Manchester United Banter Archive November 22 2014

22 Nov 2014 22:21:27
Everyone of them played their heart out good performance lads GGMU

22 Nov 2014 22:32:44
What a three points, shorn of a defence and a point that will be missed is that LvG has asked young players to step up and they did but more importantly he asked the team to be more tactically aware. For the first time I can remember we had a team that was flexible tactically, ok it wasn't great for half an hour but we did adapt. I always felt the key was getting DiMaria with pace through the middle and once we went in front Arsenal looked beaten.
What is interesting is that DeGea is fast becoming something of a psychological barrier to other teams. Back in the late seventies I remember Peter Shilton gained a reputation for being unbeatable, psychologically teams knew they got past the Forest defence but couldn't beat Shilts and I think right now DeGea has that.
Today was not great but actually in a way it was a classic United Arsenal game, loads of Arsenal possession but play tight and catch them on the break. Take a look at our defence, McNair and Blackett and we still won, it takes some guts to do what LvG did today, change tactics so dramatically and it worked. The team grew during the game, we were awful at the beginning, I don't think they believed in it themselves but actually started to realise during the game they could win. If I was an Arsenal fan I would wonder how their belief could fall apart when they go a goal down.
Tactical flexibility is something we have needed and we are starting to appreciate, it is a trait in great teams and when people talk about philosophy it us also about be able to adapt. The team out there learnt to adapt.

We are not going to win the league but at the beginning of today's game I think there was some concern in the players, at the end, I think they believed, game on.

22 Nov 2014 23:17:09
Great post that, I don't think people realise how flexible we've shown ourselves to be this year, 40 injuries to deal with but here we are sat in forth place, blooding youngsters on a weekly basis changing formations to suit who we play. Getting the best out of the squad we have fit! I would call that good management. At the moment there isn't another club which could cope with injuries we have and still be challenging for a top 4 place. I hope we can kick on from this now, LVG is making a team that plays for each other, this better than we had last year by a million miles. C'mon reds

{Ed004's Note - Look at how badly Dortmund are struggling with their injuries. Just to put it into perspective}

Good post red man

Great point about De Gea getting in the heads of the opponents now. He has been superb, and his confidence must be soaring.

22 Nov 2014 21:32:51
With Blind, Shaw, Jones, Evans, Falcao and Rojo fit, adding 2 experienced defenders like Hummels or Vidic or Otamenda or Vertonghen or Shawcross and then add, Kevin Strootman then we are in for an excellent season under LVG.

22 Nov 2014 20:04:22
Cant wait for beast's dripping about Rooney today.

He will break all United and Englands records.

Poor tho hey?

Doesnt say a lot for those who played before him!!

P.S I hear Aguero's good if you want to move across the road!!

Rooneys stats P**ses on Aguero since he came to to England.

I say it again. I don't know where all this Rooney knocking is coming from. He's a fantastic player. One of the best and we're very lucky to have him.

22 Nov 2014 22:38:31
I thought Rooney was excellent today, he is the heart of our team, he is everything arsenal don't have, desire passion whatever you want to call it he is the example for the others. I agree with people who say that he hasn't reached his full potential, but the question is this would you rather he plays for Manchester United or against Manchester United? I don't care how much he gets paid, that he told the club we needed better players which actually might be true. When he plays like today he is world class because he played for the team. Its just my opinion not based on facts just the game I watch. Who would you rather have Welbeck who in my opinion disappeared after half an hour, or the man that scored the winner? With his only chance. I know who I would rather have.

{Ed007's Note - (clap)

22 Nov 2014 19:41:49
Big three points, despite a shaky performance. Classic Arsenal, good passing and movement, no finishing, luckily for us.

Strange performance from us. The formation looked poor, with very little one touch play, and the ball in the air too much. A few players were awful, Blackett in the back, Van Persie up front, and McNair was awfully conservative, but at least he doesn't get beat or commit reckless fouls.

I thought De Gea was magnificent again, Carrick was very steady in the middle, very mature game from Rooney, and solid games from Smalling, Fellaini and Valencia. Wilson was a real improvement on RVP.

