The 44 pass goal I never want to see that againshould provide inspirat Chelsea away last season starting with Long upfront, have we done it since? We were great that day, Mane seemed to benefit.
I can't believe how poor defensively man Utd are and how little we challenged them. Smalling blind and rojo I mean seriously. We put them under pressure first 30 minutes and last 10, and they couldn't handle us at all. The rest we were dreadful
Our defending absolutely cost us the game. As LTL said though, there's no real disagreement: "stop passing the ball straight to the opposition" and "stop panicking when the other team has the ball and turning into an amorphous blob of aimless suck" are sentiments we all share.
You can't concede three at home and expect to win ever really at this level. Two goals should be enough to win nine times out of ten at home. We turned up with two DMs and the negative tactic of playing centre back at right back. Yet still let in three. Koeman, the back four and DM's have to take the blame for the defeat. The negativity of the team set up got to the players. It's probably why they played too deep, unless they did it under Koeman's orders.
Kinda agree with the first part, disagree with the second. We were great for the first 30 minutes and in complete control. So I don't see how you can say "it got to the players". The biggest impact was taking Romeu off for attacking reasons, but it meant we lost control of midfield.
We best have a top replacement lined up if Mane goes this summer - he's our only consistent attacking threat.
The argument with Pelle isn't really about how good he can be. He is an absolute monster of a CF sometimes. (1 game in particular I can't remember, maybe against Vitesse) but if a player is inconsistent then it can't be at Pelle's ratio. Good for 1 game, bad for 3 (or 4,5 6) Yes he scored 2 but again,the first was a rebound and I would hope any CF would be following that up even worserer CFs in this league. The 2nd was after we had already lost. If Pelle could bring his consistency of the first 20-25 minutes into at least half of his games and not a quarter or less then he would be undroppable by right and not default as it is at the moment. He was great for 20-25 minutes, the missed a sitter and slept/sulked from there until the last 5 minutes. Mane (whom I didn't rate first month) has since been astonishingly good and even though I hate divers and cheating his ability and consistency means that even though my opinionated mind penalises heineous amounts for diving and playacting he still is Saints best player after allowing for this. This is probably because EVERY game for virtualy THE WHOLE game he gives the same performance and I think he may well turn into a game controller rather than a game changer as he is now. HE could well become that No10, Messi type player. How many times does he lose the ball? and how many players does it take to get the ball of him? Fonte has had 1 good game so far and that was against Watford and the 'awesome' 1 man strikeforce of Deeney. I wrote him off as past his level in the championship and he came back in the Prem and proved me wrong. By far my favourite player and I hope he is just having a bad spell. Davis is a strange one. 20 years ago he would be one of the best CMs in the Prem. These days he struggles really. CM is a thing of the past. You are either a DM or an AM and he is neither however he puts his all in and I don't get the criticisms of him on here. He gets slated when he doesn't play but we miss him when he doesn't. I would go as far however as saying he should only play as an AM. HE struggles more at DM. Yoshida played an absolute blinder (defensively) until the 'backpass'. (Was it actually an overhit pass to Fonte?) HE got that last ditch tackle on the offside Mata , he did several of these type tackles. Tadic is an even bigger disappointment than Pelle for me. That first month or 2 he was immense. Since then on either side he has show glimpses but not much. To be honest I think we are going to lose a lot of this squad over the next couple of years. Some because we can't hang on to them (Mane / Wanyama) Others because we will be replacing them.
Pelle scored twice, hit the woodwork, made three tackles, blocked a shot, made a clearance, won five aerials duels and completed three dribbles past an opponent. Only one Saints player (Fonte) had more touches of the ball. Only one other player (Valencia) made more tackles. Only one other Saints player (Davis) blocked a shot.
Can't agree with saying Wanyama and Romeu were poor. But when Romeu went off Wanyama was basically by himself, with Davis just floating around everywhere.
Just back from the game. Slightly dissapointed with the negative tactics / team selection. When I saw Yoshida in place of Soares I knew we'd look to sit deep and we did. I understand these tactics at say Old Trafford, but not at home. At the end of the day Man Utd ain't no Real Madrid or Barcelona. Thought our first goal was excellent and now onto MK Dons on Wednesday.
Ahh the old Stats vs reality argument. SCored twice yes. hit the woodwork yes. Is there a stat for that being a bad miss or not? made 3 tackles (context of them or just 3 tackles in mo mans land? 5 aerial duels where on the pitch in what context? Stats are great but they do not give you context.
At the end of the day, Pelle will rarely get the luxury of coming up against many CBs like Blind. Even bottom end PL teams will generally have CBs who are able to deal with Pelle when he isn't at his absolute best. Blind though is a DM playing CB, and never really stood a chance.
I think that the plan was to sit deep so that they did not get in behind us with the pace of Martial etc and then hit them on the counter, as that is frequently how we set up these days. The crossing was good and we had width, however when you play that game once you win possession back you have to retain the ball not hurriedly clear it and lose it again. We played ok and aside from the mistake United barely threatened, whereas without De Gea we could have had more; on another day we could have got a point. I think we have to accept we are not as good a side as last year, we are average.
I think we are better then average. I also think it's kind of sad how many people keep on having a go at Pelle. He is the only guy scoring. If it wasn't for him we would be ****ed.
2015/16 Pelle 6 goals from 9 games Benteke 2 goals from 6 games Costa 2 goals from 7 games Aguero 1 goal from 7 games Kane 0 goals from 6 games Just saying...
So frustrating watching saints but wouldn't swap them. Agree with the back passing to the keeper, this happens far too much usually from promising positions just in the opposition half,gradually playing back. Surely we can create enough movement for a forward pass and keep the pressure on the other team. Really disappointed today, United were really lucky, 3 shots on target, all goals and their bloody keeper Arghh. going forward we have created more crosses than any other team and yet failed to score in 3 of our 6 games. If we can take more of our chances we could still have a good season.
So, I've just read a few pages, some on the glance, as you do with match day glazed eyes, but I've not seem any comments about Cucucachoo Martina. How is Pelle (a guy who we all know has faults, but also delivers in a time of striker need) getting a load of stick & this guy does not get a mention. Now I'm not looking for a scapegoat, but he makes me worry more than any other player by miles. Obviously we are down to barebones in that department, but find it hard to believe people are sharpening the knives for GP when this guy is in the team. Scary.
