Manchester United - News, Developments & Season

[tfco]

Week 1 - 1st
Week 2 - 2nd
Week 3 - 3rd
Week 4 - 4th
Week 5 - 7th
....

[YemiBrazil]

Me sef, I did suspect this Pobga.
I am still to see what is good to him.

For those who have seen the super player he is, I am sorry I have been blind each time he was playing except during Euro 2016

Many times I suspected Pobga and I have doubted him.
I learnt he was poor again today.

Pogba will surely prove his class. He is not the problem. The question is if Mourinho has the balls to take the hard decisions to make his team work effectively and efficiently. Is he going to protect the interest of the team or the interest of certain powerful individuals?

[marko]

Me sef, I did suspect this Pobga.
I am still to see what is good to him.

For those who have seen the super player he is, I am sorry I have been blind each time he was playing except during Euro 2016

Many times I suspected Pobga and I have doubted him.
I learnt he was poor again today.

Pogba will surely prove his class. He is not the problem. The question is if Mourinho has the balls to take the hard decisions to make his team work effectively and efficiently. Is he going to protect the interest of the team or the interest of certain powerful individuals?

Exactly! The same type of ruthless streak of a guardiola! Mourinho too concerned about his PR, he better start earning his salary and fast, it damn obvious the team is disjointed, everyone played out of position just to accomodate Rooney, Start playing our best 11 and you will get results, its that simple

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

Week 1 - 1st
Week 2 - 2nd
Week 3 - 3rd
Week 4 - 4th
Week 5 - 7th
....

don't cry

[marko]

I will even consider buying Mikel to sit in front of the back 4, you cant shake Mikel off the ball

[amafolas]

Week 1 - 1st
Week 2 - 2nd
Week 3 - 3rd
Week 4 - 4th
Week 5 - 7th
....

why he skip 6 now?
or is he now accelerating downwards?

[wiseone]

Pogba is not the issue (even though I think paying 90 million for a midfielder is insane, and that Man Utd needed Kante more than they needed Pogba).

The issues are institutional carry over from the LVG era: a lack of dynamism and pace going forward. When Zlatan, Rooney, Fellaini, and Mata all play - it gives the team a somewhat ponderous tempo in attack. None of those guys is exactly Usain Bolt.

Another issue is that Man Utd currently has no one dictating the tempo, playing passes and controlling the game from deep. Real have Modric and Kroos, Chelsea have Matic, Bayern have Alonso. For that purpose, Michael Carrick should be in the team as he is the best passer in the team (honourable mention to Daley Blind) and can spray passes if he has willing runners in front of him. Rashford is playing in a way that makes him undroppable. Having Lingard or Young (he can cross) and Mkhitaryan (he can run with pace, create and score) out wide either side of him would give Man Utd a bit more zip.

[benteke]

Pogba is not the issue (even though I think paying 90 million for a midfielder is insane, and that Man Utd needed Kante more than they needed Pogba).

The issues are institutional carry over from the LVG era: a lack of dynamism and pace going forward. When Zlatan, Rooney, Fellaini, and Mata all play - it gives the team a somewhat ponderous tempo in attack. None of those guys is exactly Usain Bolt.

Another issue is that Man Utd currently has no one dictating the tempo, playing passes and controlling the game from deep. Real have Modric and Kroos, Chelsea have Matic, Bayern have Alonso. For that purpose, Michael Carrick should be in the team as he is the best passer in the team (honourable mention to Daley Blind) and can spray passes if he has willing runners in front of him. Rashford is playing in a way that makes him undroppable. Having Lingard or Young (he can cross) and Mkhitaryan (he can run with pace, create and score) out wide either side of him would give Man Utd a bit more zip.

True there was no one to control the game and make those killer pssses, we could have done with Carrick


Then there was this

[/video]

[Coach]

@Wiseone, to start Rashford alongside Zlatan, United will have to change the shape considerably. Do they mirror Leicester's 4-4-2? That would require considerable discipline from midfield and certainly reduces Rooney to a bit part role. The squad has already shown its too thick to employ wingbacks and thus the next option is to sacrifice wingers all together and use a 4-3-1-2. A good solid system, weak out wide but solid centrally and with lateral runs from the forwards, the lack of width can be mitigated for.

vs Watford, the team shape was all over the place, rivaled only by team selection in buffoonery. Big decisions for Mourinho to make,does he have the cajones to change the shape, style and sentence the skipper to Davey Jones' locker?

[wiseone]

I actually meant to start Rashford instead of Zlatan. Radical I know.

@Wiseone, to start Rashford alongside Zlatan, United will have to change the shape considerably. Do they mirror Leicester's 4-4-2? That would require considerable discipline from midfield and certainly reduces Rooney to a bit part role. The squad has already shown its too thick to employ wingbacks and thus the next option is to sacrifice wingers all together and use a 4-3-1-2. A good solid system, weak out wide but solid centrally and with lateral runs from the forwards, the lack of width can be mitigated for.

vs Watford, the team shape was all over the place, rivaled only by team selection in buffoonery. Big decisions for Mourinho to make,does he have the cajones to change the shape, style and sentence the skipper to Davey Jones' locker?

[wiseone]

All of a sudden the EFL Cup game against Northampton takes on massive significance. Ordinarily Man Utd would have used it to play youth team players. If Jose plays the youth players and they lose, that will be 4 consecutive defeats in about 12 days and the pressure will be intolerable. He cannot take that risk. So the team is likely to be:

Johnstone
Darmian-Smalling-Blind-Rojo
Carrick-Schneiderlin
Young-Mkhitaryan(if fit)-Depay
Rashford

That might be the strongest team Man Utd has fielded in a League Cup game for several years. Shame as some of the youngsters like Tuanzebe, Fosu-Mensah, Riley and others could do with the experience of first team games.

