Manchester United Thread

Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

He doesn't have a trick to get past people, the little stepover that Ronaldo would do whenever a defender lunged in at him.

Same thing that's reducing Rooney's effectiveness at the minute. He gets the ball in front of a defender, and always does a quick left-right shift and shoots, and of course the defender is still there so it always gets blocked.

They should both go and have a chat with Ronnie to learn a trick or two :P
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

I reckon we should try Anderson out wide. Just thought I'd put that out there.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Well the first half was poor, Reminded me of Rome. Not sure how Berba gets criticized today he was by far our best player. I think Foster had the nail in the coffin today, VDS will replace him when he returns and a Keeper will be bought in the Summer.

Rooney was fucking awful today! gotta do better than that. Nani was pure Nani. Shit at times, Good at others overall average. Scholes was drunk it seems.

Vidic has been awful this season though! slightly worried. Ronaldo-esque maybe after the Barca rumours?

Overall happy with the point.

I reckon we should try Anderson out wide. Just thought I'd put that out there.
Click to expand...

We have, He was fucking awful their. Hes much better in the middle.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

RuneEdge said:
I reckon we should try Anderson out wide. Just thought I'd put that out there.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see him given a go further up field (behind Rooney) - his pace would catch out a lot of defenders...

On another note, if Berbatov was more willing to shoot when around the box instead of looking for a pass he'd improve immensely.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Jamesy said:
I'd like to see him given a go further up field (behind Rooney) - his pace would catch out a lot of defenders...

On another note, if Berbatov was more willing to shoot when around the box instead of looking for a pass he'd improve immensely.
Click to expand...

The more I watch us this season the more I think Fergie's made a big mistake with our focus. Rooney and Berbatov are 'to feet' players, who like to pass and move to make things happen with flics and short passes.

And Fergie has stuck them into a rigid 442, with two wingers who aren't terrible, but who can't do that intricate build up, they both prefer to get down the touch line and cross it.

It's like we have 2 different types of offense, playing at the same time that are completely incompatible.

I almost think we'd have more luck with a combination of Owen and Macheda up front, as they both gamble and get into the box. But that wastes £60m of very good talent.

Fergie was onto something with his bizarre, no striker formation a couple years back. But he's gone away from that now, and we don't have an attacking identity.

With the personnel we have, I think (with all my years of managerial experience) we should go with:

------------EVDS-----------
--Rafael--Rio---Vida--Evra-
-------Fletcher-Carrick----
---Valencia-Anderson-Roon--
----------Berbatov---------

With the front 4 not really having fixed positions, except for Ando who sits and connects play.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Were in transition get over it people. We've still got a side capable of winning things which makes things easier.

The formation which apparantly isn't "working" seems to have done us ok so far! Were relying a lot on development at the moment with players like Nani, Valencia and Anderson needing to improve similar to how Fletcher has.

Fergie definitely was onto something with that bizarre no striker formation because we had something totally unique in world football and that was a lethal goalscoring winger. thats unheard of before and no other player can replicate that.

Rooney outwide? bloodly hell I hope we never get that again. Hes had a dip in form but he's still got 6-7 goals so far along with a lot of people chipping in with are attacking play being much better than last season.

Lets wait for SAF to mould this new team together before judging it.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

I agree Rooney's best position is out wide, but he is our best option playing from the left, imo anyway.

We've had some good results this year, but other than Tottenham and the second half at City, we've not really played that well. Then again, i do think people underestimate how hard dominating a team is these days!

I just can't see the whole 442 thing working when neither Rooney or Berbatov are disciplined about staying on the shoulder, thus stretchign out the spaces. Maybe they can learn to play together, but some stat on one of the newspapers was that of the 119 goals scored last year by United, berbatov and Rooney combined (assist and goal) for a grand total of 2. That is shockingly poor.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

I think we all agree that Rooney's best position is out wide but that would be like pouring cold water over the fire after his bright start as a CF/ST for this season.

He said it himself that he prefers a more central role and Sir Alex seems to agree on that.

I would want us to launch the Blitzkrieg on teams like last season when we needed goals but it seems unlikely now.This formation would be it.


------------Owen-----------
---------------------------
-Giggs---Berbatov---Rooney-
---------------------------
-----Anderson--Fletcher----
---------------------------
-Evra---------------O'Shea-
---------------------------
-------Vidic----Rio--------
---------------------------
-----------VDS-------------

Anderson and Flethcher as lung busting CMFs with Evra and O'Shea as Wingbacks.

I'd like to see Obertan and Hargreaves being thrown into that mix as soon as possible too.

Hope Floats.
 
Last edited:
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

How is Rooney's best position out wide?

