[Jazz]

In the first half of the season RVP had to come off after an hour or around then a lot and has gradually built up his fitness to last the full 90 now. I think Van Gaal is doing the same with Falcao, he was playing better than RVP but we have to manage his fitness.

Ok fair enough.

 

[jaimoe]

We're just wayyy too slow in the build up, we seem to have lost those driving runs and off the ball runs and quick running and turning defenders around type attacks we used to be famous for.

Not just this match either, in a lot of our matches we lack that real sharp killer instinct.

Seems to be all side to side to side to side to side to over hit long ball...

side to side to side to side, out wide, back, sideto side, out wide, cross, cleared, side to side

etc etc..

When I saw that back three I said to the wife, we won't defend well and we'll get nothing out of the back. WTF not start AJ and drop Young to wingback, or give Rafel more than chance to stetch his legs? Jones, Evans and Smalling........crap. Smalling shows enough to stay but Evans and Jones should be somewhere else. Jones and Evans bring th3e ball up and stop as soon as someone gets within twenty yards of them.Fecking hell what a waste of two hours of my life. I'm almost 60 and can't affrd to givew up twp hours for shite like that very often.

 

[EverReddy]

more than we deserved.

 

[Clas Sified]

We could find ourselves out of the top 4 with a few poor performances, but I'm confidence we will finish between 2nd and 4th once Di Maria is back and performing at his potential, coupled with Falcao growing in confidence with each match.

Di Maria can't come back soon enough for me.

 

[Mani]

Point gain is kind of satisfaction,with serious of games in a gap of week could have hampered our fluidity,injuries to players is other hindrance we are facing now.Considering various drawbacks at the movement i'm satisfied with the result.

 

[Dargonk]

The lack of urgency and speed in our play is what bothers me the most (other than a defence that can't do the simple things right). You see plenty of times we get the ball in a decent position or the chance for a counter is there. Yet instead we simply knock it back or out wide instead of going for blood. At times it reminds me of the training drill where every player must touch the ball before you can score.

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

These dropped away points are starting to hurt us, the bunch behind us are really closing up now

 

[Stack]

Not true. Has been awful in almost every away from home games...

Oh bollocks. 2 weeks ago there were muppets claiming that Mata only ever played well away from home and then he has a very good game away from home.... Same deal with Rooney.
The whole only plays well away from home thing is one of those BS, dreamt up, mean nothing, airy fairy, bits of drivel that people pluck out of their arses.

 

[Stack]

These dropped away points are starting to hurt us, the bunch behind us are really closing up now

We only overtook the bunch behind us a few games ago......

btw as of this moment we are 4 points clear of the bunch behind us....

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Sounds like there are a lot of hangovers out there, or grumpy old men, or grumpy 12 year olds

Positives from match-
10 match unbeaten run continues
Herrera, Shaw, Rafael, Januzaj getting minutes back from injury, Falcao continues to get back to full fitness
Difficult match passed without defeat in difficult conditions

Not a great performance, lack of creativity,Young getting injured, poor performance again from Evans being downsides

Looking onwards Rojo, Di Maria, Fellaini back soon
With minutes under their belts for Rafael & Shaw, can see us now reverting to back 4 , Valencia and Rojo can cover as fullbacks and any 2 from 3 Smalling/Jones/Rojo as CB, Evans as last resort given his form. going to back 4 should see us creating much more

 

[FC Ronaldo]

Not going to dwell because ultimately any top 4 chasing team would take 2 points as a satisfactory pair of results from Spurs and Stoke away. 6 would of course be better but 2 is a safe par though next season we should expect more.

Points of note:

1) Arguably the sloppiest goal to give away possible. They have 2 aerial threats, we failed to pick up 1. For Shawcross to flick in from 2 yards, entirely unmarked is woeful defending.

2) After getting back into it, again we saw a repeat of the Villa and Spurs games. tumescent post goal displays. Fatigue within our first 11 and little quality options to shake it up. Injuries have taken their toll.

