of misplaced passes. Thought he was utterly useless tonight, how can you build an attack with a defender giving the ball away so frequently?
Shearer made a good point at half time and one that applies to the season so far, the fullbacks aren't providing enough support in the final 3rd, the only player that has done a good job at this is Young, Blind isn't quick enough and twice missed good chances to put Falcao in and Valencia is quick and strong enough but prefers not to use any of his attributes and plays the ball backwards all the time.
Midfield play was too slow, Carrick had a poor game tonight for me, again much too slow but the guys in front of him also didn't make it easy for him (credit goes to Cambridge as well, they were very organised and defended in numbers). Don't get the managers decision to not play Herrera again as we noticeably improved when he came on for Fellaini who was non existent all night.
Di Maria is starting to worry me, showed a few glimpses but on the whole didn't do enough. Can remember just a couple of games where he's been good this season the rest he's been distinctly average, incredibly underwhelming start to his United career for me. Januzaj looked bright but is a player clearly lacking confidence, as the game wore on he got into it more and made a couple of brilliant crosses that both times the forwards weren't close to being on the end of..which brings me onto the next point.
The strikers we have aren't good enough or at least aren't good enough in what they're showing so far. I don't blame Wilson, he's not physically there yet to have much impact in a game like this, couldn't find any space and when he did attempt to run in behind the balls were terrible. Falcao didn't convert chances yet again and at the moment I'd be gobsmacked if we payed £40million to keep him here permanently, he tries hard and never stops running but even when he's doing simple things like laying off the ball he looks nervy. Van Persie didn't play enough to complain about too much but besides a couple of displays he hasn't been at it all season and is clearly not the striker he once was.
Just poor all round, the only player I would describe as doing well was Rojo. Herrera made an impact from the bench and Januzaj tried hard. Other than that it wasn't good enough from any of them.
There's just massive work still to be done with this side, we're a solid defensive unit but since the decline of Rio are lacking a truly quality ball playing centre half. We need a new, reliable right back with plenty of pace and attacking intent and from what I'm seeing lately we're still in need of another central midfielder and probably a striker. I fear these sort of displays are going to happen regularly for the rest of the season but as stated before, top 4 and then go on from there next season. Another chance to clear out more deadwood in the summer.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 22:34:51 GMT
Manager reaction
Cambridge hold Manchester United
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal: "Yes of course it is frustrating. We make the same error as against Yeovil Town and against QPR, we did the same playing style more or less in the first half.
"Then I have to be angry again. In the second half we did much better but OK we are not out of the Cup. That is the most important thing. But the atmosphere here, the crowd, was fantastic. You know always in advance that all aspects in a game like this is against you.
"I was angry again but it is part of my job. I want to be very happy at half-time. But OK it was not always the same.
"I can only give the credit to the coach, to the staff they did marvellous, but what I already said every aspect of the match is against us - the pitch, the referee, everything that you can think about this is against you. Also the fans of course, but that is nice I think.
"The FA Cup is very important - it is the most important title for us. To win the Premier League is much more difficult now, so the FA Cup is our objective also."
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Post by Dave on Jan 23, 2015 22:41:10 GMT
While I agree Jamie, a fair share of the blame has got to go to the manager, I mean we only started playing at 65-70min so what did he say at half time. Needs to get much more out of them, it's not good enough.
The one player who wants to up the tempo and move the ball quickly, making runs and opening up space is constantly left on the bench. Meh, moving on.
Oh and Jones still taking corners, what's that about.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 23:06:09 GMT
I can't work out the Herrera situation for the life of me. He upped our performance instantly, he does every time he comes on the pitch, the manager must see it, hopefully we see him start vs Leicester but I'm not going to count on it.
I'm just one of those who will look to blame the players before the manager, as I did with Moyes for a long time last season before I finally cracked. I just never quite get my head around blaming the manager too much. Definitely not the performance tonight anyway, a system we all wanted to see and most personnel in the positions we wanted to see. From my perspective, he isn't telling the players to build up attacks slowly, play long balls out of play and to make bad decisions in the final 3rd. That sort of shit is the responsibility of the players. Although I guess the possession based football he likes to play could be getting into the players minds and instead of taking risks they're more inclined to make sure they don't lose the ball.
