[Name Changed]

Yup. Funny how much some people overrate him. He's not really that good.

He's miles better than anything else we have in that position. Anytime he gets taken off our midfield gets visibly substantially weaker. He may not be fantastic but he's easily the best we have, yet he seems to be the easy touch for LVG.

 

[Truedevil]

That went well then?

It failed miserably but i can see why he did that. I can even see why he didn't take off Fellaini for Carrick and i honestly think we would have won the match had Valencia not made that silly mistake.

 

[Name Changed]

There is no way I'm going to believe Van Gaal is the one instructing him to be so safe with his passing, if he is, then why are blind and Carrick passing the ball with more risk than he is? He's turning into joe allen ffs.

Didn't LvG say he wasn't happy with him giving the ball away so much?

That was despite his stats been on par with everyone else.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

There is no way I'm going to believe Van Gaal is the one instructing him to be so safe with his passing, if he is, then why are blind and Carrick passing the ball with more risk than he is? He's turning into joe allen ffs.

I think he is, have you not noticed the coaching staff always talking to him. I think that is exactly what he has done.

 

[Name Changed]

It failed miserably but i can see why he did that. I can even see why he didn't take off Fellaini for Carrick and i honestly think we would have won the match had Valencia not made that silly mistake.

On what basis? DDG kept that score line respectable. We keep possession, that's all well and good. We do nothing with it. Arsenal had more chances than we did. Simple. With over 60% possession Arsenal still created more.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

He's miles better than anything else we have in that position. Anytime he gets taken off our midfield gets visibly substantially weaker. He may not be fantastic but he's easily the best we have, yet he seems to be the easy touch for LVG.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Like I said before though, he's not at the level you should be aiming at for a first choice player.

Never should have bought him.

 

[Cassidy]

There is no way I'm going to believe Van Gaal is the one instructing him to be so safe with his passing, if he is, then why are blind and Carrick passing the ball with more risk than he is? He's turning into joe allen ffs.

It seems to be the case though, since hes come back into the team, he has been far less risking with his passing.

 

[izec]

There is no way I'm going to believe Van Gaal is the one instructing him to be so safe with his passing, if he is, then why are blind and Carrick passing the ball with more risk than he is? He's turning into joe allen ffs.

Blind doesnt take any risks. Carrick played long balls to Fellaini when we went behind.

 

[Sam]

He wasn't very good, but at least he can move, unlike a Blind/Carrick/Fellaini trio.

 

[Truedevil]

On what basis? DDG kept that score line respectable. We keep possession, that's all well and good. We do nothing with it. Arsenal had more chances than we did. Simple. With over 60% possession Arsenal still created more.

They didn't have that many chances after the break until we went full attack in the last 15ish minutes.

 

[#07]

Just watching MUTV and Ron Atkinson said the Herrera substitution made us lose any momentum in the 2nd half.

Stating the obvious to everyone except Louis Van Gaal sadly..

 

[Joga Bonito]

He wasn't very good, but at least he can move, unlike a Blind/Carrick/Fellaini trio.

That trio......

 

[Sam]

That trio......

Its painful isn't it? How can anyone manager put that on the pitch and expect it to work?

Its just so obviously terrible. I'd love to be an opposition player facing that.

 

[Borys]

Its painful isn't it? How can anyone manager put that on the pitch and expect it to work?

Its just so obviously terrible. I'd love to be an opposition player facing that.

How can any manager expect it to work against Arsenal, who have one of the fastest midfields around? Baffling.

I don’t think Carrick – Blind is a good idea but I can understand that. However, subbing Herrera and sticking to Fellaini in those circumstances was simply wrong.

 

[Sam]

How can any manager expect it to work against Arsenal, who have one of the fastest midfields around? Baffling.

I don’t think Carrick – Blind is a good idea but I can understand that. However, subbing Herrera and sticking to Fellaini in those circumstances was simply wrong.

Its just mind boggling tbh.

 

[bucky]

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Like I said before though, he's not at the level you should be aiming at for a first choice player.

Never should have bought him.

Yeah, that's just nonsense. And he has the stats to prove it on his side. Not his fault how the manager is using him.

