Match Day Thread Palace of the Crystal v UTD of the Manchester

I've been wanting to say this for a while... I absolutely love seeing Jones in the squad. He works hard and he is a good old fashioned defender which compliments Eric Bailey perfectly. Jose needs to stick with those two. I wouldn't have Smalling back in center half.

 

Agree, he let him start a few games to the point where he had no option but to drop him - end even Rooney couldn't disagree with the decision. The other option would have been to drop him from the start of the season causing all manner of friction in the squad - so astute management. Now he knows he can't expect to start and has to earn a place - even on the bench.

 

Where is Smalling - which toe is injured now?

 

He's on the list.

And with some justification in my opinion.

 

That appears to be a 4 2 3 1 and I think the past few weeks have shown irrefutably that we're more suited to a 4 3 3.

The front six, in two rows of 3, should be;

Pogba Carrick/Mata Herrera

Mkhitaryan Zlatan Martial.

Zlat is obviously the more advance centre for ward.

You could stick Rooney at No9 instead and it would make no ****ing difference to the pace of the side at all.

 

That experiment wasn't successful was it?

 

Don't know, when exactly did that experiment take place?

Remind me.

 

The problem with Rooney yesterday... and for some time, was his finishing. He was absolutely **** tbh. As I posted earlier he lacks complete self-confidence in front of goal. And a clear sign of that is his immediate shoulder slump following every missed opportunity as if he was already expecting it.

The ONE time he looked like sciring was that shot he had in anger after they equalised. The one that required a super save from the goalie. And that was more of the old Rooney. Unfortunately he overthinks too much now and appears full of self-doubt.

As for Ibrah, it's not the 14 goals he's scored, it's the countless goals his presence has stopped the rest of the team scoring. I'd rather have 30 goals from three/four different players than 14 from one.

 

Anyone looking at our scoring record this season (and previous 2 for that matter) would realise there was a problem with our attack. They didn't need to watch our matches. The gap in goals For and GD between united and the next team Spurs is massive. Some would argue that this is not surprising with a Mourinho team but to be honest our scoring is simply below par. We have had 3 defeats only but our GD is an unbelievable +5. We are basically winning by 1 goal or drawing.

We cannot put all the problems at Rooney's or Ibra's door. In the past we've had contributions from all front players. Giggs scholes beckham Ronaldo all chipped in, even defenders contributed occasionally with goals at set pieces. This has completely dried up. Maybe it is a bad patch but we need to have others taking chances being created. We have lots of corners but nothing happens at those. The midfield create opportunities but no one except Ibra scores.

That is why I thought "**** when that scumbag Rose tripped Mikhi at OT. Because he was not only our best creator he was also our goal scorer in good form.

Rooney's confidence is at a very low ebb I agree. I've seen him in the last matches passing (or trying to pass) to Ibra when he had the opportunity to shoot himself. He is basically overawed by Ibra. Hope I'm wrong.

When the pressure is off for points and goals, the team scores more. Like in Cups.

 

So now it's Ibrah's fault that we haven't scored more goals? Are we seriously complaining about having a player that is capable of scoring 30 goals a season? And going as far as suggesting that dropping him is the answer?

We can't possibly blame a man that is doing his job for others not adding to their tallies. If anything, the team needs to take inspiration from him and do better, especially midfield players. We have low goal difference because of how we have performed as a team from the back. Not because we play all balls to Ibrah. And yes, strikers miss. That is part of what they do but what counts is the ones that go in.

 

You wait until after today's game when clearly he's won the game for us, to post that

Listen mate, if you can't understand what I've said why not simply ask, instead of quoting it and then going off at a tangent. Break down his goals against the teams they've been scored against. Then look at how many were in the prem and the points won. There's your answer between looking at "the team" as you've just said and the individual.

 

Come on, Treble! I started this conversation about Ibrah long before today. You can clearly see that above. I only saw your response about 30 minutes ago when I came back online after few days off. Regardless of whether or not he scored today, the argument would have been the same.

Let's not do too much analysis of how football should be played and what variables work best. This ain't market. I see a striker, and I look at how many goals he is capable of scoring. That is it.