So what is the actual issue then?

[2 man midfield]

Well you saw it today and it lost 2-1.

It still produced better than we've seen from anything else. Blind and Herrera should be no brainers imo. Di Maria hasn't looked good for a while, even in his midfield role. He's returned to that hot and cold form he was known for previously, and verges more on the latter if we're honest. I just think Van Persie up front, or 2 strikers full stop isn't the way to go. Nor is Fellaini behind them.

 

[Dunk]

What we're missing is a world class coach who can get us playing attacking football and defensive football competently and like a team. Basically, it boils down to what they're doing in training, and whatever it is they're doing, it's not working! It seems all they do is passing drills. Moyes had army drills, this guy has passing drills. They need to work on passing in the final third. What to do when we lose the ball, how to score, etc. Not only that, but the formations and team selections are like a game of Guess Zoo. So the team isn't settled, they're not confident and it seems like they don't care anymore.

 

[Pexbo]

Well with Herrera getting back into the side we beat Preston in the fa cup then lost today, not sure how you got dropped 5 points from that.

But there's plenty of problems. Many of the things we've all complained about.

• 3-5-2 is shite
• Diamond is also shite and unbalanced, but more exciting then the 3-5-2 going forward (not saying much)
• Falcao/Van Persie are both too slow and ineffective, can't play together but shouldn't play at all more importantly. Both, not just the one
• Rooney isn't a midfielder (hopefully LvG has realized this)
• Di Maria isn't a striker (though to be fair, Van Gaal has realized this)
• Herrera is a class midfielder (backed up by pretty much every time he's on the pitch looking like one of our best players) yet hardly plays
• Too much focus on possession and playing it safe instead of taking risks with the ball
• Why is Mata on the bench? If we want to keep possession, he's probably the best in the squad at it while Fellaini's main asset is bringing down long balls or winning headers. Hardly possession football stuff.
• Defence is always injured leading to constant chopping and changing at the back, and generally inexperienced or not quite good enough
• You need pace in your team to play exciting football
• You need pace to stretch defences and play any type of cohesive football, be it pace and risks in the passing and play, or pace from individuals
• Awful defensive organization from set pieces (we've conceded over 40% of our goals from set pieces I think)

From the top of my head. You can't just pick and choose one and ignore the rest. Falcao and RvP both need to be dropped. Dropping one is a start but the other half of them is still there. The diamond very rarely works. It will never work when your front 3 is composed of Rooney, Van Persie and Fellaini. Fellaini is a useful player in certain circumstances, he shouldn't be starting games though, especially not when the aim is to have a passing style of play and play with the ball on the ground and have the likes of Herrera, Rooney, RvP, Di Maria and Blind around him. He sticks out like a sore thumb as being out of place in the hole. We can't just throw Herrera in and expect everything to be magically fixed when the side is still unbalanced because of the stupid team selections persisting on using slow and static strikers and rely on your fullbacks for width, fullbacks who are sometimes mainly center backs or sometimes fullbacks who don't know how to cross or get forward properly. We can't just put Rooney up top but partner him with Van persie in a diamond and expect it to work, when have those 2 ever played well together?

What we need, is to stop playing the fecking diamond, play with width like every other top team around, be it a 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, take a few risks with the ball and make things happen, up the tempo of our passing considerably so we can consistently look threatening instead of aimlessly passing it around the back 4, stop playing players woefully out of positions or playing players that don't suit the tactic that the team is set out to play, drop the under performing, aging, poor strikers and play players who are more deserving of game time like Herrera, Mata, Young or even Januzaj, play a balanced team all around and stop blaming the formation on a lack of balance when really the only reason for that is because the manager feels the need to try and fit in Di Maria, Falcao, Van Persie and Rooney all in the same team with only Blind in midfield.

You're completely missing my point though. My point is that for everything the Caf has moaned about, it's made little, no or a negative difference when he has finally made that change and so the Caf moves on to its next gripe which in time will probably be shown to be another false issue.


Case in point that you are now crying out for us to be playing with width again and changing away from the diamond when back in November you had this to say:

Good possession but absolutely no cutting edge. Di Maria and januzaj aren't working as wingers, bring back the diamond and out di Maria in his best position.

