It's a great result and the self belief when we start playing is tremendous. But as I thought our weakest area was down our right. At 1-0 I was kind of indifferent to us losing and saying to my mates that this is actually a good reality check for us. And despite us winning, that is still the case. We will need to address the RB, CB and DM position in the summer. A better team than City with a better manager wouldnt have allowed us into the game. I dont mean Chelsea (who look spent to be honest) or Arsenal who could never open us up in the way Silva did but next season we will come up against teams that will and Valencia while he deserves credit, is not good enough.
Agreed we definately need a back up/ replacement for Carrick especially with a possible increase in games.
It's amazing how well we play when we play the players in their correct positions, and play a system the players know how to play. It's just ashame LVG didn't figure this out sooner, as we'd be right on Chelsea's tail. Next season we should have a big chance though
LVG does seem to enjoy playing against the top teams. He felt he was going to have more trouble with the mass defending of teams like villa than the more open play of City. Fellaini Mata and Young who are becoming his key players have not been bought by him yet he is astute and confident enough to recognise that they could do a better job for him. His use of Fellaini (don't we remember how he has been crucified here by some ) is clever. Playing him as a 10 and frequently going into the flanks against the likes of Clichy and Zabaleta he caused havoc. Toure marking him was just a complete waste of time. I can't wait for the clash between LVG and Maureen.
He played the same players earlier in the season. It didnt work along with several other things he tried. The reason we are now playing great is the result of training and hard work to get here. Things like Mata charging back into a centreback position to cover Smalling who lost the ball on a forward run. Herreras positional sense compared with August and September, Young has gone from a moron to one of our most potent outlets. Fellaini is one of the top performing players in the league. This season was never about the title. Next season though? Well, things look promising.
Nobody named our current starting 11 as our best so the notion he got lucky or that moving Rooney back up top (where he had played several times already) transformed us is hilarious.
This is far too simplistic. With the purchases he had made and the players already here, he had to try them in various formations. Just putting them all in the correct positions would probably have meant no mata, no young , no smalling , funnily enough our scorers yesterday. Now we have a proper team - some may argue this took a ****ing long time. But to say that it was just a matter of putting players in their correct positions and send them on the pitch gives him not enough credit IMO .
Good result guys, your lot are looking decent again. A couple signings (defensive) and you will no doubt be challenging us for the title next season. Also, that results pretty much puts City out of the title race
I hope City keep playing like that, gives us a chance of catching them. No way we'll catch you lot, you're playing too well.
Just read a Phil Neville piece saying Toure was not to blame. I agree that it wasn't only him but at one point Utd broke and Toure made no effort to get back. He is lazy and only any good when on the ball in space.
Completely agree. Seems it's flavour of the month to claim LVG just lucked out into a formation and player selection which has battered Spurs, Liverpool and City in consecutive games. Conveniently ignoring that a month or two ago the general consensus was that Smalling and Fellaini should **** right off and Mata should be played in the middle, only for those three to turn into three of our most consistent performers. His ability to get the best out of Fellaini in particular has been impressive - that looked like an impossible feat back in December. We've definitely been a bit fortunate that RVP has pretty much completely fallen to pieces, as that has helped avoid LVG's seeming obsession with cramming him into the team by any means necessary. But that aside he has resisted the temptation to stick Di Maria and Falcao straight back into the side, which most managers would struggle to do given how much the club has invested in them. So credit where it's due, he's done very well over the past few months. But still needs to keep it up and push us on to another level next season.
It's a fair point, but then Toure is not alone amongst many CMs in switching off when the team is obviously being overrun. Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes have all been guilty of that in the past, although Scholesy has the excuse of being a half blind asthmatic to fall back on I don't think Toure is naturally lazy, but he's played alongside and in front of players like Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, De Jong, and Kompany before he started to decline. He probably looks around the current City side, sees dross like Demichelis, Manquala, Navas and Nasri and thinks he can't be ****ed tracking back just to watch one of his team mates make an error. He also probably doesn't give a **** about securing third spot, nor does he genuinely care about the derby. But if that had been a top of the table match or a cup final, he'd have tracked back like a missile.
LVG has taken a relatively long time to get his best formation out of the players he's got. I'm relieved he has stuck with his winning formation and the players rather than try to bring back the Gaalacticos: ADM/Falcao and RVP. The pressure must have been great but this is when a manager with erxperience and trophies is an advantage. He can tell the money men to **** off. He said he'll get things sorted by in 3 months. It took him double that in 6 months. It is more difficult the bigger the club. What he has had to deal with are the remnants of the problems Moyes had to tackle when he first arrived: Ageing/experienced players who have won quite a lot, therefore with a sense of entitlement but on the way down . He had to clear quite a lot of those. Whilst I enjoyed the passion and the dynamism of the team, what was great was how tactically United and LVG crushed City and Pellegrini. Basically he Pelle was stunned. Just like Brenda was. Toure was totally rendered toothless and the talk of him being put to pasture is bullshit. He'll be bought in an instant by most of the top clubs if he was available. And clichy and Zabaleta under pressure the whole match and at the end wondering what had hit them. Beautiful !!
The general consensus from me has always been that Mata and Fellaini where 2 of our best players, even when others where criticising them unfairly. Smalling has always been decent defensively. He's a good tackler, and he's good aerially. His ability on the ball is the only thing he struggles with. Though I've never said he should be out of the team
It is and has been as simple as that. Funny how both times we have gone on good runs this season getting 6 straight wins, it has been down to LVG being forced to play them in their correct positions due to injuries. When everyone was fit before he was just cramming everyone into the team. Glad though now that a few are coming back he isn't just sticking them back in. He's finally come to realise we get results if we play the best team, rather than the best players
It's a combo of both, mainly van Gaal of course but his hand was forced a little ona couple of decisions. The Smalling and Mata ones aren't the significant ones at all, Smalling is as good as any of our Centre halves and it's only Chelsea fans saying Mata was incapable of playing anywhere other than ten, which was always patently bollocks. No, the big one is Blind having to go to left back and so Carrick and Herrera forming a CM partnership. It's clear they would, it just needed to be put onto the pitch. The Di Maria suspension and rvp injury have helped settle the side but that's two great players ready to come in at any time. Fair play to Fellaini too, he's taken his opportunity with gusto.
