Manchester United Banter Archive October 27 2014

27 Oct 2014 20:56:48
Anybody else baffled as to why Rafael was marking Drogba on corners and RVP was attempting to be on the post, surely it should have been the other way around?

My first thoughts exactly, who sanctioned that shambles?

{Ed018's Note - I was shocked to see that as well, I mentioned it to the guys in the pub that it made no sense. Helped Chelsea out though so I was happy}

Seems Fellaini was tasked to mark Matic who didn't come up so Fellaini should then have marked Drogba but no communication on field

It's the sort of thing that RVP as stand in captain should of been organising. That is why I always like the centre half to be captain.

The best captains imo are cm's (robbo keano gerrard) for example they organise drive teams forward and constantly leading by example all over the park.

Imo cb's are the best captains Vidic, Moore, Terry ect. Great organisational skills and are often feared as wel as respected

28 Oct 2014 20:52:36
Agree about cb's. Its often because they can see the game in front of them too. Same as goalkeepers sometimes make good captains. It's rare that you have very successful sides where a forward is the captain. Maradona for argentina is a rare one.

Why did LVG let this happen, surely his notes would have identified the lapse?

27 Oct 2014 17:51:36
Who thinks that if Chris Smalling keeps injury free and a good run of games he could turn into a quality CB? He seems to make less mistakes than Jones although obviously not as good on the ball.

Me always seen potential in him myself maybe he will show it now

I feel that Smalling gets a lot of undeserved stick about his distribution from the back. He was pretty solid with his passing against Chelsea and I think he's got better passing range than Jones. The bottom line for United's CB's is to get a solid run of games without being injured. None of our defenders will turn into class overnight if they only play once every month.

Rojo distribution is what I worry about he tried at least three suicide passes out from the back he got away with them though one because smalling covered really well. I think the problem with our defence we haven't had a pair play well one might but the other doesn't I would like to see mcnair with smalling or jones but I think lvg really likes rojo but I think he is a bit of a liability but could be really good if he cuts out the mistakes

28 Oct 2014 10:47:19
Rojo's distribution is excellent. Every time Smalling had the ball he gave it straight to him because he is brilliant on the ball. He played several through ball to Fellaini who then gave it out wide to Januzaj and that was a feature of our game against Chelsea.

I must say I think Smalling's distribution was really good against Chelsea. I was watching him in particular as I have read people previously posting that his passing was terrible.

Lately I have seen that our defence have found it particularly difficult to get the ball out of defence to start an attack. But I thought Smalling handled it brilliantly well with his forward passing, almost immediately setting up an attack.

IMO he is our best defender at the moment, as I think Jones can be a bit rash and doesn't have the same ball control.

28 Oct 2014 13:17:55
Rojo is comfortable on the ball usually and is known to be a very good passer of the ball but against Chelsea he had a couple of wayward passes and it's not the first game this season he's been like that. I'm sure it's something LVG would have mentioned to him after the game to focus on.

27 Oct 2014 14:13:12
Very pleased with a point and thought it was a fair result. Neither team deserved to lose and it was a very close game with both goalkeepers in particular having a big say on the game.

Instead of analysing the game though and saying the same as everyone else, I'm going to ask a question.

Our forward line is essentially complete. But what are we going to do about the central defensive pairing? We have 4 first team centre back on the books and only Rojo can stay fit for more than two games in a row and even then I'm not sure he will end up being a regular starter.

Do we need to bring in a new first choice pairing or is it training methods that are constantly injuring our centre backs?

There does seem to be a lot of players getting injured during training at the minute. Something just doesn't add up

Its becoming quite clear that we have CB's made of glass and IMO they need moving on as its becoming a big problem.
I like Phil Jones as a player but what use is he to us if he's always picking up injuries? Same as Evans and Smalling.
Right now I don't think its the training methods because they have all been injury prone on and off for years. I was hoping it was down to youth but it seems to be ongoing.