Do you understand what I'm saying now? Everyone seems to think they are some sort of expert, that if they were in charge rather than Van Gaal, that their magic formation or substitution would have made all the difference and would have won the game.

The beauty of that is that you never get proven wrong and that just cements the belief in your head that Van Gaal is wrong and you are right. I think he's doing a good job to grind results out of a squad that has a few serious issues but also a huge amount of potential.

 

[Pexbo]

It still produced better than we've seen from anything else. Blind and Herrera should be no brainers imo. Di Maria hasn't looked good for a while, even in his midfield role. He's returned to that hot and cold form he was known for previously, and verges more on the latter if we're honest. I just think Van Persie up front, or 2 strikers full stop isn't the way to go. Nor is Fellaini behind them.

It produced a loss and that is all that will matter in May. Give me a tumescent shite of a 1-0 win right now playing 3-5-2 rather than some pretty football and a 2-1 loss.

 

[ghagua]

LvG is the issue. If this is the crap that is on display after 7 months of training, then it clearly falls on the manager.

 

[the hea]

We have been relaying on to many old players in the past and now time has caught upwith us. From bringing Scholes back to the defense of Evra, Rio and Vidic to relying on Falcao and RVP for goals now. We need to get some players who are hungry for success and not only old used to be players looking for a last payday.

 

[kidbob]

We need to play one up front and with wingers. Playing 2 up front without any width just congests the middle and leaves no room for through passes and leaves our strikers stepping on each others toes. Also it is a huge factor in us being so bad defensively (along with us lacking top class defenders). Our full backs are always isolated. Hererra and McNair were left 2 on 3 today from the throw in that led to their first goal. Our players just don't fit this diamond formation and I feel Di Maria is best served out wide until we bring in the players to make him effective as he was centrally for Madrid.

Most of all if you look at what we are trying to achieve it makes no sense. We don't possess slow possession players ala Xavi/Iniesta etc. Blind is probably the only one who fits this bill but I suspect he'd thrive in a more purposeful team too. Herrera, Rooney, Di Maria, Mata, Janujaz these are all players who always look more comfortable playing on the front foot, not trying to patiently stroke the ball around endlessly.

Our football was pretty good today for about 50 minutes and we definitely looked to try and play the ball forward more but then we have to question the personnel. LVG says he wants us to dominate midfield yet he plays 2 strikers leaving us a man short in the middle against most sides. Then we play Fellaini in a 10 role despite the fact he doesn't suit this style at all. Seriously if LVG wants good possession football why has he left Hererra and Mata out for so much of the season. Either try to get a settled possession team with our best ball players or else play route one with guys running off Fellaini. Don't throw Fellaini in there and expect him to be able to produce neat interplays with the rest. Either play to his strengths or drop him especially since we can clearly drop this myth that he makes us more solid that Mata does.

Our lack of width is killer as it allows teams to defend narrow and let their wingers deal with out full backs. This leaves no room for through passes and means our strikers are crowded out when they receive the ball to feet. For a so called possession teams there are huge gaps between our attacking players at times and such a lack of movement that it seems to be an instruction from the coach himself. There also seems to be a weird reluctance from our players to run beyond each other, so many times a player passes it and instead of moving forward into space they hang back. We already know though that this is an instruction from the coach. However there have been moments during the season (like the goal today) that have shown our players are capable of producing really good football but it's almost as if they have been told not to. Just let them play with a little freedom.

Don't wanna live in the past but for all the faults in our squad I see it as the sort of group of players that Fergie would have relished having and I suspect our football would be a lot more proactive with a coach like him in charge.

 

[Blue always red]

Twenty minutes of hoofing the ball to Fellaini when chasing the game is not the one.

The major issue is that our manager is a charlatan.

No white text?? The guy has won many league titles and a CL. He may or may not be suited to United, but he is a top class manager.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

The problem is down to our shocking defence. What I see from LvG is tactics that make not conceding goals priority number 1, 2 and three.
If we had a strong defence, I think we would see a united team with more fluidity.

