Lack of clear cut goal scoring opportunities

[Paxi]

Why the feck can't we carve teams open at will with all the attacking talent we have?

Martial, Lukaku, Rashford, Pogba, Mata, Mkhitrayan etc.

I know we've scored a lot goals this season but I can't really remember where we penetrated teams time and again. Just so reactionary. Jose needs an attacking coach.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I thought Lukaku was going to take the piss at United due to the amount of chances we created last season, but either lacklustre finishing or Zlatan's lack of mobiity to be on the shoulder often held us back in some games. Now we seem to be struggling to recreate that level of chance creation.

Pogba is the only player who can play a direct ball that isn't intercepted with ease, it seems. The weight of his passing is sublime, but he can't do in all on his own, as he himself is still inconsistent.

 

[Judas]

I'd say our entire attacking mentality needs a total reworking. We're so oddly slow and cumbersome, and it makes so little sense with some of the players we have.

 

[Offside]

We actually don't attack that often. A lot of our goals are from crosses/set-pieces or counter attacks. We haven't scored many fluid goals this season at all.

Our attack is all over the place. We need to totally rework it. The talent is there and we aren't getting the best out of it.

 

[Paxi]

I'd say our entire attacking mentality needs a total reworking. We're so oddly slow and cumbersome, and it makes so little sense with some of the players we have.

Thats the odd part. I thought we'd capitalise on fast attacking, relentless football. Kind of what Liverpool do but we're like fecking elephants out of our fecking tree on ketamine. Can't string 2 passes together. And when we can it takes about a century.

 

[El Jefe]

Why the feck can't we carve teams open at will with all the attacking talent we have?

Martial, Lukaku, Rashford, Pogba, Mata, Mkhitrayan etc.

I know we've scored a lot goals this season but I can't really remember where we penetrated teams time and again. Just so reactionary. Jose needs an attacking coach.

The sooner you realise there's not much creativity in that list apart from Pogba the better.

They all have the ability to be creative from time to time but are unable to do it consistently. Mata you would say is the most natural playmaker other than Pogba but his passing is limited and often opts for the safe pass. The others are erratic, capable of brilliance one moment, followed by poor play.

No player in our team is reliable in giving a consistently good final pass. For a team that crosses, only Ashley Young seems to be consistently good at it. That is the main problem and not Mourinho.

 

[Paxi]

I fully stand by Jose and I believe he's the only man to take us forward but he seriously needs to rethink the way we approach games in terms of our attacking intent.

I wonder what they actually do at Carrington?

 

[snk123]

Doesn't help when your best and only world class player takes a heavy touch when clean on goal.

 

[Minimalist]

It's been a problem for a long time. Mourinho has had this problem since he arrived and he's certainly not improved things a whole lot (just bought some better players).

Been stated before but apparently he doesn't coach attackers or how they interact with each other - I think it shows.

 

[Roboc7]

We had a right back who literally offers nothing going forward and two water carriers in midfield. Too often we don’t have enough players who can hurt the opposition and we are totally reliant on a couple of individuals.

 

[champp1nho]

80% of the times we attack so slow and lately our players have made really bad choices.. Rashford & Martial today with absolutely trash decision making.

 

[Paxi]

The sooner you realise there's not much creativity in that list apart from Pogba the better.

They all have the ability to be creative from time to time but are unable to do it consistently. Mata you would say is the most natural playmaker other than Pogba but his passing is limited and often opts for the safe pass. The others are erratic, capable of brilliance one moment, followed by poor play.

No player in our team is reliable in giving a consistently good final pass. For a team that crosses, only Ashley Young seems to be consistently good at it. That is the main problem and not Mourinho.

As a cohesive unit they could be a creative force. I mean, Martial has amazing dribbling ability, Rashford is very unpredictable and is good at one touch play. Mata playing in behind Lukaku could be the player who sticks everything together. I mean, we've seen Swansea City looking like a brilliant attacking team under Rodgers a few seasons back and numerous other teams who don't have the personnel.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

As a cohesive unit they could be a creative force. I mean, Martial has amazing dribbling ability, Rashford is very unpredictable and is good at one touch play. Mata playing in behind Lukaku could be the player who sticks everything together. I mean, we've seen Swansea City looking like a brilliant attacking team under Rodgers a few seasons back and numerous other teams who don't have the personnel.

Does he? Hazard has amazing dribbling ability. Martial is no where near him.

 

[deafepl]

Once Lukaku comes on. it improved our attacking display, but feck, Rashford was off pace sometimes when there is a clear opportunity after Lukaku attempted shots on target. United had more target on in the second half than in first half but we should have done it earlier. Rashford and Martial's decision making cost us games. I didn't blame Rashford much but at least he almost scored a goal. if it went in, everything would be forgotten and we'd praise him

People always looking for an excuse to blame individuals when we lost. If the team are playing so bad then it will affect individuals performance. By the way, if we win a game against Bristol City, I bet you wouldn't make a thread like this.