I would love to see us play Falcao up front with Rooney, and a midfield diamond with Carrick, Di Maria, Herrera, and Fellaini.

However bad it looked for a while, we have beaten Arsenal away and are now in fourth!!

Not to mention we have 11 players out injured. Our whole back four is missing so not sure what people expect.
Can anyone tell me what will happen if Chelsea's or City's whole back four was injured and their two reserve cb, 's as well?

Superb point nomid.

22 Nov 2014 18:57:51
Rvp the worst player on the pitch today. Utter garbage

22 Nov 2014 19:40:16
Would love to see Wilson start up top for us

What a bizarre match! United were dire yet get the 3 points! Van Persie needs a break now. Doesn't look interested at all. Still, a makeshift defence, away from home, 3 points, top four. A poor performance though and a very very odd game.

What about the Rooney debate, done his job with winning goal today, not bad!

Yeah I agree THE WORST performance played with youngsters at the back had to play to wingers at full back, then we had to rely our goalkeeper to save some shots. Got ourselves organised and picked arsenal off with counter attacks the same way Sir Alex would have done. Really the worst performance? I'm not sure myself

Rooney has scored more goals against arsenal than any other player in premier league history, not bad

You could add the Welbeck debate to that as well I think.

Yes, but what about his hair, truly shocking

22 Nov 2014 14:07:08
Just heard Klopps comments about managing in the prem, did we look at him before we got LVG in ?? Not that I'm saying I want to replace Lvg I don't I'm just wondering if we were interested

{Ed004's Note - I think an ideal scenario would be for LvG to continue here over next few years and build a strong squad like he has done at previous clubs like bayern and barca. Then once he leaves klopp to replace him after he stabilises Dortmund again (just to ensure he can manage a team effectively over a lengthy period of time as they have regressed a lot this season}

22 Nov 2014 12:12:12
I think we should beat arsenal, if di Maria is fit he should give chambers a lot of trouble with his pace, Rooney and rvp should do well in this game against a bad arsenal defence, just hope our own defence is strong.

Our two weakest areas are defence and midfield (still). I have no issues with the attack, it's the goals conceded that will be an issue later on today. I banged on about Hummels and Vidal all year, but to be fair these two would have filled two major holes in our team. Clearly the club will go all out for Hummels in the summer and if any other team moves for him in January, then we will move for him January, but we really needed him this season, not next. I think we will concede at least two today, I am not convinced we will outscore Arsenal with our current injury concerns and with RvP still not at 100%. Wouldn't mind seeing Wilson get a run out today. Is ADM 100%? I think we have a few players on pain killing injections at the moment. It's a great time to play us at the moment, but to be fair it's also a good time to play Arsenal, but I think our defence may cost us today.

I think LVG will have seen Chambers get blitzed the other day and will fancy ADM against him. It would be great to see Wilson up against Mertesacker today. If we play with pace our best form of defence is attack today.

I disagree leahy. Our defensive record is no it as bad as people are making out. If we hadn't conceded 5 against Leicester, we would have the second best defensive record. As it is, we are 7th defensively.
However, attacking wise, we have underperformed considering the talent we have. Nowhere near as good as we should be. This could be due to the attackers not scoring as many as they should, but I don't think we've been as creative as we should be.

I believe RVP is a problem in the same way Berbatov was. He has no pace and teams can push up, the only caveat is that DiMaria if fully fit would love to have space to run into. I would rather play with DiMaria in the middle behind Rooney or alongside Rooney and behind Wilson than have RVP up front.
Arsenals defence is shaky like ours but they keep possession in the middle of the park and we must not get caught short of numbers there. DiMaria's pace if through the middle channels alongside their centre backs could cause issues but we can't go 442 today with two wide players or I would be concerned.

When we start with smalling our record isn't great this season, smalling and jones were to take over from vidic Ferdinand, they have been given enough time now just not good enough for a club like united, I hope we address this in January, between injuries for the 2 of them.smalling lack of concentration.