That being said, the lack of width is making us one dimensional
The super slow build up is making teams get defensive shape very easily
The lack of pace up front is making it easy and predictable to defend against

 

[Antisocial]

If GOALs are going in it must be our GOALkeeper, think about it. De Gea out.

please no

Real can help us there.

 

[UweBein]

The problem is down to our shocking defence. What I see from LvG is tactics that make not conceding goals priority number 1, 2 and three.
If we had a strong defence, I think we would see a united team with more fluidity.

That being said, the lack of width is making us one dimensional
The super slow build up is making teams get defensive shape very easily
The lack of pace up front is making it easy and predictable to defend against

Agree with this.

It's for the second season running your defensive line which was to be expected since you've lost two of the greatest CBs in the PL era and Evra. It was always to be very difficult to find an adequate replacement. Many years ago you went with potential rather than signing established CBs, LBs and RBs. It's fair to say that Jones, Smalling, McNair, Shaw, Raffael, Evans, Rojo are still far away from the level United used to have in these positions.
This decision is still forcing van Gaals hand because he has to adjust tactically in order to compensate for individual weaknesses. That is not easy and considering that he has done brilliantly because you are very tough to beat and Swansea needed a fluke goal to do that.
Yes, you do have some other open areas but some of them are connected with the defense. And I think it's really difficult for van Gaal because he needs to develop the defense from scratch and that'll require more time.

 

[Trizy]

Imbalance in the squad, which wasn't helped by either Moyes signings or Woodward (Falcao), I looks like we want all the expensive players on the pitch so we don't look like mugs.
No RB
Non scoring strikers
352 experiment
Injuries
Poor tactics
Poor line ups
Playing players out of position
Piss poor defense

 

[Amethyst]

@Pexbo I was one of the people asking for the diamond back in November because I thought it looked like our centre backs just couldn't handle the 3 at the back system and I felt as though we were much better going forward before that for example against QPR and for an hour against Leicester before we had a one off meltdown and conceded 4 goals. Van Gaal did go back to the diamond but then for some strange reason he omitted Herrera and played Di Maria and Rooney out of position. Against Cambridge I actually made the argument that we played a de facto 3-5-2 because Blind was sitting very deep with the centre backs and we lacked proper balance.

All that being said, I definitely agree with @Raoul that we lack confidence as a team.

 

[LonelyFire]

Said on previous threads that the problem is very straight forward - the manager has decided to be pragmatic. Formation, players in certain positions, etc is irrelevant when the players are told not to take risks.

Unless LVG changes his thoughts then we can play 5, 4, or 3 at the back - nothing will change.

 

[Chorley1974]

You make it sound as if van gaal listens to what we want and acts accordingly, he's still responsible for none of the above actually working. The fact that we're still experimenting with line ups and systems in February isn't helping anyone.

I still disagree with some of your points though, we do play better without the 3-5-2, that much is clear to me, and herrera is actually doing very well, however, something in the final 3rd isn't right.

I'm starting to think that the players don't really get van gaal the way he thinks they do.

This is pretty much spot on for me.

 

[Seveneric]

Always nice that you're here to remind us that everything is fine and no one should ever complain and just shut up till next season

 

[Pexbo]

Said on previous threads that the problem is very straight forward - the manager has decided to be pragmatic. Formation, players in certain positions, etc is irrelevant when the players are told not to take risks.

Unless LVG changes his thoughts then we can play 5, 4, or 3 at the back - nothing will change.

We are pragmatic because we have a shakey defence. It's yet another example of someone claiming they know better with no chance of proof of the contrary.

If we started taking risks, with the way we play in the opponents half we'd concede 2 every game and then our confidence would be rock bottom and people would be calling for his head.

He's managing this squad and doing what he feels is the best way to squeeze as many points as possible out of it. Next season will be so, so different IMO.

 

[Pexbo]

Always nice that you're here to remind us that everything is fine and no one should ever complain and just shut up till next season

Read the thread you nob. I haven't once said everything is fine. I'm reminding everyone that while everything is not fine, it's not a simple case of changing formation, playing player X, taking more risks or whatever. It's far more complicated and delicate than that.

Look at Bosnian_Red's post for the perfect example. His answer to the issues is to ditch the diamond and go back to width with wingers. I pulled up a post of his from November where he said that the wings aren't working and we need to go back to the diamond.