 

[Paxi]

Does he? Hazard has amazing dribbling ability. Martial is no where near him.

Of course he does. He can be inconsistent, but he's supremely talented.

 

[redom]

I do wonder how we coach our attacking play because players like Martial and Rashford look like they could really do with having a clear tactical and stylistic plan set out for them, where as it seems like it's mostly left to the players to figure out for themselves and I don't think that's a strength for either player, they get nullified too easily and need to work on making more space for themselves and others by being smarter with their positioning. Rashford just kept wandering over to the left tonight because that's where he likes to play instead of providing width and options on the right, and with Darmian being non-existant in attack it meant our right side was pretty much pointless for large portions of the game.

 

[Eriku]

Does he? Hazard has amazing dribbling ability. Martial is no where near him.

lol, pull the other one.

 

[NoLogo]

Too little movement, no width, lack of intelligent players.

 

[Leftback99]

Other than Pogba we don't have anyone capable of playing difficult passes forward. Despite all the hype we don't actually play that much better with him in general (probably worse defensively) but at least he creates some chances.

Giggs, Nani, Rooney and Valencia used to create our chances under the last years of SAF, these days we have Martial, Lukaku and the worst for it Rashford trying to do it all themselves and usually losing the ball. Mata passes backwards most of the time and Mkhitaryan struggles to complete a pass at all.

For me we are crying out for a 10/AM who can actually link our midfield and attack together.

 

[El Jefe]

As a cohesive unit they could be a creative force. I mean, Martial has amazing dribbling ability, Rashford is very unpredictable and is good at one touch play. Mata playing in behind Lukaku could be the player who sticks everything together. I mean, we've seen Swansea City looking like a brilliant attacking team under Rodgers a few seasons back and numerous other teams who don't have the personnel.

Agreed we could be more creative as a cohesive unit but there will be a trade off in not making us as solid. We are winning points playing the way we do so no need to change right now. Mourinho is a defensive coach by nature but has shown he can play good football if you give him the attacking pieces he needs. The current batch are not good enough for a Mourinho team. The same way Klopp or Pep need specific defenders for their defence to be any good is the same way Mourinho needs specific attackers to suit his plan.

He's proven that he's a superb counter attacking coach, yet our players constantly pick poor passes on the counter, whether its Mhki getting dispossessed, Rashford running it out of play or Martial making a poor run. Give him a creative midfielder like Ozil and a pacy wide attacker in the mode of Salah and we'll look just like a Mourinho team.

 

[El Jefe]

Other than Pogba we don't have anyone capable of playing difficult passes forward. Despite all the hype we don't actually play that much better with him in general (probably worse defensively) but at least he creates some chances.

Giggs, Nani, Rooney and Valencia used to create our chances under the last years of SAF, these days we have Martial, Lukaku and the worst for it Rashford trying to do it all themselves and usually losing the ball. Mata passes backwards most of the time and Mkhitaryan struggles to complete a pass at all.

This is the point I'm making. The players in bold are creative players and could be relied on to put quality crosses or passes during a game. What's even more crazy is some games we had all four starting.

Only Pogba can be compared to these in our current team. That is clearly the problem.

 

[Paxi]

Agreed we could be more creative as a cohesive unit but there will be a trade off in not making us as solid. We are winning points playing the way we do so no need to change right now. Mourinho is a defensive coach by nature but has shown he can play good football if you give him the attacking pieces he needs. The current batch are not good enough for a Mourinho team. The same way Klopp or Pep need specific defenders for their defence to be any good is the same way Mourinho needs specific attackers to suit his plan.

He's proven that he's a superb counter attacking coach, yet our players constantly pick poor passes on the counter, whether its Mhki getting dispossessed, Rashford running it out of play or Martial making a poor run. Give him a creative midfielder like Ozil and a pacy wide attacker in the mode of Salah and we'll look just like a Mourinho team.

Thats who I'm hoping for - Ozil. Hopefully, he can bring us his attacking nous that will allow our attack to flourish.

 

[AndyJ1985]

We're dire in the final third. Would like to know what they work on in training all day. If it's passing and movement then either the coaches are useless or the players are unable to listen to instructions, because they aren't learning a damn thing.

 

[Greck]

Attacking cohesion is lacking. Often struggle to string the simplest 1-2 moves because our attackers aren't on the same wavelength. Jose will have to actually work on our tactical fluidity.

We also have some technically limited players in deep build up positions. By time they get the ball forward, opponents have had time to get compact and load up on our attackers

 

[a_devil_inside]

The opposition gets most of their players back while we still have a good few scared to cross the half way line, leaving us heavily outnumbered.
You often see the likes of Martial or Rashford with 3 or 4 opposition players around them

 

[AlwaysRed66]

Thats who I'm hoping for - Ozil. Hopefully, he can bring us his attacking nous that will allow our attack to flourish.