 

[jojojo]

I think he carried the can for Blind and Valencia having a tough first half. Not that they improved in the second of course. In fact all that happened was we went from a good performance to a drab one. But I do think LvG trusts/likes them in a way that he doesn't trust/like Herrera, and I don't know why that is - hopefully Ander does and can work on it.

 

[ZDwyr]

He was poor really. Didn't contribute anything and was on a booking. Not sure I would have subbed him at half time though, deserved at least 10-15 minutes to try and improve it.

 

[.Rossi]

Picked up an injury apparently

 

[Raw]

Picked up an injury apparently

Feck, just when the fixtures got difficult too.

 

[NoPace]

He made a lovely play under pressure to keep possession and hit Valencia in the buildup to the goal. He's miscast in this team, but I love his game as the 8 in a more pressing based set up with a higher line behind him.

 

[BringNaniBack]

Im not sure why people are saying he was poor during the Arsenal game. He did nothing wrong, was having an decent game and was the link between Defense and attack and enabled us to keep the ball further up the pitch away from our goal. As soon as I heard he was taken off at half time I was ranting in the match day thread about it as that meant we would be back to playing with pretty much no midfield. Carrick and Blind may be Defensive Midfielders but they pretty much become extra CBs and it ends up being 4 attackers and 5 defenders. Carrick and Blind are too slow too be playing together and their games are too similar, pair one of them with Herrera and we have an ok midfield, if not it will just be so slow paced and get overrun easily. Im honestly dreading us playing with Blind and Carrick together over the next few weeks if that's Van Gaals plan.

 

[Kostur]

Im not sure why people are saying he was poor during the Arsenal game. He did nothing wrong, was having an decent game and was the link between Defense and attack and enabled us to keep the ball further up the pitch away from our goal. As soon as I heard he was taken off at half time I was ranting in the match day thread about it as that meant we would be back to playing with pretty much no midfield. Carrick and Blind may be Defensive Midfielders but they pretty much become extra CBs and it ends up being 4 attackers and 5 defenders. Carrick and Blind are too slow too be playing together and their games are too similar, pair one of them with Herrera and we have an ok midfield, if not it will just be so slow paced and get overrun easily. Im honestly dreading us playing with Blind and Carrick together over the next few weeks if that's Van Gaals plan.

Bolded part is the problem.

 

[Ekeke]

He definitely wasn't poor, but he wasnt good either. He just accurately passed the ball around when his team werent able to do that. Usually thats what we'd want from a Blind or Carrick, but hey both of them played and were nearly 10% less accurate with their passes than he was and just like him they didnt create much

 

[LonelyFire]

Picked up an injury apparently

Don't know where you've heard that but I suspect even if he wasn't that's the line that will be peddled out now.

Few lads at the game saying that Giggs was berating him 3 or 4 times for not being close enough to cazorla.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Has LvG explained the sub? Was he injured? Making 2 subs at half time is a drastic measure, and Danny Murphy got it spot on. It really destroyed our rhythm. We were playing with a lot of pace in the first half, and that didn't carry over into the 2nd half.

It was perhaps an understandable sub if we were getting battered and needed to plug the midfield with a player liek Carrick, but we weren't. I thought we were the better side in the first half, but shite in the 2nd. Blind and Carrick were too far away from the attacking players. Fellaini was too far away from the midfield players. Herrera was linking that up fairly well, but without Herrera, there was very little link, besides for long passes for Fellaini/Rooney to fight over or Young/ADM/Januzaj to run onto.

 

[Nighteyes]

Has LvG explained the sub? Was he injured? Making 2 subs at half time is a drastic measure, and Danny Murphy got it spot on. It really destroyed our rhythm. We were playing with a lot of pace in the first half, and that didn't carry over into the 2nd half.

It was perhaps an understandable sub if we were getting battered and needed to plug the midfield with a player liek Carrick, but we weren't. I thought we were the better side in the first half, but shite in the 2nd. Blind and Carrick were too far away from the attacking players. Fellaini was too far away from the midfield players. Herrera was linking that up fairly well, but without Herrera, there was very little link, besides for long passes for Fellaini/Rooney to fight over or Young/ADM/Januzaj to run onto.

Herrera was bang average in the first half.

Carrick was definitely needed in there. Arsenal had far too much space on the counter and you could see the goal coming from a mile off.

