Manchester United Banter Archive March 04 2012

04 Mar 2012 22:11:11
Right theres been a fair bit of talk about the match today and the performance. Firstly i'd like to say well done to the lads on getting a good result in a tough game.

Anyway there has been talk about our midfield again today but i don't think anyone has hit the nail on the head with what was wrong with our midfield. The problem with our midfield today was purely one of mobility. Some people have surgested a defensive type midfielder would have helped and it may of depending on the type of player. But generally i don't think it's best to fight fire with fire, your better off using water of dirt or even sufficating it. We've all played rock paper scissors and we know two of the same just cancels each other out. I bet if you look at the stats it'll say that Sandro and Livermore covered more ground than Scholes and Carrick who both prefer to sit deep and pass the ball rather than run about and make space so playing the two of them together was a mistake. You'd have been better of playing Jones with one of them as he moves about making space and takes the ball forward. But when Scholes had the ball Carrick was static waiting for the ball and vice versa rather than making a run or a movement to create space for the other to pass to him. This ment the work rate of Livermore and Sandro swamped our midfield. Cleverley would have made a huge differance today and maybe we need someone with similar qualities to him for those occasions we have to do without him.

The other thing that caused us problems today was Welbeck, now i am a huge fan of Welbeck but he is a young player and he needs to learn not to drop back looking for the ball so much as it just compresses play and sufficates our midfield making it less likely that he'll get the ball in a position in which he can create or score a goal from. Rooney drops deep and thats enough, Welbeck needs to push up and work the line pushing their defence back and making the space behind him for our midfield to work in. We need him as an out ball for when were in trouble or to spring an attack, if he was pushing further forwad today then Carrick and Scholes would have had more space with Rooney for us to dominate the midfield with skill over work rate but it was impossible in the congested and cramped area they had to work with today.

So what does this tell us? we need a midfielder who is very mobile and can be a goal threat, and we need a strong striker to lead the line and who would push opposition defences back, we could also do with a left footed winger as an option to young who worked well today but does cut in to often. Who would i surgest? Shinji Kagawa, Luuk De Jong and Dusan Tadic all would have made todays game a much easier event.

Shappy

04 Mar 2012 20:52:08
I saw a Liverpool season ticket nailed to a tree earlier today, so i took it and ran off, i guess you never know when you will need a nail!

JWalk

04 Mar 2012 20:34:57
First of all, the result is all that matters and 3-1 away to Tottenham is a result none of us probably expected. It was a crucial victory, not just to close the gap to City, but mentally. For the past while, City have won on a Saturday, opened up a 5 point lead, only for us to strike back instantly in very tough games against Arsenal and Tottenham. City will have seen that today, and they know that the fixtures swing our way now. Gary Neville said City had to pull out a big lead during this eries of fixtures, and they haven't. We've actually decreased it. We 'should' win all the games up until City in April, but we can't let that get into our heads. I think we're in a good position to win the league from here.

As for the performance, I don't think we warranted a 3-1 victory. We were very poor in possession, and didn't create many chances. The goal from the corner crushed Tottenham going into half time, and obviously after Young got the 2nd and 3rd it was over as a contest.

It's worrying when arguably our strongest midfield pairing in Scholes and Carrick was so badly overrun by Spurs' midifeld. Nani was anonymous for large parts, until the second goal. DDG was very good, despite a lack of communication on occasions. The back line was good, although Jones had a rocky couple of moments.

Overall, big win a big blow to City.

G.A.G.U.S

04 Mar 2012 19:59:05
A few people on here have criticised Scholes and Carrick today for not keeping the ball well enough. It was perhaps the thing we did worst. But i think that was down to the partnership of Sandro and Livermore who had great presence and bullied our boys off of the ball.

This is an area that we do lack in, Jones and Anderson are the main 'bully boys' in midfield. If we trust in Cleverly and don't go for a 'creative' midfielder, then the bullish midfield position will be the most likely signing.

Not a clue who though. Maybe Javi Garcia? I'd like Javi Martinez though who confessed that he was 'flattered' after hearing our suppossed interest.

UnitedForever

04 Mar 2012 19:26:28
De Gea has been superb. I only hear crickets from the critics.

04 Mar 2012 18:35:48
Apology to Liverpool fans.

When I am wrong I will rightfully admit it. I said back in August that we will finish 15-20 points ahead of you, well I was wrong, I think it will be double that amount ;)

Sydney!

04 Mar 2012 17:46:02
To my mate tk red two quality goals for my boy Ashley

04 Mar 2012 16:29:45
De Gea

Jones Ferdinand Evans Evra

Nani Scholes Carrick Young

Rooney
Welbeck

04 Mar 2012 12:25:05
Right just an idea, now lets say we don't have alot of money to spend(which may be the case), lets say that regardless of who we sell and for how much that we're only allowed to spend 20-25m tops. Who would you sign? Lets say all of the youth have signed long term contracts to make it abit easier.

I'd stick with Evra for one more year and the same with Berbatov, with Fabio and Fryers getting more games and with Rooney Hernandez and Welbeck infront of Berbatov and Will Keane getting some games Berbatov would only be needed for emergancies. So all we'd need then is a goal threat from midfield and possibly a left footed winger to add another dimention to our play, i'd go for Sigurdsson as he is proving himself very handy in the prem and would be cheapish and i'd go for Dusan Tadic as he'd offer us similar crossing abilty as Valencia from the left and would also come quite cheap.

So who would you sign?

Shappy {Ed002's Note - I have no interest in fantasy football - sorry.}

04 Mar 2012 10:17:38
ok bit of genuine football chat. Where do people think van persie will end up? I really think he is leaving arsenal. I can't see him going to another english club so that rules out both us and city. Myself i think he'll go to barcelona. Imagine that for a forward line.