It's behind the striker, but because Berbatov drops back all the time (and never bothers to go back to where he should be), Rooney ends up on his own up top, cue the frustration and him having a shit game.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

I'm of the opinion that the fact that both of our strikers feel the need to drop deep reflects the quality of service our midfield provides :(
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Rooney needs to play up top, at least he can stretch defenders with his pace.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Remember the Charlton game (I think) in 04/05 when he blasted past a couple of defenders down the line?

Edit, couldn't find that video (we were wearing the black kit)

But I did remember this:

YouTube - Charlton 1-2 Man Utd Ruud van Nistelrooy

He looks like a much bigger player here somehow, has he lost weight or something in the past few years?
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

That's one of my very favourite goals, but more for the 'cherry on top' part of Ruud's chest and top corner shot. Dear Ruud, please come back.

Anyway, I really think Rooney has lost a step or two since then. Against Sunderland he was played one on one with a defender, and just couldn't get past them. He's defo lost some weight, but still could lose some more!
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

To be honest, I wouldnt really call that pace. That was more a show of close control on the ball.
Pace is the kind of speed Ronaldo ran at defenders with the ball.

EDIT
That was a reply to matherto's post. The video above does show him using a lot of pace but how often do we get that from him?
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Yeah he doesnt seem to have been using his pace or skills as much recently, just watched some highlights of his first few years at United and some of the stuff he did was incredible! The same thing happened to Ronaldo though and they're both still brillaint.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

RuneEdge said:
To be honest, I wouldnt really call that pace. That was more a show of close control on the ball.
Pace is the kind of speed Ronaldo ran at defenders with the ball.

EDIT
That was a reply to matherto's post. The video above does show him using a lot of pace but how often do we get that from him?
Click to expand...

I was trying to find a video from the 04/05 away game against Charlton (definitely then cause we had the black kit on).

All I remember is he picked the ball up out wide, and just blasted past the defenders, and it was then you realised he really was fucking quick.

Then again, how often do we get the close control runs from him anymore either?

Christ, just realised we're criticising him when for the most part he's been fantastic this year, ah well.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Maybe cuz we want him to push on a bit further and take his game to another level. Which is a bit unfair cuz like you said, he's been fantastic.
He just needs a better partner up front. Berba's a good player but not ideal partner. The only way I can see Rooney and Berba working is if we change the system again. I'm just not feeling this 4-4-2 cuz we dont have any world class wingers anymore. Giggs is the best we have.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

vdS is back, thank God.

I've been thinking about how we overlook him as one of our most consistent performers, and in general, the fact that he has for the past few years become the true successor to Schmeichel.

Might not be as flamboyant or eye-catching but is a lot more composed and calm, that calmness filters through to the defence, which is quite evident especially with the lack of composure we have in defence when he is not playing.

His time's coming to an end, if he doesn't retire at the end of this season, then it will definitely be at the end of the one after.

Hopefully we don't spend years trying to find a proper successor to him like we did after Schmikes left.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

VDS's retirement really worries me. How long did we have to wait after the Great Dane before we signed him? I dont think we can afford to wait that long for another decent keeper this time around. Anything but another Taibi/Bosnich/Carroll fiasco.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

We should just kidnap Casillas and wear Madrid kits for a match or two so he settles in.

Actually scratch that, I wouldn't want to see our players wearing that shit.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

i think you're all over analyzing the situation, we are in a transition period. we just sold our most important player and the players replacing him are still gelling with the team.

if berba and rooney can develop their partnership (which takes time, give them a break) and nani or valencia steps up then i could see this system working as well as a couple years back when it was tevez, rooney and ronaldo.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

matherto said:
Actually scratch that, I wouldn't want to see our players wearing that shit.
Click to expand...
They steal way too many of our players. I'm almost getting used to it. We're almost like a feeder club to them.
Back when we sold Beckham, he was probably our biggest star, so was Ruud when he was sold, and now Ronaldo.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

Phat J 22 said:
i think you're all over analyzing the situation, we are in a transition period. we just sold our most important player and the players replacing him are still gelling with the team.

if berba and rooney can develop their partnership (which takes time, give them a break) and nani or valencia steps up then i could see this system working as well as a couple years back when it was tevez, rooney and ronaldo.
Click to expand...
The thing that bugs me is that we've been in a transition period before but never has the loss of some players hit us like this. And with the debt that the Glazers have on this club, we cant really afford to drop our standards.
Something needs to be done, and quick. I'm hoping the return of VDS will stabilize the defence and things will pick up from there. But until then, I cant help but worry about the state we're in.
 
Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.

hit us like what? last time i checked we were 2 points off the top of the table, 2 and 0 in the cl and playing pretty good football. we played like shit for large parts of last season and ended up winning the league and getting to the final of the cl.

sorry man it just drives me nuts when people are negative all the time, its not so bad. we're pretty lucky to be in this situation, thats how i look at it at least. a lot fans arent so lucky to support a team like united.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom