The Manchester United Thread

[RedUnited]

I don't think Rooney was as bad as people say, not worse than any other player out there..? But playing Rooney on the right side like in the 2nd is the only right thing to do IMO, in the "Mata" role. He can hold the ball well, pass it long/short and cross well, let Valencia overlap and does the defensive work better than Mata and that will also open the CAM spot for Mata and Mkhitaryan instead!

 

[Mike.]

I could take this opportunity to bathe in smug self-satisfaction, because I was saying for months that Pogba is a flat track bully who always disappears in the big games, but let's not write the guy down after one game. Plenty of time for him to step it up, he's only 23.



You can't possibly be serious. Beckham's boyband haircuts, Rooney's toupe, Giggs and his epic chest hair, Fellaini's afro, Ronaldo's love affair with hair gel, Torres and his fake blonde hair, Seaman and his pornstar moustache, do I go on? Players have been mocked for their looks since the beginning of time, to try and look for some racist angle is...rather misguided.

That's exactly what happened with Sterling. To the point other papers were slamming the Sun for it.

 

[RhQQ]

The only sides that get any luck against sides that monopolise possession like a Guardiola side are those that use the high press. City had too much time as space to play it from deep.

I'll give you that Damola, it also looked as if they were under instruction not to press? I would say Bravo alone wasted almost a combined total of 2 minutes with the ball at his feet, either being very sluggishly pressed into booting it, or not even really pressed at all. Forgetting the defensive error by Blind, the opening goal originally came from Mkhitaryan failing to press/close down Kolarov I think it was, who with ease had a year and a day to measure his route one pass.

 

[Legend Incredible]

The only sides that get any luck against sides that monopolise possession like a Guardiola side are those that use the high press. City had too much time as space to play it from deep.

So Liverpool can cause his side problems then.

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[RhQQ]

So Liverpool can cause his side problems then.

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Maybe at one end of the pitch, but if they could expose our defence like that, I'd hate to see what they'd do to Liverpool's back 4, as I'd regard our back 4 one of the better in the league.

 

[damola3]

Here's how Gladbach inflicted Guardiola's largest league defeat of last season. Just to remember, Gladbach are literally league average at pressing. Nothing like Ingolstadt or Leverkusen (one of best pressing sides in Europe). I think we will stack up better that City. We do press better against this sort of opposition.

https://vimeo.com/147949104

 

[Tyton]

Yeah, lack of commitment to pressing was weird, especially since Mourinho inherited what was arguably best drilled at pressing team in the league, and it's not like they've forgotten it all after 3 months.

 

[damola3]

Yeah, lack of commitment to pressing was weird, especially since Mourinho inherited what was arguably best drilled at pressing team in the league, and it's not like they've forgotten it all after 3 months.

Van Gaal's team were one of the best pressing sides in the league. Very good at stopping teams from playing through the middle of them.

https://deepxg.com/2015/10/27/the-van-gaal-press/

 

[RhQQ]

Yeah, lack of commitment to pressing was weird, especially since Mourinho inherited what was arguably best drilled at pressing team in the league, and it's not like they've forgotten it all after 3 months.

Not to mention the fact we have done it so far this season, it's how we forced Bournemouth into their defensive error to gift us our opening goal, put away by Mata, who put brilliant pressure on the defender/keeper. But the only player who seemed to press today on a consistent basis was Rooney, who clashed with Bravo on a few occasions because of it (should've had a penalty in one of the clashes), and you could see he was roaring at Mkhitaryan to close down Kolarov just prior to his route one ball which resulted in the opening goal, but obviously he & Lingard were under some sort of individual instructions which simply didn't work.

Mourinho even said after the game, he didn't expect City to play the way they did, being quoted "Honestly, I had two or three players in the first half, that if the game is now and I know what is going to happen, obviously I don't play them." - I'm guessing he anticipated Pep to compensate in the absence of Aguero, and not make the straight like-for-like swap in just throwing Iheanacho in, which could've seen United have more of the ball/seen the full backs get forward more, he simply trusted his gut with the selection & tactics and it just didn't work out today, but he recognised that and changed things up in the second half in which we had more than our fair share of chances to get back into it. All in all, City had their tactics spot on and just did what they've done all season, whereas we tried something a little bit different as Jose went with his intuition, I just feel lucky as a United fan to have his intuition on our side, as more times than not, he comes up trumps in these big games. Long season ahead, and the future is still bright.