That perfectly sums up the Caf for me. Everyone throws out their opinions about as if it's fact and they know better when the reality is that it's much more difficult than that.

 

[Raoul]

The way we routinely switch off and on - a spell of pressure on the opposition followed by a collective mental lapse. That's a clear sign of lack of confidence and communication.

 

[Pexbo]

The way we routinely switch off and on - a spell of pressure on the opposition followed by a collective mental lapse. That's a clear sign of lack of confidence and communication.

And leadership. Rooney is not a leader for me, especially when he's up front.

Carrick will help a lot in that department.

 

[LonelyFire]

We are pragmatic because we have a shakey defence. It's yet another example of someone claiming they know better with no chance of proof of the contrary.

If we started taking risks, with the way we play in the opponents half we'd concede 2 every game and then our confidence would be rock bottom and people would be calling for his head.

He's managing this squad and doing what he feels is the best way to squeeze as many points as possible out of it. Next season will be so, so different IMO.

Setting up to be pragmatic is fine but why not let loose when chasing the game?

In terms of confidence, do you think that team looks confident? There is zero fluidity in our play and no idea how to play through teams. Instead, we play hoof ball for 25 mins today. Confidence is already low.

 

[crimsonife]

Our strikers couldn't score to save their lives and we're way too slow with the ball, we're hardly dangerous unless someone puts in a cross.

 

[Damien]

No white text?? The guy has won many league titles and a CL. He may or may not be suited to United, but he is a top class manager.

He's pretty serious: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/van-gaal-out.401652/

 

[fallengt]

Too many safe passes, not enough off the ball movement. Stone Age tactic aka hoof it to Fellaini easily the sign of "we have no idea what we're doing" symptom.
Felt like last season already. Some good signs some bad signs then everything just went downhill and no one had a clue.

 

[Pexbo]

Setting up to be pragmatic is fine but why not let loose when chasing the game?

In terms of confidence, do you think that team looks confident? There is zero fluidity in our play and no idea how to play through teams. Instead, we play hoof ball for 25 mins today. Confidence is already low.

We do.

Every time we go a goal down we click into a quicker, more direct style of play.

 

[langster]

The issue is we are not playing as a confident team, which is down to LvG. Its what allows a side like Southampton to be virtually level on points with us and punch well above their weight and leaves us flattering to deceive. Wenger calls is squad solidarity, I call it playing like the whole is greater than the sum of the parts - playing as a galvanized unit who are in sync with one another. That's the only thing we are missing at the moment. You can throw formations, tactics, and hollywood signing x or y into the equation, but at the end of the day all of those are meaningless if the team psychology is out of sync.

Perfectly put. It's hardly surprising with all this chopping and changing though. I bet the players don't know if they are coming or going in more ways than one. How many will be fearing the chop in the Summer? But how many are completely confused at being asked to play different formations all the time? That would be acceptable to a point, but not when they are asked to play different positions as well. I do have some sympathy with the players in that respect. I also feel that some of them are feeling stifled by the tactics and they are not really allowed to play their natural game.

Your post reminds me of what everyone used to say about Chelsea and City when they first started throwing millions at their squad. I have always said I would rather watch great football than win trophies playing ugly football and I stand by that. I understand this season is a means to an end in a way and LvG and the team have immense pressure to get a Champions League place, but the tide is changing and the unrest is growing. You can see that with some of the replies in this thread. The FA cup is now more important than ever (well it is to me at least) and the performance is key.

 

[bosnian_red]

You're completely missing my point though. My point is that for everything the Caf has moaned about, it's made little, no or a negative difference when he has finally made that change and so the Caf moves on to its next gripe which in time will probably be shown to be another false issue.


Case in point that you are now crying out for us to be playing with width again and changing away from the diamond when back in November you had this to say:



Do you understand what I'm saying now? Everyone seems to think they are some sort of expert, that if they were in charge rather than Van Gaal, that their magic formation or substitution would have made all the difference and would have won the game.

The beauty of that is that you never get proven wrong and that just cements the belief in your head that Van Gaal is wrong and you are right. I think he's doing a good job to grind results out of a squad that has a few serious issues but also a huge amount of potential.

