@Pexbo OP
We started with 2 strikers in the diamond, but van Gaal felt we were too open so we switched to 3-5-2. Then he decided Rooney can play in midfield and we reverted back to the diamond. We even tried Di Maria up front with van Persie.
Every single decision van Gaal has made this season regarding formations spins around accommodating two strikers.
In my opinion this is the thing that holds us back the most. It’s affecting everything in this team. If you play two strikers they have to be either quick and able to dribble past defender, or they have to form a partnership. Our strikers don’t work together, Rooney seems able to form a partnership but not with a slow player.
I think that we are open in the diamond because Herrera and Di Maria are half midfielders/half wingers, so when we attack they push high up the pitch because our attacking trio is not able to create anything on their own:
- Midfield of Blind, Di Maria and Herrera
- Attacking trio of van Persie/Falcao/Rooney/Mata/Fellaini
The front three is incapable of creating anything on their own. Mata is creative only when surrounded by pacy players, Fellaini is world class at bringing the ball down with his chest but average at best at everything else, RvP and Falcao won’t do anything on their own. Rooney can play well at the tip or as a striker, so he’s not the problem.
Basically, we ask our midfield to create and defend at the same time- we have 3 players (or 2 at best) whose only job apparently is to score. This is as unbalanced as it gets, no other team in top leagues plays that way. Let’s be honest, RvP/Falcao wouldn’t start most games as lone #9 for any top team, yet we play BOTH of them regularly. What’s bizarre is that it seems LvG understands that, yet he continues to make such decisions.
As I said in another thread, I can understand that Falcao was given time to prove himself, I hope we’ve already dropped this experiment though. I think van Gaal’s trust in RvP might get him sacked eventually (if we don’t get top 4 that is). It feels like we’re playing with 10 men when van Persie plays.
I think Ash_G made some excellent points in his post regarding 2 strikers:
For me it's simply setting up the team around using two strikers who are both too similar, particularly in the issues in their game and both off form.
The formations aren't such an issue as are the reason they're being used and how we use our players in them. Both the 352 and diamond are to facilitate having RVP, Falcao and Rooney as well as sometimes Felaini on the pitch when particularly the former two have done nothing to justify inhibiting the rest of our players to include both of them and all a trio/quartet it's too little pace, guile etc
LVG has even admitted that they're an issue as they lack pace (which surely he must have known before he signed Falcao and definitely did know about RVP). Yet he still plays them. He's even recognized that we struggle to create with them leading to including Fellaini as out battering ram when we get desperate. It's not a dig at Fellaini he's done what's asked of him fine. Personally I don't think it's worth it as for whatever he brings at the tip of the diamond with his height, his lack of ability to play people in stops us from being more creative.
I said it yesterday but whilst I think LVG has brought some positives I'm disappointed that despite his reputation he's not handled the big decisions well. RVP needs to be dropped. Falcao has been a failure so far (although tbf I think he could be better than he's showing in a better team set up). But we're persisting with one if not both of them too often and then further compromising the balance in our team by sticking Fellaini in there and pushing Rooney deeper.
Di Maria, Januzaj, Mata have not been great by any means but I'd say they've been somewhat better than the strikers and they haven't been playing in anywhere near the set up they'd want. There's no one making runs, no one to link up with. They're so isolated most the time. Every time it's a case of 3-4 players pushed high up the pitch, their backs to goal, ball goes forward to them, they can't turn so it's lost or comes back, it goes wide but because there's too many players already in the box the runner can't get the space to cross, or it's a poor ball, it either goes out for a corner or it goes back inside. Repeat.
It's got to be worth a go to put Rooney up top, have Fellaini there if you want that option as well, get di maria, januzaj and mata, let them play and then have two of Blind, Carrick and Herrera behind them. If we want to be more defensive it's easily changed. It might not work but I'd say more players will be comfortable there. Rooney leads the line well, di maria, januzaj, mata, herrera could all play of each other well to make it worth trying. RVP is hardly committing to staying long term and we've no obligation to keep Falcao next season.
We don't need to play two out and out strikers. Few top teams do so currently and if they do they have players who compliment each other. They build attacks through progression. It only takes one good ball and one good run. We seem to work on overloading the box despite the fact that no one is a great crosser bar Di Maria who's quality varies a lot and ends up very narrow a lot of the time anyway.
At the end of the day with the players we have they've got to be capable of playing better than this. Most of them have proven it before, can't be a coincidence that they're all struggling.
I agree 100%.