[Coach]

Fosu-Mensah should be given a crack at right-back, Darmien has been given enough time to stake his claim and hasn't cemented the spot. Timothy Fosu Co should be given a chance.

[wiseone]

Coach, TFM is not a RB though. He is a DM or CD. LVG played him as a sixth choice RB because everyone else who could play there (Darmian, Valencia, Varela, Jones, Young) was injured. The last thing Man Utd needs is another player playing out of position. Right now De Gea, Smalling, Bailly, Shaw, Rooney, and Zlatan are the only players being played in their 'proper' position. The other 5 players are being played out of position.

Hard to build momentum where almost 50% of the team are not being played in their strongest position.

Fosu-Mensah should be given a crack at right-back, Darmien has been given enough time to stake his claim and hasn't cemented the spot. Timothy Fosu Co should be given a chance.

[Coach]

Well, if indeed right back isn't his position, he didn't do half bad out there. Doesn't get in at centrehalf or defensive mid.

[wiseone]

Another one who could get in at CD is Tuanzebe. He is simply too good for youth team and reserve football. Get him in the EFL squad or send him out on loan. If Ravel Morrison had his head screwed on properly and LVG had not been so quick to get rid of young talent, Man Utd's future team would be largely made up of youth team graduates and would have some of the best young players in the world:

De Gea
Rafa-Smalling-Bailly-Shaw
Fosu Mensah-Pogba
Lingard-Morrison-Martial
Rashford

Subs: Johnstone, Welbeck, Januzaj, Pereira, Borthwick-Jackson, Tuanzebe, M Keane.

Well, if indeed right back isn't his position, he didn't do half bad out there. Doesn't get in at centrehalf or defensive mid.

[benteke]

Manchester United team runs fewest km in the league this season.

[wiseone]

...and Man City have run the most...which makes no sense given the fact they dominate possession in all their games. When a team has the ball all the time, they tend to run less. It is usually the team without possession that gets knackered from chasing around trying to get the ball back.

Manchester United team runs fewest km in the league this season.

[benteke]

...and Man City have run the most...which makes no sense given the fact they dominate possession in all their games. When a team has the ball all the time, they tend to run less. It is usually the team without possession that gets knackered from chasing around trying to get the ball back.

Manchester United team runs fewest km in the league this season.

It makes in that when Manchester City doesn't have the ball they run very hard more than anyone else all over to win it back as soon as possible.

Their type of posession would be from pressing and winning the ball more often, rather than just passing around aimlessly, that's what I observe so far.

[wiseone]

I hear you. Here is the conundrum: in their last few games Man City have had 60-65% possession. Which means that for 2/3 of the game, they are not pressing trying to get the ball back. They are only trying to win the ball back 1/3 of the time. Can the extra miles they ran really be accounted for by chasing the ball for only one-third of the game?

...and Man City have run the most...which makes no sense given the fact they dominate possession in all their games. When a team has the ball all the time, they tend to run less. It is usually the team without possession that gets knackered from chasing around trying to get the ball back.

Manchester United team runs fewest km in the league this season.

It makes in that when Manchester City doesn't have the ball they run very hard more than anyone else all over to win it back as soon as possible.

Their type of posession would be from pressing and winning the ball more often, rather than just passing around aimlessly, that's what I observe so far.

[benteke]

I hear you. Here is the conundrum: in their last few games Man City have had 60-65% possession. Which means that for 2/3 of the game, they are not pressing trying to get the ball back. They are only trying to win the ball back 1/3 of the time. Can the extra miles they ran really be accounted for by chasing the ball for only one-third of the game?

...and Man City have run the most...which makes no sense given the fact they dominate possession in all their games. When a team has the ball all the time, they tend to run less. It is usually the team without possession that gets knackered from chasing around trying to get the ball back.

Manchester United team runs fewest km in the league this season.

It makes in that when Manchester City doesn't have the ball they run very hard more than anyone else all over to win it back as soon as possible.

Their type of posession would be from pressing and winning the ball more often, rather than just passing around aimlessly, that's what I observe so far.

We could also add the way they keep interchanging positions and mov around etc when in posession of the ball.
Am now speculating though

But Mourinho's teams don't press at all, under LvG Man Utd was now good at pressing big teams.

[benteke]

@Wiseone, notice that Liverpool and Spurs are also up there with City on distance in km covered this season.
These are all teams that employ pressing to the highest levels in the EPL.

I might not be far off to suggest that most of those km are spent trying to win back the ball when not in possession.

*By the way Ferguson recently said his never did a lot of pressing all season.

[YemiBrazil]

@Wiseone, notice that Liverpool and Spurs are also up there with City on distance in km covered this season.
These are all teams that employ pressing to the highest levels in the EPL.

I might not be far off to suggest that most of those km are spent trying to win back the ball when not in possession.

*By the way Ferguson recently said his never did a lot of pressing all season.

United was a fast counter-attacking team under Ferguson. They only press in packs towards the end of the match. For the most part they suck you in and pounce. It worked very well against possession teams with poor defensive structure and most Euro and EPL teams but if you block the outlets on the wings and you are very alert till the final whistle you can handle Fergie's United easily.

Jury is still out on Mourinho. The structure has been chaotic so far. Rooney is a big problem that needs to be addressed urgently. Accommodating him is becoming a huge clog.

[anikulapo]

I will even consider buying Mikel to sit in front of the back 4, you cant shake Mikel off the ball

Rumor is that a 30 million pound bid is being prepared for Danny Drinkwater