Man Utd v Liverpool - 12/9/15

Today's team selection lacks a bit of pace imo. It's very much a "CL side", not a BPL one, with great footballers, and players able to move the ball around perfectly and respect LVG tactics. But I wonder if LVG won't be sorry that he has left so little muscle, pace and aggressivity (Valencia, Young, Rojo, Schneiderlin are the type of players I would have gone for), because at the end of the day it's a derby. If the game goes to a physical battle, I don't think we'll come on top. With that team, LVG is taking a bit of a risk imo as we must take control of the ball and dictate the tempo of the game for the whole 90min.

But if it pays off and that our passing and smart display helps us move them around, I can see us score a few past them today.

Will be an interesting game. Not only for us fans, but also for LVG and his philosophy.

Both Carrick and Schweinsteiger playing at the same time is a bit strange.

Martial

streamable.com/74pd

Just a point about what they were saying post match, criticising LVG for saying we performed better in the first half as we controlled the game more and that he wasn't entirely happy with the 2nd. I can completely see where the manager is coming from. In the first half we dominated the game (62% possession), Liverpool never got a sniff (1 shot off target) and we passed the ball well but were lacking cutting edge in the final 3rd.

Comparing it to the 2nd half. Liverpool actually had more possession with 56% and mustered up 7 attempts on goal with 4 on target and generally looked more like scoring. The only reason it seemed better in the 2nd half was because we scored 3 goals but would that have happened if it wasn't for a well worked training ground move that meant Liverpool had to open up more? Not necessarily.

I can see completely why the manager feels like this despite the undoubted ridiculing that will be made of his comments. The emphasis going forward will still be more like the first half but just trying to get cutting edge in front of goal. Just think the Liverpool away and City games last season. Dominated possession and scored brilliantly well worked goals.

I don't agree but I'm not surprised by VGs comments. His idea of football at the moment is if the opposition can't get the ball they can't score. It worked to good effect the first half but it doesn't mean anything if we can't do anything ourselves with the ball. Maybe this is why we can't find that cutting edge due to his system. Memphis could be used as an example. Yes it's very early days for him but he seems shackled and instead of growing in confidence each game it seems to be draining from him. Mata isn't much better. Rooney seems a different player when playing for England than when playing for us.
We don't have the balance to attack well and defend well, which is ludicrous considering the players we have. The second half could be used as an example. We attacked more but also have the ball away more giving them a chance to get into the game and if it wasn't for a wonderful goal from Martial soon after they scored the outcome could of been very different, not forgetting this is one of the worst teams Loserpool have put out in quite a while.
Of course it's still early in the season and things can change but I personally feel the longer we stick with this possession based football the harder it will be to qualify for the CL never mind fighting for titles.

I think you're wrong about his idea of football. He always makes a point of commenting how poor we were in the final 3rd when talking about how well we controlled the game, it's not like he's satisfied with possession and possession alone.

The way I see it, he wants the perfect game. Which is dominate the ball, defend well and create chances/score goals. Surely everyone can agree we'd love to see a United side doing this week in week out. It's hard to get that all the time though, especially in England but we have definitely seen performances under him which show this.

I think when it comes down to the play in the final 3rd you have to look at the game and the individual players. Look at the amount of times players give the ball away in good areas. Loose passing, dwelling on the ball and poor decision making. In that first half we definitely had the ball in good areas more than enough times to create something and score a goal. But the players didn't do it, he took Memphis off at half time for Young who instantly looked less predictable and more likely to make something happen, which led to the goal. Martial looked to be in an impossible position, he goes by a couple of players and calmly puts his shot past the keeper. Both of those things could've happened in a more controlled and dominant first half display if the players were on their game.