So it looks like Anges gamble has paid off... this time... I hope he has learned something from this game. If we are seeing these problems then surely he can too and has some masterplan that rectifies everything. I'd love for him to admit that and also admit his team selection was a huge gamble that paid off with over tinkering with a very Fair point but what does that say about the system and instructions he has. If there are forward players showing for a pass then why pass sideways or backwards. All that for me comes back to Anges setup of the team and the style he wants to play. I still don't know what Ange ball is....
I agree that he wasn't solely at fault, but it was his apparent reluctance to even look for a forward pass (for 90 minutes) which was an issue. Bergvall at least - although far from perfect - was always looking to play a positive pass. I won't mention Sarr because I'm really not sure where he was playing
Ange says Odobert's injury looks significant, and Werner's also picked up an injury Mikey Moore better get some minutes
**** luck to get muscle injuries as early as mid September. I found a positive...the last time I remember us playing that badly and winning was probably at Fulham under Pochettino back in 2019 (I think) winks scored a last minute winner iirc
I'll hold my hands up and admit I was totally wrong. His performances this season have been embarrassing. Sadly the same can be said about quite a few players, and the manager.
Sad but true. When Utd beat Fulham on that opening Friday night, ten Hag not only had the chance of winning all four trophies, he had a 100% win record. Dazzling stats. Small sample size and stats detached from reality. But a good headline.
It’s the manager mainly for me. I think his system is stifling so many players. Said it already a few times on this thread and elsewhere but I just can’t buy that players like Son, Maddison, Bentancur etc are either in decline or not as good as we think. There’s glaringly obvious weaknesses in some personnel but the team isn’t anywhere near as bad as it’s playing. It feels a lot different to when Dier, Sanchez, Doherty, Winks etc were actually stinking the place out. This time it’s good players being held back for me. Something needs tweaking/ improving in the system, I don’t see it “clicking” by persisting with it.
I'm starting to agree. It's a confused mess most of the time and the glaringly obvious centrepiece of the confusion is the midfield. Just like last season, it doesn't matter which combination of players we deploy there, the end result remains the same: they all look like they've never played together before, constantly get in each other's way and don't seem to have the foggiest clue what they are meant to be doing. For me, that is down to the manager. If Poch can reach a CL final with a Winks-Sissoko pivot, Ange can bloody well do better with the tools at his disposal. I am of the belief that the squad isn't nearly as good as some fans seem to think it is. But the more I watch of us, the more I also believe as you say, that Ange isn't getting the most out of the squad either.
Notable that the goals came from some of the only times we managed to play the ball with speed. Once with some nice combination play and once from an incisive pass into space for a quick player. Both involved carrying the ball, which we didn’t do enough, there was too much slow passing and lack of incision. You need to shift teams around and create spaces, and we need to be getting players closer together for combination play, whether that’s in the buildup, with the 6 and FBs actually showing for the ball off the CBs rather than idling around where they think they should be, or in the final 3rd, where we do have some really good instinctive 1-2 touch players (Kulu, Maddison, Bergvall) who can create chances. Brennan Johnson said they’ve been playing too slow too much all season so far so I’m hopeful that it’ll eventually click. But it’s hard to play those quick combinations when the midfield, and left side, have looked very out of sorts in terms of the positioning of the players so far in most of the games this season. Ange has a lot of work to do but at least players seem to be aware of the problems.
I think we’ve got a good but not a great squad. As you all know I was sorely disappointed with our recent window as I can’t help thinking it was a chance to close the quality gap on some rivals, especially as many others didn’t do too much strengthening. We’re a club that doesn’t get too many windows of opportunity to capitalise on bigger/ better sides and that window was definitely one of them I felt. It’s also why, despite my high criticism of Ange and his tactics, I just as much if not more blame the board for not giving him quality. IF it does come to Ange losing his job should our form continue, it’s yet another fall guy for the failures of our board.
Have to say, fair play to Coventry as well. They looked well drilled with a game plan that really stymied our players and system and they would have deserved a win tonight. It took two moments of quality passages of play to pull us through. Their players, manager and staff must be gutted, but should be proud.
I just don't see enough players of top 4 quality, let alone good enough to compete for the title. The strongest XI is a million miles away from Poch's strongest team, and even they weren't strong enough to win the league. Son, Micky, Romero (in theory), Udogie and Porro (NOT when it comes to defending) are the only players of top-4 level imo. The rest are a mix of 5th-midtable, with some probably only good enough for a bottom half team.
This for me is also a potential side-effect of the system. There is a general lack of confidence on the ball at the moment that definitely manifests most in a distinct lack of ball-carrying by players driving at the opposition. I personally think players are petrified of losing possession due to their knowledge that there is zero cover behind them and a simple through ball or one over the top will expose the fact that there is 50 yards of open space behind our defenders. So they'll more often than not play the safe ball.
I think Maddison and certainly Bentancur are too. Bentancur’s won league titles in Argentina and Italy and was excellent under Conte prior to his injury, to the point where before that ACL he would’ve been the only player that season to challenge Kane for our POTY. He was also looking great in his first game back but then that **** Matty Cash sidelined him again, we’ve since not seen the “real Bentancur” in my opinion, that is likely partly down to injury but equally down to this system too. Maddison’s creative stats at Leicester put him well amongst the upper tier attacking mids in the league, at worst he’s a top six player, on his day I think he’s a top four but currently the system is just making too many look midtable when I don’t think they are. RW and ST are the only positions in the XI where I think our quality is midtable or below, another creative mid would be nice but I don’t think it would’ve been as necessary if the system worked better. There’s then obviously issues with certain squad players but we’ll likely always have that.
The ball carrying is something Bissouma noticeably did well at the start of last season and since his dip in form we’ve never really replicated that asset. Clearly it really contributed. Udogie too is strong in that regard, but out of form.
