Match Day Thread Manchester United (H) 31/08 12:30

That’s always the danger with players that try stuff though. You gamble, sometimes it works - often it doesn’t. 50% may not be a bad return, depending on the rewards when it comes off.

 

Yeah maybe because my expectations were so low of him that I have cut him a bit of slack. One bad bit of defending can be excused a bit if his general 90 minutes was ok I think.

 

Interesting only HR has said anything negative about Pierre today. I thought he worked his socked off, but wasn’t very good with the ball and maybe positionally. His work rate helped him today, but I agree with HR... in terms of his normally ability he was a bit off.

 

Yeah, he was trying, for sure. Just nothing was coming off. One of those days.......

 

I agree Pierre wasn't very good today, nor was JWP imo. They both worked very hard, it just looks like they are both struggling for form at the moment, especially Pierre.
Oriel on the other hand was immense, great performance.

I thought that was a really well earned point today, I came away from the ground feeling more than happy with the performance.
Utd may be a shadow of how they used to be but they weren't there for the taking, we had to work damn hard for that point.

 

I wonder if his illness affected him because he didn't look particularly match fit against Fulham. He's definitely committed but just a little off the pace.

 

Still think we are too narrow playing 4-2-2-2 and it's too easy to bypass us when caught in possession, however we look like we will be reasonably entertaining and unpredictable this year !

 

Amen. First half particularly, he frustrated me. Not frustrated just because his passing was slack, but because he was putting in so much work and covering a lot of ground and helping to win 50/50s and then completely squandering the opportunity to press us on and transition quickly, because his passing was wasteful.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying he had a bad game but it’s a shame his passing and - at times - positioning didn’t match his effort level.

 

Yeah, I’m unconvinced by the 4-2-2-2. Think part of the issues we are having with Ings and Adams is that the pair of them are getting in each other’s way and taking up the same runs and spaces too.

I know it’s Ralph's system, so fair enough, but I really would like to see a 4-2-3-1 at some stage with variations of Boufal/Armstrong/JWP between the frontman and the two central midfielders.

Think we could have a lot of joy if we went down that route and flanked Che with Moussa and Redders.

 

Side note from my trip to St Mary’s today: was great to see Boufal’s work rate rewarded with his name being chanted more than once and then for him to get a great reception as he was substituted. That’s how it should be and let’s hope it continues and we see more positives from Sofiane.

Also, lovely to see Danny Wallace get a great welcome and it was genuinely heartwarming to watch Lawrie McMenemy pushing Danny’s wheelchair along the front of the Northam with the pair of them acknowledging the fans who stood to applaud them both.

 

I haven’t figured out all the ins and outs of our system, but it seems to me like the purpose of 4-2-2-2 is to make it easier to overload one side.

The two forwards are less for attacking purposes but more so we can pressure either CB right away. CB then has to pass out to fullback. Once they do that, we can have as many as six players covering the quarter of the pitch where the ball is. Those numbers make it easy to win the ball back, and also to have an immediate advantage once we do. Also, with the formation being somewhat symmetrical it means if anyone gets pulled out it’s easy for another player to step up or back and fill that space to swap positions temporarily.

So it’s not supposed to be narrow in the sense of we are trying to play the ball through the middle and giving up the flanks. It’s narrow in that we give up the opposite side of the pitch to focus on the side of the pitch where the ball is.

The front six are kind of like a shifting/spinning hexagon that moves from side to side. As opposed to a four man triangle/diamond that moves more up-and-does the pitch with a DMC on either side to help anchor.

Or maybe that was just a pile of nonsense I just typed. I dunno. But if I am right, it means that in theory the winger types we have should be able to play like normal wingers when the ball is on their side of the pitch. It’s when the ball is on the other side that they can no longer afford to camp out and hope for a ball to be sprayed out wide to them in space. They have to play like an attacking mid.

We’re just not very good at it yet. Sometimes everyone crowds one side and gets in everyone else’s way. Sometimes the opposite side players forget to run to the center and kind of drift around on the far side. We’ve missed some good back post cross goal chances because no one was there.

But I like it. You can see where it works. It’s just that we can’t seem to press effectively for more than short 5 minute bursts and then teams figure it out. We need to be able to do it for 10-15 minutes at a time and actually convert those effective periods into a goal.

 

Agree FLT, his commitment is unwavering and l am a huge fan, but since the start of the season he seems to not as effective as we know he can be. Its almost like he us trying too hard and its affecting his performance.

 

Possibly because he is Captain and trying to lead as well as play. He'll do well for us...a good player.

 

Interesting to hear Jenas' comments regarding Man Utd on Man of the Day last night. He was really scathing. There was a Man Utd fan on 606 last night who was calling for Sean Dyche to be appointed manager and, whilst I think he was only put on the radio because of the potential shock value, I was wondering after hearing Jenas how long before the opinions expressed by this supporter would become mainstream.

As a neutral, the demise of Man Utd has been fascinating. You start to wonder whether Moyes had been given sufficient time or whether they were wise to dismiss Van Gaal. Jenas suggest that they only managed to create half chances yesterday and I think if we had Redmond fit and nit been reduced to 10 men, the three points would have gone to Saints. They lost to CP last week and the draw with Wolves was a disappointment. They have not played a top team yet and I wonder what will happen to OGS when they are inevitably swept aside by the likes of Liverpool, City and Spurs. I was convinced pre-season that tis would be Utd's season but they look like being well outside the top 6 and think will probably have to settle for a top ten position if the performances don't improve.

I think it is possible for Saints to finish above Utd. Previously this would have seemed laughable but , a the beginning of September, it does not look so unlikely. Certainly I think teams like Leicester will finish higher than Utd.

 

They beat Chelsea on day one..............but even that game could have been different.
Its obvious that Ole can't win this battle, just a matter of time.

 

I don’t think Utd are that bad. The title is a two horse race, City and Liverpool are a class apart. Utd are on the next rung down with Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, and on current form Leicester, and have as much a chance as any of a top four finish.

As for Saints - I haven’t felt this positive about us since we foolishly sacked Puel.

 

I do wonder if our mindset without the ball is upsetting us when we have the ball.
Without, it’s high energy and frenetic, but with the ball you need to have a certain calmness and often we still seem frenetic when we manage to gain possession in the final third and we continue to see passes misplaced.

 

I'm going to predict that we will roughly finish about where Leicester do this season. I don't think that we are any worse than them (with Ralph managing us) especially when all of our key players start hitting their usual form. The biggest positive is Big Vester's match yesterday, if he keeps that up we will have a very useful player at both ends of the pitch and maybe justify his big fee.

 

When the Romeu, Pierre, JWP axis starts hitting usual form I think that we will control the midfield a lot more. Che is showing good signs for me and the confidence of a goal will do him a power of good.

 

Used to work with a particularly annoying United fan some time ago....even Pompey fans commiserated to my face in bad times, whereas he delighted in the misfortune of others. At the time we were so far below them I couldn't understand the venom...we were hardly any competition. He was unable to imagine a time when United wouldn't be top dogs even when I pointed out that all teams slumped. United are hardly scraping the bottom but they will never compete with City and Liverpool at the moment and may find themselves struggling to get into the Champions League in the next few years. Brought him back to mind