27 Oct 2014 18:09:29
Well we have an injury crisis every year not just those three so has to be training methods. Its no coincidence the fitness coach got demoted.

It's not just defenders getting injured though is it ?

27 Oct 2014 12:09:49
your celebrations were a bit over the top yesterday, a draw at home ?

Nice try, any last minute goal that earns a result is always going to be celebrated, it was a massive point for us because it will give our lads belief that we can compete with the best after seeing us capitulate against the big teams last season.

27 Oct 2014 13:04:23
So why were your fans not celebrating a good draw away from home? Before the game I imagine most Chelsea fans would have been happy with a draw, but at the end of the game all I could see was 3000 miserable faces as you lost your lead in the last minute?

That misery you felt at conceding, reverse that and that's the excitement we felt. Its pretty simple, we drew a match all the press had written us off in and were probably the better team for large parts of the game.

So no, not over the top, but thanks.

Why should you care if and how we celebrate? Unless it hurt u?

I think your prediction that Chelsea would score 3 was over top.
Well earned point for us while you lot maybe shown a little complacency.

Nearly as over the top as your celebrations in moskow as terry walked up to miss his pen !

But not nearly as over the top as your lot on the 13th may 2012 at the stadium of light, still laughing at that one, phil jones face priceless.

What happened to 3-1 ?

Terry crying - priceless!

27 Oct 2014 11:32:05
Here is my match report :)

DDG - Fantastic, his save to keep Hazard out. Best keeper in the PL in my opinion, other than perhaps maybe Courtios. Schmeichel said that he has an unorthodox way of saving shots, but who cares, he is very clever with it, he isn't the strongest and doesn't have the strongest wrists, so to get the ball out of the danger area he uses his feet/legs. I noticed that when Hazard went one on one, DDG closed him down with pace and if you watch it, he points the opposite direction to confuse Hazard. Magic.

Rafael - In the last few games i have been very impressed with Raf, this game not so much. His positioning was awful and he spent most of his time play CB as Smalling had to cover him. Poor game from Raf. And shouldn't have been marking Drogba on the corner.

Smalling - Smalling wasn't his usual Bambie on ice. He was actually quite solid. The more i think about it now, the more i realise he had a good game! got his head in where it was needed and made no silly mistale. that i remember!

Rojo - A couple mistakes made, i hate to say it but i think i prefer him at LB, not sure what that does for shaw but that's not my problem.

Shaw - Average, has some good link up with Januzaj and Di Maria but didn't offer m uch defensively.

Blind - Very tidy, and again just doesn't what he does best, keep it simple. Distribution very nice, all in all a good performance.

Fellaini - I see a totally new player in Fellaini, distribution very good, he battled and tackled well and attacking wise he adds a new dimension to the attack, if it was for Chelsea's organised back line i feel he would have added a lot more. I want too see him get a run of games now.

Januzaj - One footed. I saw him turning a full 360 degrees only using his left foot, i think he has been found out. looked better when he played on the right but he needs to do more.

Mata - Personally i would play Rooney at 10 vs City, simply because he cares a lot more, Mata has talent in abundance but defensively he is weak. Rooney will be back there and wanting to make up for the time he has spent out.

Di Maria - Not his best game, and i certainly won't barrate him for it, but all i will say is it wasn't his best game, he kept trying to do it alone.

Van Persie

I completely dissagree regarding Rafael. Apart from his rash tackle that got him booked i thought he played extremely well against probably one of the best players in the world at the moment in Eden Hazard.
Why wasn't anything said about him marking probably the best header of the ball in the Chelsea team in Drogba. LVG should have spotted this, it went on all through the game when thay had a corner.
Rafael stands absolutely no chance in the air against a power house like Drogba.
It's little things like this that are hampering our season, would Drogba have scored if Smalling, Fellaini or Rojo been marking Drogba on that corner?

In terms of the corner Fellani no Smalling no Rojo probably

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