Kroos and Fabregas are not deep cm. Both of them line up alongside two of the best in the game in Matic and Modric. Ones a pure DM and the other a defensive playmaker. Kroos like cesc is the one with licence to go forward.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP THIS NONSENSE ABOUT THE MIDFIELD SELECTION (playing Rooney and Di Maria there) AS BEING ANYTHING ABOUT DEFENCE. This point gets blown out of the water 4 pages back, you come back on and it's there again Rooney in midfield adds no defensive quality except he tracks back. But that's usually bcos he's the one whose been dispossessed. And even then he offers little. He doesnt tackle well and just look at him for the West Ham goal when he just stood there watching in the box. We also cannot get the ball out of our own half bcos Rooney does not possess the intelligence to knit passes with movement and get the ball forward. And just to prove the point once and for all... In the 8 games we've played with with Rooney in midfield we have conceded 6. In the 8 games before that we conceded 5 And that was with our defensive injuries. This "defence" thing is a myth but the only one anyone can come up with as an excuse. But it is a myth. We need Carrick back. The problem is LVG will put Carrick as CB and still play Rooney in midfield... bcos he has!
A myth The only myth thats been discussed on here and blown completely out of the water is the Lvg is failing myth. Our defence causes us so many problems its unreal. We coped for yeara without a midfield due to having one hell of a defensive unit. If teams got in then they faced rio, vidic and vds. Not like that anymore. De gea aside none if them make a striker think twice.
logic fail. "last" season's good season from us was according to you lot all about playing less games, went the bitter logic anyways. So, given your 200m, and signing #tacticalgenius and not playing in Europe, shouldn't you be winning the league this season? Anyone with half a brain knew we did well last season because we were playing brilliant football and had two goal machines up front. No European games helps but as you are finding out, play ****e football and it doesn't matter if you play less games, just means you play less crab hoofball in the end
I am genuinely shocked by the number of rivals and United fans who thought we would be winning the league this season.
No it's perfectly logical. None of the united fans quoted price tags. They simply stated you played part-time and that helped you in your league run. You're saying why doesnt that apply to United this season. I've simply reminded you that it took you 4-5 seasons of part-time football to do it (probably bcos your squad wasnt good enough). Yes we've spent loads but we'll probably get back into top 4 this sesson AND it'll take us less than 5 seasons to mount a title challenge like it did you. Ofcourse if it doesnt you're welcome to come back in 5 years and prove me wrong
Don't think anyone is saying LVG is failing. I just don't think we are doing as well as we should and could be. Which is the point of this thread. If all everyone else was playing as well as they have for the last couple of years we would be like 6th. Our league position is false because the usual contenders are playing so bad. I don't think the overall standard of the league has improved I think everyone is worse. Chelsea will win the league but it really will be because everyone is so ****. LVG is making plenty of mistakes on a weekly basis. I 100% think we are no where near as good as i expected us to be.
Mate there's nothing tangible that shows Rooney adds anything to midfield - defensively or creatively. We've conceded more and scored less in the 8 games he's played in midfield compared to the 8 games before. It's a dead parrot mate.
Fully agree with this^ Rooney is a striker. That's it. Potentially a decent 10 too. What annoys me is and I agree with ruff on this Herrera is better at doing what they are trying to get Rooney to do. Our team selections and formations are mind bogglingly ****.
We may as well accept the selection and hope we get top four. RVP will always play when fit as he is van Gaals prefered striker, Falcao will be given the whole season to prove himself and Rooney will not be dropped as he is the Captain. We have the midfielders to sort the job with, we have enough strikers for bucket loads of goals and the defence isn`t too bad so we should look much better next season.
Agree. Mourinho would have won the title with your squad this season by Christmas, certainly given a £150m spend and no European distraction
Thats pure speculation. Of course he's got an advantage in that he knows the premiership and the clubs and their tactics very well. To say that he would with that squad underestimates the size of the task. It's like saying LVG would have won the premiership with the city squad. We'll just never know.
Think Sociedad have climbed 8 places during Moyes appointment at xmas. He could have won la liga given a full season.
Are the usual contenders playing bad, or are the lower teams playing better and taking points off them but not as many off us as last year?
I suspect UIR is taking an extreme position because detractors are taking the opposite extreme position of their own about LVG The reality is somewhere in between. All the press and pundit criticism don't carry much weight with me. I will make my own judgement at the end of the season.
This A healthy attitude to take imo. Although I think UiR is taking that position because he is a gimp, but.....
I think he may have also stuck his neck out a wee bit far after LVG was brought in to replace Moyes, and refuses to wind it back in even an inch As for the OP, it's possible to take both views. On the one hand he is overachieving, as we are third in the table after an appalling season last year, despite most of our players taking time to settle in and us having a fair few injuries. Spending a load of cash doesn't guarantee a jump straight up the table nowadays - it took City three seasons and £400m just to break into the CL spots. Achieving a top four finish off the back of our last season will be a good season, given that we've had had to pass Liverpool and Arsenal to do so, both of whom also spent heavily last summer. And we're still within shouting distance of City despite being nowhere near top form. On the other hand, given the players we have and the quality we have shown at times, we are clearly underachieving in terms of performances. There's little attacking flow, and it seems like LVG has little appetite to actually play a balanced attacking team. He'd rather shoehorn players into the formation than adjust a formation to get the best out of the players, and too many players don't seem to know where they're supposed to be as a result. Too much huff and puff, not enough flair has resulted in more points per game than Moyes, but a similar number of goals per game. I appreciate that he's experimenting and getting to grips with the players, but it has to reach a point at which there is a point to the whole thing, and we stick with a system that works, rather than trying a new one each game. Personally I'm happy enough with the results, even the away draws, for now. But we need to see some rhythm and flair soon if we aren't going to be holding on to fourth by the skin of our teeth come May.
