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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 21:29:18 GMT
I'm pleased with the result and the display on the whole. If you said you'd win the opening 2 games of the season efficiently and without conceding a goal I'd have taken that.
The defence was great again, Blind and Smalling look to have the making of a very good centre back pairing. Blind supposedly made 11/11 clearances during the game and had the highest pass completion rate. He showed on a couple of occasions how smaller men can play central defence, he has bags of footballing intelligence.
I think Schneiderlin showed exactly why we signed him, he's tough tackling and and positionally aware as well as bombing forward on the odd occasion to try and aid the attack. I wasn't impressed with Carrick and there's no doubt the side looked much better when Herrera and Schweinsteiger came on. I thought in the half an hour he was on Schweinsteiger was fantastic and I simply can't wait until he's fully fit.
Of the attack I was very unimpressed. Glad Januzaj got a goal and showed a few glimpses of quality but he gave the ball away quite a lot, that being said I hope he gets more chances as his confidence will undoubtedly grow. Memphis didn't do a lot in the first half, he improved in the second and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet with what was actually a pretty good attempt. Mata was Mata, he got the assist with a beautiful ball that only Mata can do but was largely ineffective throughout the rest of the game but he was playing wide right which is not his favoured position.
Finally we come to Rooney, who was absolute dogshit. That's it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 21:33:47 GMT
yeah but you know he'll pick up , cause he always does.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 21:36:17 GMT
Does he though? I think he picks up for 4 or 5 games then goes back shit for the next 10. He's always been a player who plays well in patches. It is only the start of the season and all, I'll give him at least another 45 minutes before saying he should be dropped...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 21:48:44 GMT
To get 20+ goals out of Rooney he has to play regularly, that's his history. Plus he's got to get used to going back up front and staying there, I think playing midfield for so long has conflicted and confused him :lol: There isn't a player alive who doesn't peak and trough though.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 21:53:16 GMT
Ok I'll give him another 90 minutes then.  |
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Post by Hammy on Aug 14, 2015 22:09:17 GMT
Against Tottenham Rooney was woeful. Tonight he took woeful to the next level and beyond. I've seen him play badly but never like tonight.
I've said all along we don't need another striker. I now change my mind. We can't afford to wait and see if Rooney can hit top form. If VG doesn't trust Wilson or Chicha then we need to have a serious plan B. The only question is, is there a forward out there to fit the bill?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 22:35:00 GMT
I'm not going to make rash judgements off 2 games but he needs to find his form soonish. It's not just based on these 2 games, he's been on the wain (no pun intended) for a few seasons now. Even when he used to be bad he'd still have an impact because of his work ethic but tonight even that didn't seem to be there. That could of course just be down to it only being the start of the season.
Part of me thinks we could do with another striker to maybe push Rooney that little bit harder. People saying he didn't get the service tonight but I would argue that at times the team couldn't build an attack because of how poor he was, the only reason he finished the game on the field is because he's the captain as he was by some distance the worst player on the pitch tonight.
I didn't think we needed another striker either but lets put this into perspective. Rooney is 30 later this year, it's certain we've seen the best he has to offer. Is Hernandez a good enough foil to a quality striker who's on the decline? The answer to that is an unequivocal no if you want to be challenging on all fronts this season. The issue is about quality though, no point buying a top of the range striker unless you plan on dropping Rooney back to number 10 as he won't get game time with Rooney still being the main man up front. There's also no point bringing in a run of the mill striker to play 2nd fiddle as it doesn't improve our options. Ideally you bring in someone young and versatile who can also fill gaps in other positions if needs be.
I'm not calling for Rooney's head. He's still, on his day one of the best strikers in the premier league. He will eventually find form and score goals. My main issue is whether our overall striking options are good enough should Rooney have a bad season or go through a serious drought at some point in the season. I guess Hernandez could come in and surprise us all in what will eventually turn out to be a more creative side than the last one he played in. Memphis can play there and I still think Wilson will eventually be a quality striker but I guess in truth I wouldn't be completely against us improving our striking options afterall.
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Post by spens1 on Aug 14, 2015 23:45:12 GMT
we really need that striker i think. its a shame but him by himself up front may not work as well as i thought it would, unless we start more attacking players in the front 3 with him (Depay and Januzaj?) i would give it some time but maybe we should be buying a striker also, we could go to a 2 striker system.
overall not a great performance, and we would of gotten pumped by any elite team had we played them this week, but we played villa and got the win so can't complain too much, especially since its early days
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2015 7:45:32 GMT
We do look light up front, it's undeniable, in the same way we are at CB - one you can disguise better than the other. lol. I reckon if top quality talent becomes available and is significantly better than what we have then they'll be bought irrespective of position, I mean, they'd buy Muller in a heartbeat if he was available. So availability and the right quality and character is the problem, BPL suitability will be a big consideration after DiMaria, which again limits the pool available.