3) Attacking midfield - Rooney, generally speaking is on a good run of form but just like Villa and Spurs, this was another display where nothing of note happened from his boots. Mata dropped deep to help but there wasn't enough quality in his work or targets to aim at once Falcao was subbed.

4) Herrera, positive display when he came on in his toughest physical battle.

5) Januzaj, bereft of confidence, awful decision making again and struggling big time. Out of position yes, but even the simplest of things were too challenging for him today. Illness or not, he's on the ropes at the moment.

6) The Falcao sub. Wrong call but the long term state of play was clearly a concern. Lack of quality options on the bench meant the moment he was withdrawn it was a crap shoot to turn it into a win. Reduced to the pot luck of a moment of genius or a draw or worse was coming.

7) Defence. All 3 had question marks today but came out of it with a result in the end. Evans was shaky in the first half but better 2nd. Smalling generally did well but it was a clear penalty. Jones tried to take command of situations but made errors whenever he did.

8) De Gea - safety first display. Not much in terms of commanding the box but under the windy conditions, he can't be blamed for staying on his line and relying on 3 cb's to do the dirty work for him. 1 wrong call in those conditions would have led directly to a goal. Those fine margins couldn't be risked given out conversion rate up top was off key today.

9) Young and Shaw did well. Shaw's crossing could have been better. Just a damn shame as soon as Shaw gets up to speed, arguable outfield POTY Young is injured. His versatility become an asset for us.

 

[Red Comet]

We can't be expected to "smash opponents" when half the squad has intermittently not been available, during a time when a new manager is attempting to implement a new system. If you're expecting near flawless, old school Fergie style attacking, then don't hold your breath. This is about making incremental improvements over an entire season, which we are doing, under less than ideal circumstances.

There hasn't been flawless, old school Fergie style attacking for a long time, even when the old man is still in charge. Some of the football in his final few years have been tumescent and we were just grinding out results.

 

[Raoul]

There hasn't been flawless, old school Fergie style attacking for a long time, even when the old man is still in charge. Some of the football in his final few years have been tumescent and we were just grinding out results.

I meant 2008ish Ronaldo era stuff or 2000ish performances when we won the league by 18.

 

[Ringo 07]

We've missed Fellaini in the tough away games. Mata is a pussy in tough away games even though he's outstanding for most home games. Johnny Evans is really showing that he has no future as a starter at the club. Carrick looked exhausted out there. Hopefully Van Gaal will realize that there's no use keeping Januzaj at the club in this moment and should send him on loan sharpish. Herrera just back from injury but he's yet to perform in a tough away game for us and could be a couple of years before he is a man utd level player if ever

 

[2 man midfield]

We've missed Fellaini in the tough away games. Mata is a pussy in tough away games even though he's outstanding for most home games. Johnny Evans is really showing that he has no future as a starter at the club. Carrick looked exhausted out there. Hopefully Van Gaal will realize that there's no use keeping Januzaj at the club in this moment and should send him on loan sharpish. Herrera just back from injury but he's yet to perform in a tough away game for us and could be a couple of years before he is a man utd level player if ever

He was probably the best player on the pitch in the game directly before the last one.

 

[Red Dreams]

thought if Young had played on the left...some of those crosses would have been better....

Young is much better on the left.

 

[In Rainbows]

I think it's the formation. It is essentially removing an attacker or midfielder for an extra cb. The cbs are obviously not going to pass as well as a midfielder and will more often than not, hoof it up bypassing our midfield. It also makes our attack too dependent on our wingbacks, which we really don't have. Young and Valencia are the closest players that fit that role, but they can't dribble past players with a lot of success. They have no one to overlap them as they would if they were wingers.

Our midfield then becomes Rooney and Carrick. Rooney likes to pass the ball to the right wingback which again puts more pressure on the wingback to create. LVG also likes the wingers and wingbacks to keep the width, which then hampers players like Januzaj who has nobody to help him. This is why you see him wait on the wing and when he does get the ball has to either dribble past a player or cross it in. He can't exactly drift centrally. Shaw and Rafael also get hampered by this role because they aren't used to having the entire wing to themselves, and takes a way a key component to their game, their ability to overlap.