I know what you mean, and I know I have changed my opinion on a few things over the course of the season, but I do think he's made a lot of needless changes that have cost us. Also I don't think that I'm some sort of expert, I think he's done a great job in getting us where we are and I support Van Gaal fully. Also our system we played with wingers back in November was a bit messed up anyways, it wasn't a normal 4-2-3-1, it still had just Blind in midfield essentially and the wingers were way too isolated. On the other hand, we were much better defensively with them, which is normal as the wingers help out fullbacks naturally instead of the midfielders going out of position back there.

Of course, it's all just our opinion on what could work, it's the point of a forum. There's no one magic fix, but I do think the points I put are fairly obvious flaws in our game currently. Some are out of his control like injuries which are a big part, but there are others problems which he could easily fix (like the rather obvious Falcao/RvP/Rooney in midfield stuff which he persisted on for too long). We do have a few serious issues but there's no doubt we should be playing a lot more attractive football, and that's my biggest criticism of Van Gaal. He's sacrificed the football in order to grind out results, and that's what he's done so far to reasonable success (though after today that's in a bit of doubt).

The formation thing though, there's a reason why all the top teams play with width and not one of them uses a 3 man defence (apart from bayern occasionally but that's just Guardiola), it's all variations of 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. They're the most balanced formations all around the pitch, regardless of the players you have at your disposal.

 

[Pexbo]

Perfectly put. It's hardly surprising with all this chopping and changing though. I bet the players don't know if they are coming or going in more ways than one. How many will be fearing the chop in the Summer? But how many are completely confused at being asked to play different formations all the time? That would be acceptable to a point, but not when they are asked to play different positions as well. I do have some sympathy with the players in that respect. I also feel that some of them are feeling stifled by the tactics and they are not really allowed to play their natural game.

Your post reminds me of what everyone used to say about Chelsea and City when they first started throwing millions at their squad. I have always said I would rather watch great football than win trophies playing ugly football and I stand by that. I understand this season is a means to an end in a way and LvG and the team have immense pressure to get a Champions League place, but the tide is changing and the unrest is growing. You can see that with some of the replies in this thread. The FA cup is now more important than ever (well it is to me at least) and the performance is key.

What changes are you talking about? Injuries aside he makes less changes each game than Moyes or Ferguson ever did. He's clearly tried to get some stability in selection.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

The actual issue is that too many of our players are not playing anywhere near their best. The result is that we're left with a team that's less than the sum of its parts.

Why that's the case, and whose fault it is can surely be debated. I honestly don't know. As you say there's been a new reason why it isn't working out after each poor result throughout the season so far. I'm at a loss. Unfortunately, it looks like Van Gaal is as well.

 

[LonelyFire]

We do.

Every time we go a goal down we click into a quicker, more direct style of play.

So we have Herrera, Rvp, Rooney, di Maria etc to play long balls to fellaini? Yes it's direct but it's also a waste of the talents I've just mentioned. I get in the final 10 mins but surely we can go a little quicker through the gears and let these guys pick passes out. Instead, it's side to side nonsense then 40 yard punts once we are behind.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

I don't think we have ever had such a long period where our forward line is out of form.

Confidence is a topic often over looked. If you can't score and you let one in, the team lose faith that they can get out of it. However, when you are leaking goals through a bad defense or GK, it puts extra pressure on the team, particularly the front. People are less inclined to go forward or to take risk. At the start of the season, I thought we were in the latter of these positions, though I do not put any blame on DDG. Then, we started to address the defense, but we have well and truly suffered up front.

I don't believe it has anything to do with formations, professional players can play any formation.

I do not go with the playing players out of position argument. Very few players have been played out of position. As an example Young and Valencia have been transformed into wing backs and have largely done well. Rooney, is out of form, rather than he is being played out of position. He is a different play maker to what we are use to, but he is just not playing well. Others like Di Maria, it was an experiment up front, was worth a try because of his speed. Mata/Herrera argument is also flawed, what they give you with one hand you lose with the other. Fellani has done well recently, but is not mobile enough for a fast attacking team. The youth players are very inconsistent from Adnan, to McNair to Blackett.