The only thing that differs with Fergie era is ratio of quality homegrown youth system talent going into the first team and staying there, which will cost us the old dynastic winning streak, but shouldn't impede us challenging and winning things reasonably frequently. You can kiss the old dynastic winning streak goodbye till you get the right quality core of homegrown talent right, and that applies to all the BPL challengers.
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Post by Hammy on Aug 15, 2015 9:29:11 GMT
This is why signing Pedro is becoming imperative. Even though he's not an out and out striker his record is none too shabby, scoring almost a goal every 3 games. Play him as second striker and that ratio is sure to go up. Pedro's strengths are his speed, making space for himself with the ability to head directly towards goal and not take the scenic route along the way.
Yesterday I don't remember us hitting them on the counter once, which is unheard of for us.
Of course it's too early to hit the panic button but our pedestrian play is carrying over from last season. We now have the players to rip teams apart but that's impossible to do when we play like it's a wind down training match.
VG needs to learn that the PL is like no other. In his past teams it was all about possession which is all well and good when you have time on the ball but that is a luxury not permitted in the PL. Did we string more than 6 passes together yesterday without losing the ball? I don't think so. More incisiveness is needed, more directness which is why Pedro could become our most important signing of the summer.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2015 9:53:02 GMT
VG is doing what any intelligent boss would do, he's learnt that a poor start and conceding goals early doors sinks your chances of challenging effectively later on, it's an unforgiving league. VG set us up to not lose or concede first, second and last. If that means sacrificing bells and whistles then so be it - although he would expect more input from Rooney and depay. You can always tweak the front end provided you've nailed the back end and middle down, it's a process.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2015 10:23:52 GMT
I don't think there's anything to worry about in terms of the style of the team. We learnt last season that the good performances will come and considering we have better players now and are extremely likely to add further quality in Pedro I'm not concerned about that at all. Like you say, winning games is of prime importance at the start of the season. Something which we've done and with relative ease in terms of the chances the opposition have created against us.
Schweinsteiger will be a huge player for us when fully match fit, we saw last night the influence he could have, he completely pulled the strings for that last half an hour. Add into that Pedro, Rooney finding his form and Memphis getting more comfortable at the club and we'll see some superb football this season, I have no doubt about that. Just hope we can continue picking up the 3 points why the team is finding it's feet.
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Post by Jie on Aug 15, 2015 11:08:11 GMT
I'm not going to make rash judgements off 2 games but he needs to find his form soonish. It's not just based on these 2 games, he's been on the wain (no pun intended) for a few seasons now. Even when he used to be bad he'd still have an impact because of his work ethic but tonight even that didn't seem to be there. That could of course just be down to it only being the start of the season. Part of me thinks we could do with another striker to maybe push Rooney that little bit harder. People saying he didn't get the service tonight but I would argue that at times the team couldn't build an attack because of how poor he was, the only reason he finished the game on the field is because he's the captain as he was by some distance the worst player on the pitch tonight. I didn't think we needed another striker either but lets put this into perspective. Rooney is 30 later this year, it's certain we've seen the best he has to offer. Is Hernandez a good enough foil to a quality striker who's on the decline? The answer to that is an unequivocal no if you want to be challenging on all fronts this season. The issue is about quality though, no point buying a top of the range striker unless you plan on dropping Rooney back to number 10 as he won't get game time with Rooney still being the main man up front. There's also no point bringing in a run of the mill striker to play 2nd fiddle as it doesn't improve our options. Ideally you bring in someone young and versatile who can also fill gaps in other positions if needs be. I'm not calling for Rooney's head. He's still, on his day one of the best strikers in the premier league. He will eventually find form and score goals. My main issue is whether our overall striking options are good enough should Rooney have a bad season or go through a serious drought at some point in the season. I guess Hernandez could come in and surprise us all in what will eventually turn out to be a more creative side than the last one he played in. Memphis can play there and I still think Wilson will eventually be a quality striker but I guess in truth I wouldn't be completely against us improving our striking options afterall. My thoughts exactly. He's had patches of bad performances before, but I'm starting to think he's getting them more often now. Obviously, that's a little harsh after only two games and I hope he proves me wrong, but if he doesn't we could be in trouble. We have players that can score goals in Mata, Herrera, Young and Memphis, Januzaj, Wilson and Chicharito that can fill up that spot if needs be, so I'm not worried for now, but we should be looking for either bringing Wilson up to be first choice for the future, or looking around for young talented players of the highest calibre. |
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