Switch to a back 4 and a 3 man midfield. It utilizes Shaw, Rafael, Di Maria, etc... much better.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

These dropped away points are starting to hurt us, the bunch behind us are really closing up now

Who? Southampton only - beat them next match and we're minimum 4 pts clear of the rest

 

[Borys]

We've got all this attacking talent but the build up play is mainly done by our centre backs. It's quite baffling.

This. They give our CBs all the time in the world, but because we're so top heavy we lack passing options and eventually hoof it.

I think it's the formation. It is essentially removing an attacker or midfielder for an extra cb. The cbs are obviously not going to pass as well as a midfielder and will more often than not, hoof it up bypassing our midfield. It also makes our attack too dependent on our wingbacks, which we really don't have. Young and Valencia are the closest players that fit that role, but they can't dribble past players with a lot of success. They have no one to overlap them as they would if they were wingers.

Our midfield then becomes Rooney and Carrick. Rooney likes to pass the ball to the right wingback which again puts more pressure on the wingback to create. LVG also likes the wingers and wingbacks to keep the width, which then hampers players like Januzaj who has nobody to help him. This is why you see him wait on the wing and when he does get the ball has to either dribble past a player or cross it in. He can't exactly drift centrally. Shaw and Rafael also get hampered by this role because they aren't used to having the entire wing to themselves, and takes a way a key component to their game, their ability to overlap.

Switch to a back 4 and a 3 man midfield. It utilizes Shaw, Rafael, Di Maria, etc... much better.

Well in our case it's removing 2 midfielders for a CB and a striker, that's why we find it so difficult to move the ball in central areas quicker. Once again Carrick is on his own. But to be honest LvG probably had no choice because of Fellaini, Blind, Di Maria being injured and Herrera not ready to play full game.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Games like this I HATE the system. How we don't stick an extra midfielder or attacker against Stoke is baffling.

All their chances came from our mistakes. Most of them mistakes disappear once Evans is rightly dropped.

 

[Kakeru]

I just saw the other results. It's almost a miracle that Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham also fecked up while Tottenham could be on course to join them in the next 2 hours and a half.

Nevertheless, it is still infuriating that we have to ride on our luck to keep our position instead of increasing the distance. I just hate the 3-5-2 and LVG needs to pull his finger out regarding subs and tactics. I don't give a shit about philosophy anymore; prepare the team for away matches and get the damned results from now on.

 

[bosnian_red]

These dropped away points are starting to hurt us, the bunch behind us are really closing up now

If anything these dropped points haven't been punished at all

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Seems nobody can take advantage of our slip ups. So point gained today considering the performance.

At least first 11 will get a break before the next game. Should play all the guys who need game time in FA cup plus the kids.

 

[bosnian_red]

I just saw the other results. It's almost a miracle that Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham also fecked up while Tottenham could be on course to join them in the next 2 hours and a half.

Nevertheless, it is still infuriating that we have to ride on our luck to keep our position instead of increasing the distance. I just hate the 3-5-2 and LVG needs to pull his finger out regarding subs and tactics. I don't give a shit about philosophy anymore; prepare the team for away matches and get the damned results from now on.

7 wins and 3 draws in the last 10 games, the results are fine. The 3 draws are all tough games and individually it's not bad to get the draw, disappointing not to get at least one win though. All in all though, it's not so bad. The 3-5-2 isn't the problem and we only used it before hand as our fullbacks were injured, and today we were never going to change it as Stoke are obviously at their best from set pieces so we needed more height and defenders in.

Also the subs were due to injuries/fatigue and taking them off so they don't pick up further injuries.

 

[Wumminator]

Good result. FA Cup up next then home fixture.

 

[RedorDead21]

To be fair if we were throwing in crosses like last season with Falcao we'd be winning these away games most likely. Instead we watch our defenders pass back to De Gea when we need a goal!

 

[Gannicus]

I just saw the other results. It's almost a miracle that Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham also fecked up while Tottenham could be on course to join them in the next 2 hours and a half.