 

[damola3]

So Liverpool can cause his side problems then.

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The issue with Klopp as managers is that despite his very good implementation of the press, he never puts together an elite attack. His sides accumulate a high shot volume rather than high quality chances. This is why I'd say Tuchel is slightly better for Dortmund.

 

[RhQQ]

MOTD on now, I do value their analysis. Let's see if they pick up on the lack of pressing/pressure from United.

 

[RhQQ]

MOTD on now, I do value their analysis. Let's see if they pick up on the lack of pressing/pressure from United.

Yep, the first thing Alan Shearer pointed out.

 

[Tyton]

Yeah, seems like a nobrainer to me that best way to play vs. Pep team is to deny them the ball, especially in a game like this, when Pep only just took over. He has his tricks to get out of the high press (defenders dropping really deep, pulling opposition in etc). But there's no way City are drilled well enough for such tactics this early in the season. And Bravo isn't Neuer, either.

 

[damola3]

Yeah, seems like a nobrainer to me that best way to play vs. Pep team is to deny them the ball, especially in a game like this, when Pep only just took over. He has his tricks to get out of the high press (defenders dropping really deep, pulling opposition in etc). But there's no way City are drilled well enough for such tactics this early in the season. And Bravo isn't Neuer, either.

I know it was pre-season but we did play quite a competitive game against City on the same day as the community shield. We pressed high against City and they couldn't handle the ball. We won the friendly 3-2 in the end but could have scored what we liked. They find it difficult against the high press.

 

[damola3]

Claudio Bravo is one of the best keepers in the world with his feet. He's a very good keeper. Just needs time to adapt. In the mean time, every team will look to see what they can get out of him by sticking the ball over him.

 

[ninjaskill]

Its the same thing with Depay. No one likes to see some flash footballer changing his hairstyle on the whim and walking around in clothes that drip with money when economic times are so bad. So when such footballers fail on the pitch, the media will jump on them.

I personally find nothing ridiculous about it. Pogba willingly potrays his personal life and shows off his hairstyles to the outside world. So its all fair play if the media wants to use that as a stick to beat him with. If he does not like the criticism, don't open up all this to media scrutiny and then maybe he can have my sympathy.

What someone in their twenties posting lots of things on social media never heard of anyone that age doing that... no sorry anyone that age not on social media

 

[Legend Incredible]

It's not that united didn't press per say...Just weren't full committed enough to it. Sometimes we would sit off...sometimes we would press.

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[Alcaraz]

That's the point. He's actually quite quietly spoken. One of the things that Jose will aim to change about him.

Does not matter what he actually is, what matters is the perception people have of him. Depay might be the most humble person but his flash persona means majority of people think he is arrogant.

 

[Alcaraz]

Lots of footballers do it. Why is it only black footballers get pinged for it? Depay isnt even a huge earner. Pogba doesn't actually portray much at all about his personal life.

They dont open themselves up to it either. You're basically blaming the victim for people being idiots.

Don't be ridiculous and start looking for a racist angle here Mike. Tyton already gave you plenty of examples of other footballers who have gotten mocked for their appearance and subsequent non-performances on the pitch. Maybe black footballers get it worst than most because of subconscious bias from fans and media but its not like other footballers don't get it at all..

I agree with you completely. His haircuts have nothing to do with football. But by having 3 new haircuts since the season started, it gives the perception that he is arrogant and no one likes an arrogant person so people will use that as a stick to beat him with when his performances don't match up.

Its not like we do that only to celebrities. We do it in our daily lives to people all around us as well.

 

[ninjaskill]

I agree with you completely. His haircuts have nothing to do with football. But by having 3 new haircuts since the season started, it gives the perception that he is arrogant and no one likes an arrogant person so people will use that as a stick to beat him with when his performances don't match up.

Its not like we do that only to celebrities. We do it in our daily lives to people all around us as well.

You are the first person I have ever heard to use the number of hair cuts someone has had as a reason for them to be arrogant