Dropping Rooney is a step in the right direction - and a symbolic gesture that LVG may perhaps be easing up on his stubbornness of team selection for certain players.
2-0. I guess it's over for LVG. In his defence neither of the goals can really be pinned on his tactics.
I also wonder when United will realise that the reason that none of their managers are doing as well as they expect is because they have an average and imbalanced squad, Fergusson got out at the right time; the writing was already on the wall. A bit like Sunderland or Villa, maybe the team is just not good enough and constantly changing the manager is not going to help. At worst they are outside the Champions league places by three points and it is not exactly like any teams are running away with it!
I find it ironic that people were complaining about Bastian? Now that he is suspended, we are all over the place. We miss is calmness in midfield,
So many teams have so much money now that it is getting a lot harder to pick out the gems; saturation of the league. I am no van Gaal fan but is it all his fault or was it simply Man U under invested in the last Fergusson years and are now playing catch up. At the beginning of the season I was surprised to see Hernandez and Janujaz leave - lacking attacking options and fire power.
Saying it is 'a lot harder' bears no significance. If you feel it is too hard, or you are not capable, don't take the job. When LVG accepted the role, he accepted the current circumstances of the club, and has been provided ample support in terms of infrastructure and finances to get on with realistic objectives (eg top 4 as a first season target).
Ferguson time was over 3 years ago. We can't blame him for what's going on today. The squad itself is not bad at all. The problem is extreme lack of confidence. The manager needs to be able to motivate his players when all the chips are down. It doesn't matter how much money you have at that point. I too was very, very surprised that Januzaj was allowed to leave. He was playing good around that time too. It was stupid! Now the kid is lost in Germany and we are lost here at home. Bad deal all around! Also, you can't start season with only two recognized strikers. That is suicide!
There's some truth to that, but LVG is hardly a blameless victim of circumstance. The argument about Fergie's squad is outdated, it's been almost entirely rebuilt now. If the squad's still unbalanced, after enormous amounts of investment, who's to blame for that? Our biggest issue is the lack of strikers, so why did LVG sell Hernandez and RVP without signing replacements? And whilst the results have only recently turned bad, the performances have been bad all season. When you've been saying "my god we're dreadful to watch, but at least we're winning" for months and then we stop winning, the goodwill dries up fast.
Utd are playing so poorly, getting out played, out muscled, beaten to every second ball. Stoke are showing much more desire to get a result and really applying the pressure, Utd are failing to deal with it and there passing has been shoddy under pressure, lots of rubbish long balls not coming off too. Watching Utd recently they have been really boring but today they are really bad. Up top you look toothless, no fight, lots of diving around trying to win free kicks, Fellini with his arms all over everyone but not doing much of anything, nothing of note created in the first 45 at all. Stoke good value for there lead and could have had a third, Utd need to change things around and really step up the level of performance if they are going to rescue anything from this game.
Anyone fancy a cheeky bet about Man U finishing lower than Liverpool? Just wanted to say thanks for starting boxing off on a high note! 4-0 Finish?
The players look totally flat. Weeks of being ground down by a dour, negative manager having its expected effect. Don't think they'll have to put up with him much longer!
Il take that bet. As **** as we are I have the advantage of not being a deluded Dipper so I also know how **** Liverpool are!