I really believe it is the mindset. Certain players do not have self belief at the moment. I am not talking about belief in the team, it is belief in themselves. I only see the new players playing with any confidence, plus a couple of the players like Young.

 

[untitled_6899]

Our team is full of lazy professionals that have no idea how to press opponents and win back possession - most other teams seem energetic and mobile whilst we look pedestrian and lethargic

They think they can back off and win the ball without much effort but until they learn how to press as a team then the opposition will always have a chance at picking at the holes in our team

This is without even looking at our attacking issues

 

[ZDwyr]

We can't finish and are still lacking rhythm as a team. Our ball movement is slow and labored and we can't break teams down. Although we were better against Swansea. I think you dismissed the Rooney thing a little bit though. He's playing the same style of game as Falcao was but doing it a lot better. He can control the ball and play some intricate passes, as was seen in the first half against Swansea. Falcao just lost it continuously.

 

[Pexbo]

So we have Herrera, Rvp, Rooney, di Maria etc to play long balls to fellaini? Yes it's direct but it's also a waste of the talents I've just mentioned. I get in the final 10 mins but surely we can go a little quicker through the gears and let these guys pick passes out. Instead, it's side to side nonsense then 40 yard punts once we are behind.

We only ever go long in the last 5 or 10. If we go a goal down earlier we change the intensity, quicken the play, press higher and generally play better football which leads to a lot of our fans asking why we don't do that all the time.

I think it's obvious why - you can't sustain that for 90 minutes. We have started opening the game with that intensity now and it's a lot easier to do that when you e conceded because most opponents reshape and sit back for a bit to keep their lead.

 

[JPRouve]

The thing that really bother me with our team, is the lack of hunger, the players don't want it more than their opponents.

 

[glazed]

As I see it

(1) We're ponderous. Too slow to attack. By the time we get round to it, the opposition defence is ready for us

(2) Our strikers are too old and/or immobile.

(3) Our defence is poor. The statistics lie. De Gea makes them look way better than they are.

(4) We need a Carrick for when Carrick is injured.

None of the above strikes me as LvG's fault. He's trying to make up for it by using tactics to paper the cracks. He's partially succeeding, but he gets blamed for not knowing best strategy and being boring and playing people out of position.

On the other hand we could just play the same formation every week no matter who was fit. I don't know if that would work better. I doubt it.

 

[SmashedHombre]

Well against Burnley we start with two centrebacks at fullback, only one midfielder and a host of attacking luxury players, including two wingers/attacking midfielders. But our only midfielder dropped back as a third centreback to accommodate the centrebacks-cum-fullbacks who actually played as wingers, so our wingers / attacking midfielders could play as neither wingers or attacking midfielders. Instead they dropped deep into midfield to replace the midfielder who dropped back into defence to replace the defenders who pushed up into attack, to fill in for the wingers who dropped in to midfield...

So there were a few issues there. I had hope we would field a midfield today, what with us having 4 midfielders on the pitch. But it was not to be.

 

[Pexbo]

We can't finish and are still lacking rhythm as a team. Our ball movement is slow and labored and we can't break teams down. Although we were better against Swansea. I think you dismissed the Rooney thing a little bit though. He's playing the same style of game as Falcao was but doing it a lot better. He can control the ball and play some intricate passes, as was seen in the first half against Swansea. Falcao just lost it continuously.

Put simply I think this is our biggest problem right now. Our strikers can't hit a cow's arse with a barn door. If they had put away even half of the real opportunities they have had created for them in the last 6 weeks then we would be sitting 5 or 6 points better off. I think a new striker is essential in the summer.

 

[goin4glory]

Theres been a few points this season that the Caf has complained about til they are blue in the face.

First of all it was the formation. 3-5-2. A formation that Van Gaal felt was necessary to offer balance for a side that lacked devensively. We had our fullbacks missing and we had our best centrebacks injured so he opted for wingbacks with an extra centreback. It lead to our best run of the season with 6 wins and a draw in 7 games despite the injuries.

But the football wasn't good enough, we weren't creating enough chances, it has to be the diamond 4-4-2. So we switch back to it and muster up a 0-0 draw against League Two Cambridge.