I would have taken Fellaini off mainly because we all knew the inevitable hoofball that was to follow in the 2nd half but Fellaini had a better first half than Herrera.

We lost the game because Valencia and Di Maria fecked up. Not because of Herrera going off.

 

[wiz4231]

Don't know where you've heard that but I suspect even if he wasn't that's the line that will be peddled out now.

Few lads at the game saying that Giggs was berating him 3 or 4 times for not being close enough to cazorla.

This is what gets on my nerves. Herrera shouldn't have been the player picking up Carzola, it should have been Fellaini and Herrera should have been playing deeper alongside Blind. It seems an awful waste of Herrera's talent to be man marking while Fellaini roams freely around the pitch. I don't understand why LVG plays Herrera and Fellaini as advance midfielder when their on the pitch together and leaves Blind on his own to get over run. Furthermore then bring on Carrick to play alongside Blind to give him protection and control the game when you already had Herrera on the pitch who could also do that if you played him deeper makes no sense what so ever. Every time Herrera dropped back he looked to move the ball forward and give Blind options from the back but then he had Giggs in his ear telling him to get further up the pitch.
We cant play Blind and Carrick as a pair, its 1 or the other and Herrera as deeper cm or box 2 box midfielder alongside either, that is what we should be doing and have Fellaini man mark who needs to be. That then opposes a question is Fellaini good enough in that position? In all honesty I'd put Rooney (#10) there with falcao or RVP up top, if we have to play Rooney as a striker I'd play Mata in the #10. Were wasting 3 players here with the current tactics, not all 3 can make it on the pitch at the same time but 1 player need to play in the right position to benefit the team and support Blind/Carrick and the other needs to replace the god awful tactical conundrum that is Fellaini.
I guess for now we'll have to just put up with it until RVP returns from injury, then LVG has a choice to make Fellaini or RVP, saying that with LVG it will be Herrera making way for Rooney to go back into midfield, tactical genius *facepalm*

 

[Kakeru]

Few lads at the game saying that Giggs was berating him 3 or 4 times for not being close enough to cazorla.

That's probably the bit on TV where they showed Giggs in the technical area shouting something. Still, there was no way I would have taken him off.

Like people already mentioned, Fellaini and the hoofball tactics should have disappeared altogether at the start of the second half.

 

[berbatrick]

He's made to curb his instincts and play safe always - for that role, Carrick is better.

If he wanted to change the midfield, I would have thought Blind out for Carrick was a better change. Personally I thought Carrick was superb under pressure yesterday, short and long passing, tackling and dribbling. Clearly a big class gap between him and Blind.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Herrera was bang average in the first half.

Carrick was definitely needed in there. Arsenal had far too much space on the counter and you could see the goal coming from a mile off.

I would have taken Fellaini off mainly because we all knew the inevitable hoofball that was to follow in the 2nd half but Fellaini had a better first half than Herrera.

We lost the game because Valencia and Di Maria fecked up. Not because of Herrera going off.

I'd agree with all of that.

Fellaini actually had a good game with the ball on the deck. So frustrating that his mere existence seems to provoke us into hoofball as soon as we're under any real pressure to score.

 

[#07]

Picked up an injury apparently

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Luckhurt from the MEN is saying it was 'tactical'. If so, what was the tactic behind it? Gut our midfield of any link man and let Arsenal advance onto us and put our defence under sustained pressure? Arsenal didn't even have to work that hard for the win after Herrera went off. We simply stopped playing through midfield and resorted to hoofing it to Fellaini in hope. Our defenders looked in vain, time and time again, for someone to give it to and then in despair just hacked it up field where Rooney chased nothing balls all second half.

He made a lovely play under pressure to keep possession and hit Valencia in the buildup to the goal. He's miscast in this team, but I love his game as the 8 in a more pressing based set up with a higher line behind him.

Clearly Van Gaal didn't see this. If he did it would just prove my suspicion that he is more concerned with keeping it tight with actually trying to win. We weren't great in the first half but we were, in my opinion, the better team. Nothing needed changing at half time. It was an open game, maybe too open for Van Gaal, but since when have Man Utd been afraid of an open game? Anyone remember beating Reading 4-3 in 2012/13? The first half of that was utterly insane. We looked a force in the first half of last nights game, in the second we never looked like winning even before Di Maria was sent off.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

That's an idiotic tweet tbf.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

That's an idiotic tweet tbf.