When it comes to questioning the managers the questions have to relate to what is going on in training more than anything. Especially when tonight the only seemingly poor decision he made was to not play Herrera again. Is he motivating them enough? Well his words motivate me into thinking we're in good hands so surely he can get it out of the players. Is his philosophy getting through to the players enough or is there stuff getting lost in translation? I guess that's a possibility for some players. Is he working them too hard in training? People in the media have questioned his training regime due to the amount of injuries we were getting, is there a possibility the lackluster displays are occurring because he's pushing them too hard in training? I guess that's a possibility as well but I find that unlikely too. These are the sort of questions I imagine he's asking himself.
I just happen to think, he doesn't yet know his best team or system, which is causing peculiar team selection in some games, he doesn't trust some of the players and the main one, some of the players in important positions are still just not good enough or are not doing enough.
I'm not happy with displays but I give him the benefit of the doubt because I still think what we're seeing is better than what we saw last year, he certainly speaks better and sounds like a Manchester United manager as well. I'll continue to back him and look past the poor displays and odd decisions providing we get champions league football, as I say then he'll be given the chance to fix what I think is the main problem which is lack of quality personnel in the right positions.
Although any side we put out tonight in any formation should have put up a much better display than that.
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Post by howAREya on Jan 23, 2015 23:31:41 GMT
In defence of Van Gaal and based on performances and performances alone I'd struggle to pick out a 5 a side team made up of consistent players that without hesitation can be picked on a week in week out basis.
It's working a treat for league leaders Chelsea and certainly did for us in the past despite some players still having their flaws.
Injuries and constant chopping and changing of course have played a part but only going on what I see.
Now that most of our injuries are easing maybe the backbone of this team will start to emerge and our attack will start to properly gel. We'll see
DDG obviously is a cert.
Across the back 4, not sure I can pick anyone there yet.
Between injuries, changes in formations and just everyone (including Van Gaal) trying to figure things out I wouldn't say there's been a player getting picked regularly there let alone be able to performer consistently well.
Midfield and the wings. Rooney absolutely and Carrick, without him being necessarily spectacular.
Herrera deserves his chance now everyone agrees but that's all down to the manager.
Deadly serious, assuming he'd carry on his form up until he got injured, Ashley Young is another one.
Nobody up top has played well enough regularly to make that place their own.
So some players just keep letting themselves and Van Gaal down
Again the injuries clearing up now should start to make things a whole lot clearer (we hope) but the rest need to buck up their ideas. If everyone can stay fit there will be no excuses on either the players' or Van Gaal's part.
Lucky for them it's 11 that goes out for every game so they're all still in with a shout irrespective of the way they are playing.
Formations shouldn't really effect the best from touch, passing and movement, the basics of the beautiful game.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2015 0:59:21 GMT
Pretty much where I'm at, the manager obviously isn't completely blameless in the way we've been playing of late but all I've been hearing is the 3-5-2 is shit, Van Gaal is mad. Not many people actually saying you know what the players aren't performing well enough in the basic aspects of the game as you mentioned in your last sentence. No matter what formation they play, they shouldn't lose possession so much and they shouldn't fail to find a United player with the ball as frequently as they do, especially in the attacking third. Van Gaal's comments also show they're just not listening to him either, people saying he's got us playing long ball football, he said at half time he got into them about playing like the opposition and they didn't hit so many long balls in the second half. Van Gaal is very much a get the ball on the ground manager, to think he wants them to be hoofing the ball up all the time is lunacy. Phil Jones in particular tonight just looked utterly clueless in possession. Yes he contributes to the solid defensive base I've spoken about but he's a pretty poor footballer on the whole.
Tonight proved for me it isn't just the manager playing a certain formation and instilling his personal philosophy into the players causing some bad performances. It proved the starting 11 just isn't good enough still, I'd expect those 11 players to beat Cambridge or at least play better than they did in the first half if they were being managed by Mike Bassett and playing whatever sort of formation when the truth is we created a few openings and never looked like scoring.
It was hardly a disaster tonight and my views aren't solely based on this performance. These sort of games can happen, Cambridge defended stoically and made it incredibly difficult to create chances but we've played lower league opposition 3 times this season and every time we've looked average at best. MK Don's was a seriously under strength side and clearly a case of Van Gaal underestimating the quality of lower league opposition in England, according to most Yeovil was bad because we played 3 at the back, so what was the excuse tonight as we played a 4-1-2-1-2 with players in correct positions.
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