I was wondering whether we could/should do a "chelsea" at the Etihad on Monday. Not to the extreme they went to at the Camp Nou of course but along the same lines. We need a draw at least and they need to win. Same scenario as the chavs. So why not counterattacking football? Does the the end justify the means? Would SAF be prepared to change his style and do you think we would get stick if we played like that?
No. Not really happy to go out and do nothing and defend. Yes be cautious in defence and not silly. But to merely do nothing, no way.
What chelsea did was quite extreme. They could argue they had to do it because of playing with 10 men (due the pratt's actions). They were going to do it anyway but with 10 men they did it with full justification. But we could have a more defensive formation than we usually have. If we do concede we could then go all out for an equaliser and put 4-5 forwards if we have to. Pragmatism is the key.
I doubt that the manager would make the team approach the derby in a very negative way. The only team i would justify playing "Anti Football" would be against Barcelona as that is the only way you can beat them as if you go all guns blazing, you would get humiliated just like Madrid did when Mourinho first played them as coach of Madrid and Madrid lost 5-0. Hope Fergie will go with a similar team which we played against Everton but i would have Smalling instead of Rafael.
Rafael has made quite a few defensive mistakes this season. Did he give away a last minute goal through lack of concentration in the CL? he is good bombing forward but he is liable to leave his postion unattended. I would pick Smalling too. I would like to see a better performance from Carrick. If Carrick is not at his best, we should bring Giggs on asap. We cannot allow the city midfield to supply the ammunition to their strikers. I am worried about Phil Jones...he is too attack minded for a defensive player. FFS the last thing we want is an open game. The more cagey CL style of game, the better...
Yeah, i agree on that. Play like it's a European game rather than play to draw. We do the former well and the latter badly. We should look to hit on the break which is in our nature, it is City who need to win so the openings will come. From the Everton side I'd drop Rafael, obviously, with Smalling coming in and I'd drop Wellbeck with Giggs or Cleverly playing instead and tighten up the midfield.
I don't hear many complaints about how you beat Bayern in '99? Sometimes it has to be done, whether it is against the philosophy of the club or not...you've won ugly loads of times in the past, sometimes it has to be done
I must say I am rather disappointed with Cleverley so far. May be he has not fully recovered but he has not regained the early season's form. We need to play Scholsey. So far he has not lost a match when he has played, let's hope the trend continues...
Yeah, Giggs, Carrick and Scholes as the central three with Nani and Valencia either side of them supporting Rooney up front would be my preferred side. Cleverly needs to fully recover from a long lay off if possible.
I think Fergie would rather gouge his own eys out than have his team play like that, it doesn't prevent chances for the opposition as with the lucky londoners. I mean if there was ever a time for Fergie to choose to play that brand of rubbish it ould have been the CL final but, and it hurts a little actually to say it, they can hold their heads high and say we tried to play football, not put how many millions worth of players into 15 yards of pitch and pray for good fortune. I honestly see united winning this one.
BringBackfootie not like you dude something positive about Utd, wonders in the world will never cease, ha ha .
Not true, I have my moments, but to be fair to me and a lot of my fellow supporters, you sometmes come on for a browse, there are some great posters on this board but you end up reading the ramblings of fiatiansmith and his buffoons galore, it can tend to make you a bit negative if you've had a bad day at the office That and far too much caffine
The thing is, you can slag us off all you like about how we played against Barca. The bottom line is that we scored 3 times in 2 games against them. 2 of those in the Nou Camp. All goals were examples of counter attack. Maybe it's bitternes that we know how to beat Barca and you don't.
It's not that we don't know how to beat them, it's just that we would never choose to play in that style. You effectively did nothing but defend and not chase the ball for large parts of the game as well as rely on Barca missing a lot of very presentable chances. SAF would never send a team out to play like that. And tbh I can't say I'd want him to - we may have lost to Barca, but our attacking approach has already won us the 2008 CL and four out of the last five PL titles - what do we have to be bitter about?
There in no bitterness from most United fans at all, you must have not been on the website the night you beat Barca or you'd know that. BBF on the other hand, well what can I say? Truth of the matter is last time we played Barca over two legs we beat them. In the one off games where it would have been quite frankly wrong to treat ours and their travelling supporters to a night of utter ****e, we took them on and lost. Such is life. Well done on the win, not remotely bitter and you should be proud of the team but the simple fact is it wasn't pretty. Now what you need to do is follow it up by winning the trophy, just like we did.
Apparently pointing out what actually happened against Barca is bitteness I mean, fkn hell, I'd be happy being there in the final, 2005 had a large element of luck ffs, I just have to be honest when they talk of great performance or best CL performance ever.. The only thing I am bitter about is sitting halfway down the league table FAO RR Blow it out yer giant swollen arsehole mate