Nevertheless, it is still infuriating that we have to ride on our luck to keep our position instead of increasing the distance. I just hate the 3-5-2 and LVG needs to pull his finger out regarding subs and tactics. I don't give a shit about philosophy anymore; prepare the team for away matches and get the damned results from now on.

My view precisely.

Now is not the time for making the perfect (beautiful football) the enemy of the good (wins). Just grind out the wins for now until key player return (Di Maria and Rojo) and new players are brought in (Bale and Strootman, if rumors are to be believed). Then, when we're locked and loaded we can go ahead with beautiful football.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Decent performance and a point won considering that Crouch hit the post and should have had a penalty, so overall I am quite happy and let's not forget that Arsenal and Pool lost vitals points as well.

The draws against a 10 men Villa sida and against Spurs where we created enough chances to win by at least two goals are more difficult to handle. But we rode our luck against Soton so I shouldn't complain too much.

 

[GloryHunter07]

This is about the level we were performing at before christmas, but without the luck.

 

[Water Melon]

Our problem is same old - we are predictable. Gaps between defense and midfield as well as between midfield and attack are huge. We look disjointed. Blind was very helpful in building the play from the back, while Di Maria could find any of his team mates with an-inch perfect through pass or take the ball to oppositions box fast. I hope LvG gives up on this 3-5-2 as well as adds some directness and speed to our play. Not only our attackers are fairly slow, but also we move the ball very very slowly.

 

[dsch]

I'd prefer to see Young instead of Shaw on the left, to be honest. Shaw wasn't very good today: poor crossing, sloppy passes, doesn't make the right runs and doesn't take his man on. Though, to be fair, Young and Rafael didn't do too well on the other flank either.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I'd prefer to see Young instead of Shaw on the left, to be honest. Shaw wasn't very good today: poor crossing, sloppy passes, doesn't make the right runs and doesn't take his man on. Though, to be fair, Young and Rafael didn't do too well on the other flank either.

As Young is now injured, you will likely be seeing Shaw.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Maybe they clipped LVG's comments poorly on the radio, for they were all too similar to Moyes last season, leaving you wondering what the hell he's on about.

He might be interested in signing Shawcross in January though.

 

[Sandikan]

it's actually panning out to be a very good point.

Arsenal losing, Chelsea 3-1 down at half time, Liverpool throwing an easy win away.

lovely stuff

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

it's actually panning out to be a very good point.

Arsenal losing, Chelsea 3-1 down at half time, Liverpool throwing an easy win away.

lovely stuff

Or an opportunity very badly spurned, in consecutive matches.

 

[soapythecat]

Boring, lucky, zombie passing, poor, weak, terrible - all words that keep cropping up in the majority of our post match threads. I didn't see today's gane, so I can't comment, but reading through this I'm probably glad I saved those two hours of my life.
Stil, at least we are still 3rd after some tough away fixtures.

 

[.Rossi]

Closing the gap at the top

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Or an opportunity very badly spurned, in consecutive matches.

Hindsight is great. Pity we weren't playing after the other teams for a change and knew we could catch them up or go further ahead. Unfortunately they just keep giving us the early games.

 

[Sam]

Only just got round to watching the match, but didn't expect to come on here and see so much negativity.

Apart from the first minute clusterfeck of a goal, we absolutely dominated the first half, and looked very comfortable. The weather conditions in the second half played perfectly into Stoke's neanderthal tactics, and made it a horribly scrappy game, again, just what Stoke would have wanted. We definitely need to take advantage of games when we're on top though, and score 2/3 before the momentum shifts.

Its a long process, but that type of football we're seeing at times (first half today/first half vs Spurs/Newcastle match etc) is great to watch imo. Although I'm sure its not to everyone's cup of team (not United's tradition etc etc)

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Hindsight is great. Pity we weren't playing after the other teams for a change and knew we could catch them up or go further ahead. Unfortunately they just keep giving us the early games.

That can be a benefit, psychologically.

However we all know the pressures of a the Xmas-New Year fixtures, if a team is going to take advantage they need to achieve a better return than 5 points.