Leg-End
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- Sep 20, 2004
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He talked about consistency within the defense.......then changes it again.
We'd get torn to shreds.Fergie thinks we'd be able to compete with Madrid and Barca if we were still in the CL this year?
Can't really blame him for trying to protect Rio, to be fair. We're just in a shit situation having already lost an experienced centerhalf for the rest of the season.He talked about consistency within the defense.......then changes it again.
The PL is his main concern obviously. But I am sure he still expected the side he selected to perform better than they did.The tactics today were a joke. A changed side and a 2 man midfield vs Bilbao's 3. He clearly had no intention of going far in this tournament.
Yes!!We're only in 2 competitions ffs. The decision making by SAF in relation to this competition is a joke. If he doesn't care about winning it he should rest the entire first team
What's so unbelievable about it?After seeing Bilbao play for the first time, the team we put out tonight is even more unbelievable.
That's true.He is doing great job in the league, no doubt about that, but we are awfull in these cup competitions. I think Fergie can take blame for that, even he said(not directly though) that it is his fault couple of times.
We've tried to ''fudge it'' by playing Rooney off the front and have him pick up the deepest lying midfielder but he hasn't done it very effectively. I saw Evans rightly bollock Rooney on a couple of occasions in the first half for letting his man constantly run off him. Giggs really isn't very effective in there either and when you add the naivety of Jones as the other central midfielder into the equation then you have a disaster on your hands. Park and Young both struggled defensively against the Bilbao wing backs. Park just doesn't have enough for this level any more unfortunately. There was an interview with Jonny Evans on MUTV after the game and he openly stated that we were far too open and our defensive shape was poor so at least someone at the club knows what's wrong.Why have we given up on using 3 man midfields in Europe? Its utterly baffling that we use 2 men in midfield vs a team so obviously good at keeping the ball.
We go for the low percentage option far too often when we have the ball. Giggs and Rooney are particularly guilty of this and then there are the wingers who cross the ball for wee Chicharito to try to get his head on it ahead of two 6ft 3 defenders.Lately we seem to be letting every European opposition play like Barcelona, no pressing, no tackling until someone gets to the edge of our penalty area. This was Bilbao FFS not Barcelona, before that it was Ajax, Benfica, Basel, Otelul etc. The performance was insipid, couldn't hang on to the ball for more than 20 seconds.
I agree with this 100%.It's like an obligation for some of our players to just run with the ball (Jones,Evra last night).It's too predictable at times.Platini once said something like :" A pass can eliminate players like no gifted player can".We go for the low percentage option far too often when we have the ball. Giggs and Rooney are particularly guilty of this and then there are the wingers who cross the ball for wee Chicharito to try to get his head on it ahead of two 6ft 3 defenders.
There's nothing wrong with slowing the game down and taking the easy option. It doesn't help when some sections of the crowd start getting ''antsy'' when we're not attacking at 100mph every time we have the ball. This is where that ''English mentality'' rears its ugly head again.
You what? We're on track for our biggest haul of PL points ever and you have to ask how many times we've actually played well in the league? Christ on a bicycle, the lunacy on here after a defeat never ceases to amaze.People saying it's his selections thats the problem. Buy even with our best.eleven in the PL, how many times have we actually played well in the PL? It's something to do with our style of play. Its jusy too lethargic and we cant control things. We're getting found out in europe.
To be honest I thought I'd seen it all, but Redcafe has gone full retard in the last 12 hours.on a bicycle, the lunacy on here after a defeat never ceases to amaze.
This. We simply have forgotten to be patient and waiting for our chance to pounce. Some of our best European performances had us just pass the ball from side to side until we got an openingI agree with this 100%.It's like an obligation for some of our players to just run with the ball (Jones,Evra last night).It's too predictable at times.Platini once said something like :" A pass can eliminate players like no gifted player can".
That is why never replacing Scholes in the summer was a bad idea.We go for the low percentage option far too often when we have the ball. Giggs and Rooney are particularly guilty of this and then there are the wingers who cross the ball for wee Chicharito to try to get his head on it ahead of two 6ft 3 defenders.