Ozil, another big game Charlie like Lukaku, who is only up for it when things are going well & playing inferior opposition. Goes missing when it gets competitive.

 

[Stubble]

As said by others we are much too slow and ponderous getting forward always giving the opposition plenty of time to re-organise and put two or more players on our 'dangerous' players. The side to side and backwards stuff constantly drives me spare ! Allied to that the fullbacks sometimes don't push on enough to stretch the play. Considering we are supposed to be a 'counter attacking' team i see game after game where inferior opposition seems to do this to us much more efficiently than we do to them. At recent the Bornemouth match warmup their players practised quick passing drills whilst under pressure whilst our players all seemed to be doing their own individual stuff and fitness drills. If this is the pattern of our training therein lies one of the problems...

 

[VeevaVee]

We're so slow and immobile in attack a lot of the time. We always always look better when we attack with intensity and speed, like every other team ever. It means space is made and defenders struggle to keep up.

 

[Bestietom]

Why the feck can't we carve teams open at will with all the attacking talent we have?

Martial, Lukaku, Rashford, Pogba, Mata, Mkhitrayan etc.

I know we've scored a lot goals this season but I can't really remember where we penetrated teams time and again. Just so reactionary. Jose needs an attacking coach.

We need the players with skill and composure on the ball first. Then he needs to change the defensive game into attacking game.

 

[Jig1234]

It's the style of play. Mourinho tactic is to give the opposition the ball and wait for them to make a mistake. He thinks by giving the opposition the ball and letting them have possession it will lead to a mistake in which we can capitalise on.

I believe that to be the biggest load of nonsense ever. Teams today are very good on the ball. Most teams have very good players and when you consider the fact we have Darmian and Young at full back with Jones and Smalling at CB. I don't think we are the most equipped to be allowing teams to just have the ball.

What I also hate about his style of play is that when we do get the ball back or are pressed, we have no composure. We resort to booting the ball out like an ugly Tony Pulis side. We struggle to penetrate or string passes together. All we do is pass the ball between defence and midfield, most attacks break down in the final third. - You only have to look at our set up vs Liverpool or Man City, when these games come around Mourinho retreats and gives the opposition too much respect. I think this is a flawed strategy. I would much rather focus on keeping the ball and winning it back quickly.

All this does is make all the players nervous, they become afraid to actually play football. They're first thought is to clear the ball away without thinking. One of the things that Mourinho hasn't done is improve the players confidence to pass the ball out.

Our style of play and tactics are a factor in our lack of clear cut chances. We create a few but they all feel spontaneous. We find it very hard to create chances regularly. Which makes it difficult to build any significant pressure in the game to put the opposition on the back foot.

We struggle to impose ourselves or build any significant momentum. Most of the time we are relying on individual brilliance rather than a good piece of collective football.

I think what would help is investing in proper fullbacks, midfield cover and having a natural winger. - I think that would help improve our football and movement.

 

[Red Royal]

Having a centre half who is allowed and capable of driving forward and with a decent pass could be our answer. Smalling/Jones - too side to side and safe
Lindelov - early days and his shaky start probably has hindered his bravery
Rojo - going forward has it but still panics. in the box.
Bailly - he could turn us around, looks good on the ball can transform defence to attack with a drive forward. Would love to see him in a 3-5-2 alongside Lindelov and Rojo with them taking turns to step up

 

[DevilRed]

Would help if we scored more goals from set pieces. I guess with Fellaini and Bailly out we arent as physically imposing, but we still have some giant players.

A shame because a goal from a corner would have made a world of difference to the outlook of this match.

 

[Sandikan]

Martial has so much ability, but out left you know almost every time he'll angle it to come back inside.

Similar on the right with Mata.

The names are good but the functionality doesn't quite work as smoothly as it could

 

[U99ted]

Now this half we've been very wasteful. Martial, Lingard and Rashford all failing to score when 1 vs 1. The latter was probably a penalty though.

 

[Fener1907]

The latter was probably a penalty though.

Nah, because he got the ball™. As long as you get the slightest of contact, you can do whatever you want according to some.

 

[Paxi]

Well we were fecking wasteful tonight!

 

[BluesJr]

That was absolutely disgraceful.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Now this half we've been very wasteful. Martial, Lingard and Rashford all failing to score when 1 vs 1. The latter was probably a penalty though.

Shouldn't even have to come to a penalty shout. He should've finished it.

 

[ClosetDevil]

Shame we didn't put away so many clear cut chances.

That's definitely 2 points dropped today.

 

[Fener1907]

How did Lingard hit the post, why was Rashford trying to take it around Kasper, why was there so much indecisiveness in general.

Absolutely shit houses to concede that late, but that was some shit decision making up front.