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Manchester United Thread

Yes I agree with northstandhero, its a bit rich making fun of LVG when Rodgers has spent over £200 million on players in his tenure yet still hasnt won anything and his team are in 7th. People in glass houses and all that.

Saying that, Van Gaal's decisions have been baffling. I like him as a manager, he's confident and has an excellent CV.

But for me, Man U are playing some of the worst football I've ever seen by them at times this season.

Rooney needs to play as striker. Mata needs to play behind him with Di Maria on left wing. Herrera and Blind in midfield behind them.

But I think LVG is stubborn and his ego says "I know best" when in-fact he is making silly judgements IMHO.

I still think ManU will scrape 4th with either Arsenal or Spurs getting 3rd. Man U, even when playing bad, pick up points - they simply have too many good players to miss out on CL place for me.
 
Saw an even stranger stat - if you exclude the first 10 matches of the season as 'bedding in period' or some other crap, United are actually top of the form table.

So, erm, yeah, stats don't mean much.

This year the league is far stronger - teams like Southampton, West Ham etc are actually genuinely good, and taking lots of points from most of the 'top' clubs.
 
I think the league is weaker than it's been for a long time personally. Yes, Saints are doing well, as are West Ham.

But I think our "good sides" would really struggle against the "good sides" in other leagues.

Will be interesting to gauge when the English clubs play their European ties in a few weeks, in both Europa and CL.
 
I would say the league is weaker. Liverpool are missing a 70 goal strike force yet are only a couple of wins away from 4th. Both Spurs and Arsenal have been poor and inconsistant. City aswell. Look at Utd, terrible and pretty much similar in points to last season yet are 3rd/4th. Southampton spent a month losing yet are 3rd again...

How many teams actually look any good?
 
TikTikTikTikTik said:
I would say the league is weaker. Liverpool are missing a 70 goal strike force yet are only a couple of wins away from 4th. Both Spurs and Arsenal have been poor and inconsistant. City aswell. Look at Utd, terrible and pretty much similar in points to last season yet are 3rd/4th. Southampton spent a month losing yet are 3rd again...

How many teams actually look any good?
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Maybe, think it's a two-sided coin though. Lots of the 'crap' teams aren't nearly as crap as they used to be. Watching United this year I've been struck by just how organised and physical every team is - all can last the full 90, all can set up with 9 men behind the ball effectively and all seem to be able to create at least 1 or 2 chances a match.

It could just be down to United being crap at the moment, but looking back at goal highlights in previous years, so many were scored by pacey counterattacks, or by a winger beating his man and crossing it. This year I can't think of many phases of matches when teams have left us any space whatsoever to exploit.
 
beachryan said:
Maybe, think it's a two-sided coin though. Lots of the 'crap' teams aren't nearly as crap as they used to be. Watching United this year I've been struck by just how organised and physical every team is - all can last the full 90, all can set up with 9 men behind the ball effectively and all seem to be able to create at least 1 or 2 chances a match.

It could just be down to United being crap at the moment, but looking back at goal highlights in previous years, so many were scored by pacey counterattacks, or by a winger beating his man and crossing it. This year I can't think of many phases of matches when teams have left us any space whatsoever to exploit.
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Couldn't agree more.

Virtually all Premier teams and lower league sides now have squads full of athletes. Fitness levels of these guys are incredible.

Just look at the physiques of the modern footballer to that of them 10 years ago. They're all rippling muscles and no body fat now.

Where a player may lack in technique, he more than makes up for in power, pace, athleticism etc.
 
Man U were always going to take a few seasons to get back to their best after having the same manager in charge for 20+ years.

It would impact any club. The same will happen with us when Wenger goes, we'll be out of sorts for a while I predict.
 
....Very strange to see any manager much more LVG to explain his style of long ball. I never knew long ball to the side shouldn't be considered long ball. They got the draw in the end and its points that gets you results, not wether a long ball is towards the center or side. What is he doing passing out dossiers out to jornos.
You got to admire his efforts. I guess its time for the LVG song n dance show... Mou you better watch out!
 
Is fachts.

Embarrassing really. The whole thing.

From the media side: Do United play the 2nd highest number of long balls in the premier league? Yes.

But here's a stats lesson for you, do United play more TOTAL passes? Yes, more than anyone else. So wait, do United also play more SHORT passes than almost every team in the league? Oh yes, they do! So the headline could be:

UNITED PLAY LOADS OF LONG BALLS!!! or UNITED PLAY LOADS OF SHORT BALLS!!! or, if the media weren't the lowest form of scum on Earth: United play lots of passes, some are long, as a percentage they're right in the middle of the league.

But that would expect the media not to be scum, and the public not to lap it up.

But LVG responding...as one argued wisely: You can't debate with stupid, it'll bring you down to its level and you can't fight there.
 
Yeah exactly, he is correct, but it just makes himself look petty and Sam must be giggling away.

I always thought of LVG as self assured and to not give a shit about what others think, this sort of shows a weakness and a vulnerability.