There's nothing wrong with slowing the game down and taking the easy option. It doesn't help when some sections of the crowd start getting ''antsy'' when we're not attacking at 100mph every time we have the ball. This is where that ''English mentality'' rears its ugly head again.
We are getting the results yes, but our overall performances havent been as good as it can be. Case in point, the spurs game. We started the season like manchester united, but are now stumbling across the line. How many teams have taken the game to us this season when previously they would be afraid to do so. Stat(in this case points) can be misleading when we are talking about overall performances during games.You what? We're on track for our biggest haul of PL points ever and you have to ask how many times we've actually played well in the league? Christ on a bicycle, the lunacy on here after a defeat never ceases to amaze.
Results are what matters. We truthfully haven't had the players available to us for the sort of fluid football expected here usually. Overall Fergie's team selections in the PL have been fine, it's his ECL selections that were utterly baffling at times.We are getting the results yes, but our overall performances havent been as good as it can be. Case in point, the spurs game. We started the season like manchester united, but are now stumbling across the line. How many teams have taken the game to us this season when previously they would be afraid to do so. Stat(in this case points) can be misleading when we are talking about overall performances during games.
Yup. One performance I look back on this season as a good example of when we can control possession and build our attacks in a sensible manner was the cup game at Anfield. We played a flat three in central midfield that day with Carrick, Scholes and Giggs. It meant that there was always a simple option available for the man in possession and we kept the ball pretty well I thought. Genuinely poor defensive mistakes cost us that day but we got our way back into the game to make it 1-1, not by over committing or by playing the low percentage option, but by patiently building possession and waiting for the right moment to strike. It was a really good goal and we simply haven't seen enough of that this season. Lack of central midfield options is the answer I hope but Fergie does seem very keen to play Rooney in that withdrawn striker role in a 4-4-1-1. Of course you have to say that it did work well against Chelsea and Schalke but it failed spectacularly against Barcelona. I think Park and Valencia's performances against Chelsea and Schalke were one of the keys to its success but we haven't seen anything like that all round level of performance from our wingers in Europe this season.I agree with this 100%.It's like an obligation for some of our players to just run with the ball (Jones,Evra last night).It's too predictable at times.Platini once said something like :" A pass can eliminate players like no gifted player can".
That was my original point. We have had the results, but performances have been not up to standard, regardless of team selection.Results are what matters. We truthfully haven't had the players available to us for the sort of fluid football expected here usually. Overall Fergie's team selections in the PL have been fine, it's his ECL selections that were utterly baffling at times.
That's grossly over-simplistic.We are getting the results yes, but our overall performances havent been as good as it can be. Case in point, the spurs game. We started the season like manchester united, but are now stumbling across the line. How many teams have taken the game to us this season when previously they would be afraid to do so. Stat(in this case points) can be misleading when we are talking about overall performances during games.
Have a watch of the game again and focus on what our midfield was up to.I can't quite work out if Athletic Bilbao were brilliant or United woeful.
English teams have fallen of their perch in Europe this season.
Sad but true, I think SAF gambled a bit at the start of the season on Fletcher staying healthy, Ando stepping up and I think Cleverley's pre-season form convinced not to go into the transfer window in the Summer. I wonder how much of Scholesy's return was actually down to Scholes?Have a watch of the game again and focus on what our midfield was up to.
Bilbao were actually very good (although it was hardly out of the blue compared to how they play generally), but it really wouldn't have made that much difference to our performance if they weren't.
All they had to do to get at our back four was run forwards with the ball. They were also frequently pressing one of our players in twos or threes, and instead of exploiting the space they were leaving or moving the ball to dummy them in, we just reverted to static football and trying to run through them. I've never seen a United midfield look as inept as that...and we've had some fecking stinkers in that area of the pitch more than any other.
Fergie's really buried his head in the sand with our midfield. It's frequently dragging the rest of the team down two or three levels now. It's completely reliant on Carrick atm...and not even to be succesful, just to be functional on some basic level so the rest of the team have a chance. Without him we just look like England.
I know Anderson and Cleverley have been injured but still...they both get injured all the time, and neither's actually proven anything that can be relied upon yet when fit.