Then it was Di Maria being used out of position, he was put back into midfield, in the diamond and yet we still drew against Preston and West Ham and looked unconvincing against Leicester and Burnley.

Next it's Rooney out of position. He's a striker not a midfielder! An unconvincing display against Preston and everyone goes overboard making out that he was all that we were missing. The reality is that he looked just as impotent up there as our other strikers have all season with only a dive for a penalty and the resulting penalty being his positive contributions. Another performance against Swansea that while being a good game for him, he didn't actually contribute anything more than Falcao has been doing as he played with his back to goal all game and managed just one limp shot pushed towards goal. An industrious performance with some cute interplay but it solves absolutely nothing. It was literally just a cleaner version of exactly the game Falcao has been playing.

Then there is Ander Herrera who became the saviour of all saviours with every game he didn't play and yet in his two starts since getting back into the side we concede 3 goals in 2 games and drop 5 points.

So do we have any bright ideas yet? Januzaj hasn't played for a couple of games, has it been long enough for him to be built up to be the messiah yet? Maybe if we play him in a 4-2-3-1 on the wing with Di Maria it will solve everything and he won't be as inconsistent as he has been for the whole season. Maybe it will all magically come together and we can all call Van Gaal an idiot for not thinking of it before. Or is it Mata's turn to be the hero? He had a great run through December but his performances tailed off big style through January, maybe he's the magic answer now.

The run of 6 wins in 7 games had a huge element of luck, we got battered by Southampton and had absolutely no right to win that game and were incredibly lucky to beat Arsenal as well, the game vs Liverpool could have finished 3-3 as easily as it did 3-0 with the amount of saves DDG had to make. Throughout this period plenty of posters rightly pointed out that we couldn't continue to perform at the level we had been and expect to get results and sure enough we go on to Draw vs Villa/Spurs/Stoke and then lose to Southampton in 4/5 games. Those results were a long time coming.

When we signed LVG I expected him to come in and make the big decisions that Moyes apparently "didn't have the balls to make" such as get rid of RVP or Rooney since they clearly can't play together but won't be sitting on a bench, then there's the lingering issue with what to do with Mata/Fellaini and our CB situation. Not only has he kept RooneY/RVP/Mata he bought another static penalty box striker who we didn't need and then started using unfarmilar formations to fit them all in. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that RVP and Falcao won't work, or Rooney/RVP or any combination with those 3 players. It's literally like watching when Drogba and Shevchenko got mashed into a partnership and looked awful, or every England game with Gerrard/Lampard playing together and neither has the protection they enjoyed at club level. You can't just stick players together with no regard for the their actual qualities and expect things to happen.

In order to have a successful and functional team you need players who compliment each other and have harmonious relationships, We have an entire forward line of guys who all want the ball into feet, can't beat a defender and don't have the pace to run in behind. We're easy to defend against since all of our play is in front of the opposition defence.

LVG needs to play with 1 striker. 2 of RVP/Falcao/Rooney have to be benched. Play everyone in their correct position. Blind/Di Maria/Herrera in a MF 3. If you want width then use Adnan and even Young. If we go into our next 8 fixtures which includes Spurs/Liverpool/City/Chelsea/Everton playing 2 strikers and Fellaini we'll continue to look god awful and drop points, it won't be a surprise.

As for the rest of your post, LVG has regularly created 2 problems for every one he's fixed. Di Maria back into midfield only meant going back to Falcao/RVP up top, it didn't fix the issue of those two being an awful partnership and leaving us outnumbered in midfield. Especially when the answer is to not only have them both up top but to stick Rooney in MF as well. As for Rooney playing as a striker again he never solved the main issue which was playing with 2 strikers. Rooney could play with any of Falcao/RVP/Wilson and it won't work, him being used in midfield was just another criticism on top of the 2 strikers, it's not as if United fans thought things would suddenly turn around when Rooney/RVP started up top, they had all last season to show us how bad they work.

 

[Tyrion]

We're playing badly and few (if any) of us actually enjoy the football we're seeing. Every complaint, theory, rant and proposed solution that's appeared on this forum comes from the frustration over that fact. Once that changes, we'll all be proud posters of the 'Oranje Cafe' again. Until then, it can only get worse.