He stepped into a trap and it just feeds people like Sam Allardyce and the press.

He should have left it.
 
Possession per game
1. City 60.4%
2. Utd 59.3%
3. Everton + Spurs 56%
4. Arsenal 55.8%%

Total Passes per game
1. City 597
2. Utd 547.9
3. Chelsea 538.7
4. Arsenal 525.8

Short Passes per game
1. City 548
2. Chelsea 480.2
3. Arsenal 480.1
4. Utd 470.3

Accurate Short Passes per game
1. City 484.4
2. Chelsea 422
3. Utd 420.1
4. Arsenal 416.6

Total long passes per game
1. Burnley 78.2
2. Utd 77.6
3. QPR 77
4. West Brom 72.8

Accurate long passes per game
1. Utd 44
2. Southampton 35.3
3. Everton 34.8
4. Burnley 33.9

Only Arsenal and City attempt less than 50 long passes per game.


The bottom line tho is that Utd got a point at WHU where City and Liverpool got 0 and that was thanks to long balls. As LVG said, it worked. Maybe if we played a few more long balls every now and then - if not just to unsettle the opposition's bus - the title race might not be over!
 
Good to see some fair responses from fans of other teams. We do look dull a lot of times and are still disappointing as a whole but this is an ugly season for most teams. A draw at West Ham is the last thing for me to get upset about.. Its the truly stupid losses like against Leicester that bug me.
LVG responding the way he did today isn't unlike him at all imho. Been watching his pressers since the early days at Ajax and he just likes to convince people that he knows better than anyone. Petty yes, but in some ways the complete opposite of him losing it or breaking. I kind of prefer an argumentative Louis,he s been far too mellow thus far.
 
One thing that I've noticed is that LVG seems to have total control of Manchester United already.

Whether he gets things right or wrong during a game, he never looks out of sorts.

Even though I feel Moyes should have been given longer, the job and club were too big for him to handle.

LVG doesn't have this problem.
 
Bizarre to think it, but a lineup including: Rooney, RVP, Falcao, Di Maria and Janujaz are starting tonight, but I think we'll struggle to score.

Van Gaal speaks of balance, but then gives his team no balance. Midfielders in midfield, defenders in defence, attackers in attack? Is football so hard?
 
Horrible first half. Injuries don't help but the fact that these set of players can't string two decent passes together is embarrassing
 
Evans of this year is the worst player I've ever seen regularly start for United. He offers nothing defensively, is an utter liability on the ball and at least twice a match creates a great opening for the opposition.

Also Kevin Friend is weak as hell. He's happily dishing out first time yellows for absolutely anything, but Scott Arfield has now committed two yellow card offenses - including an ankle stomp and conceding the penalty, but no second yellow.

Then again he gave us a penalty!!!???
 
Well, that first half was as bad as anything I've seen from us, ever. Appalling.

But, the second half was fine really, especially once Falcao went off. Magnificient as he was 2 years ago, he can't trap a ball anymore, offers nothing down the channels and has missed his last 5 chances. Like playing with 10 men. Sad, but he seems a lovely chap, has made a metric f*ck tonne of money and so should go enjoy retirement somewhere with his family. Because he's done at the top level of football.
 
Still agree RvP is subpar but did Falcao always have such a horrid first touch compared to Robin? Haven't seen enough of him while he was in Spain.

Edit: just found this interesting stat..seems weird because ever since the title winning season he s been kinda meh. Different standards I guess:
Robin van Persie has now been directly involved in 77 goals (58 goals, 19 assists) in 101 appearances for Manchester United.
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RVP gets too much stick, he's not the same player that carried Arsenal and us for 2 years but he's still a top player.

Falcao unfortunately is done, just nothing much more to say really.
 
Falcao is not done at all.
Before the match against burley, from all the players who had more than 20 shots on goal, only Diego Costa had more on target.
Yesterday he provided an assist for Smallings first goal.

Your level of expectations is too high. He Will never again be the Falcao of Atletico, but he is still one of the better forwards of the EPL. Every time i saw HIM play, he was better than RVP.
 
I heard that stat too, but I've watched United this season. I want to it to work. Desperately. He seems lovely, tries his heart out and it would be a major coup for us if it did work.

But he's done. He's slow, his touch is worse than Rooney's, he can't hold the ball up, he can't run in behind and - worst bit - he can't finish.

If it was just a confidence thing I'd be happy to stick with him. But it's not. Age and injuries have caught up to him and there's no turning that around.

Football is more and more a young man's game. And both RVP and Falcao are not that. There was a time when age and nous could keep strikers at the top level older, but that time is gone with the athleticism and training of other players today.

Danny Ings not only looked twice as dangerous, he created twice as many chances (and converted one). And he's not particularly talented - not a sniff on RVP/Falcao at their peaks - but he's young, fast, nimble and can play his game for 90 minutes. And sadly today that's more important than pure skill.
 
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