It is a bit odd. Is he basically saying that if Blind had played against Arsenal in November we would have lost?

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Herrera was bang average in the first half.

Carrick was definitely needed in there. Arsenal had far too much space on the counter and you could see the goal coming from a mile off.

I would have taken Fellaini off mainly because we all knew the inevitable hoofball that was to follow in the 2nd half but Fellaini had a better first half than Herrera.

We lost the game because Valencia and Di Maria fecked up. Not because of Herrera going off.

I also don't believe we lost because Herrera went off, but there was a clear missing link between midfield and attack, which Herrera was providing more than Blind, Carrick and Fellaini.

I agree with you though. I'd have taken Fellaini off. I think a midfield 3 of Herrera, Carrick and Blind could have been very effective in that game.

 

[#07]

It is a bit odd. Is he basically saying that if Blind had played against Arsenal in November we would have lost?

That's how I'd read that bit of the tweet. Luckhurst seems to feel that a Blind/Carrick midfield isn't dynamic enough to challenge Arsenal. Not sure that's wrong. Blind did not play well last night, seemed to get lost by the pace of the game, and in the second half just got sucked deeper and deeper.

Still, the first point, that the Herrera substitution was tactical is what stands out.

If the Herrera sub was tactical it was because Van Gaal decided that instead of playing to win, he wanted to ensure we didn't lose. Had Moyes made a similar substitution Old Trafford would have groaned at the sight of it. Van Gaal is using his reputation to ride out ridiculous decisions.

I was no lover of Moyes, everyone knows that, but I know for a fact that if he was doing the kind of stuff Van Gaal has been doing he'd be getting slaughtered. Why is what's good for the goose not good for the gander when it comes to Van Gaal? Sometimes it feels like people were more willing to criticise Fergie for playing Sheasy and Smudge in midfield than to criticise Van Gaal for his bizarre tactical changes.

 

[milemuncher777]

Herrera was bang average in the first half.

Carrick was definitely needed in there. Arsenal had far too much space on the counter and you could see the goal coming from a mile off.

I would have taken Fellaini off mainly because we all knew the inevitable hoofball that was to follow in the 2nd half but Fellaini had a better first half than Herrera.

We lost the game because Valencia and Di Maria fecked up. Not because of Herrera going off.

Now this is bang on assessment.

As much as I dislike Lvg and his stupid substitution I thought bringing Carrick on was no brainer. We were so open in first half that every time Arsenal attacked I feared a goal. Decision was vindicated as we controlled the game much better and Arsenal hardly created a chance until we gifted them the lead and Di Maria got sent off.

 

[Brophs]

One step forward and two back for him. He'll be dropped for 4 or 5 games now.

 

[legball]

What exactly does he do? If am not mistaken, I saw more forward passes from Blind [the stats will be good, if anyone can dig that up]. He's supposed to be the one controlling things and linking MF and attack, but he doesn't do that enough, yes, he has good movement but he's really not showing this world class quality that I keep hearing about. I felt he was bang average last night and that left Blind with almost all the work to do in midfield, but coming here, he's getting a free pass while Blind is being castrated, I think he's a good player but I don't get the favouritism at all.

 

[legball]

Im not sure why people are saying he was poor during the Arsenal game. He did nothing wrong, was having an decent game and was the link between Defense and attack and enabled us to keep the ball further up the pitch away from our goal. As soon as I heard he was taken off at half time I was ranting in the match day thread about it as that meant we would be back to playing with pretty much no midfield. Carrick and Blind may be Defensive Midfielders but they pretty much become extra CBs and it ends up being 4 attackers and 5 defenders. Carrick and Blind are too slow too be playing together and their games are too similar, pair one of them with Herrera and we have an ok midfield, if not it will just be so slow paced and get overrun easily. Im honestly dreading us playing with Blind and Carrick together over the next few weeks if that's Van Gaals plan.

That's because he was poor. He doesn't need to do what Valencia did to be poor. I hate this "he did nothing wrong" comment that gets thrown about anytime a CAF darling has a mare.