Bruno's problem is he is always in final ball mode. This is probably because of his role under Ole. Once he gets used to Ralf hopefully he can make an extra/simple pass a bit more. Pogba would kill in that no. 10 role I feel if Ralf can get him to stay.
Ralf’s 4-2-2-2
- Thread starter Desert Eagle
- Start date
Yeap, agree with everything you said. And happy to be patient on improvements taking time, as long as we see the thinking behind what is being done. I love that new style of play requires intelligence from the players. Will take intelligent play over moments of skill-based brilliance, any day of the week. It provides for more interesting games and more consistency, overall. Our inconsistency in the past was nerve-wrecking.
I was thinking this, perfect for him
Rumour is Rangnick singled out Fred and McTom in a team meeting on friday for not passing forward quickly enough and not spotting passing opportunities to the forwards. It's obviously been a problem throughout the team to be fair.
Fred really impressed with his clever positioning, but it was wasted on the likes of Maguire.
Notice how their #6 is tied down by needing to close Bruno on the left flank and the other midfielder similarly needs to stay with McT where Fred created plenty of space to receive the ball, turn towards CP goal and transition into lightening attack, but Maguire is totally incapable to read any of it and slows us down with toothless horizontal pass to Lindlof, completely killing our momentum.
Horrible decision-making
its incredibly different especially in possession. Full backs play almost like wing backs and we play with 2 number 10s basically. Bruno and Sancho continuously take up the half spaces and Ronny and Rashford play as out and out strikers
It is a problem throughout the team but McTominay is the worst for it
Why the emoji?
Google told me today I was going to die because I had heartburn. Not always a great source.
I don’t think Cavani will be going anywhere until the summer mate.
I was just answering where I had seen it. The fact that quite a few outlets had said it I thought I would mention it for discussion. You dont think he will and your opinion is as valid as theirs, unless they really know something. Me I dont know, as i said just mentioned it.
Lingard, Pogba and Van de Beek will probably be the back ups for these positions. Ronaldo, Rashford, Cavani and Greenwood will probably be the 4 options for the 2 up top.
We really need a CDM though if we're gonna be playing this formation, as we only have Matic, McTominay and Fred for the 2 DM positions.
I guess we'll look to buy one in January with Martial and one of Lingard/Van de Beek being sold.
Anyone wary of how openly he discusses his tactics and reasoning for it to the media? Would this not be to the team’s detriment? He is putting it out there for every one to see, which can help our opponents prep.
I don’t pay much attention to other managers, but is this a thing? Does Pep, Klopp and Tuchel explain their tactics to the media?
For what it’s worth I would imagine these are water downed explanations and there are things kept indoors, but still I don’t see the point of discussing things much. Let the results speak for themselves, its like he is presentation mode or is still auditioning for a job.
I don’t pay much attention to other managers, but is this a thing? Does Pep, Klopp and Tuchel explain their tactics to the media?
For what it’s worth I would imagine these are water downed explanations and there are things kept indoors, but still I don’t see the point of discussing things much. Let the results speak for themselves, its like he is presentation mode or is still auditioning for a job.
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Could be reverse psychology.
Any scouts worth a damn will have every teams style extensively examined behind the scenes anyway. He isn’t giving anything away really
This seems like a formation tailor made for the likes of lingard who could play as one of the cam or even as a second striker, pogba can play as cam in the same team.as bruno as long as he can put the effort and become more intelligent, martial can play in his preferred position as a striker but needs a kick up the back side, even mata would be in his best position as a cam rather than stuck out on the right wing.
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You might have a point. But, after hearing our ex manager and ex coach saying they don’t believe in tactics or styles of play, what Ralf says is like music to my ears.
This is rubbish. Maguire constantly fizzing passes through the lines into Fred was one of the standouts in our play today. He doesn't have to pass to Fred every time.
Fred really impressed with his clever positioning, but it was wasted on the likes of Maguire.
Notice how their #6 is tied down by needing to close Bruno on the left flank and the other midfielder similarly needs to stay with McT where Fred created plenty of space to receive the ball, turn towards CP goal and transition into lightening attack, but Maguire is totally incapable to read any of it and slows us down with toothless horizontal pass to Lindlof, completely killing our momentum.
Horrible decision-making
I like it a lot but we have so many players better in the 10's/winger roles and not so much in the striker positions. Ronaldo/Cavani would be incredible but that just seems so short sited considering Cavani is leaving and injury prone and Ronaldo is 36. Maybe Ronaldo/Mason could work or even Ronaldo/Rashford or Ronaldo Martial etc but its not as good as the options behind like below - (I presume they would play narrower almost like three 10's)
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---Bruno--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---DVB--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---Greenwood--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Lingard---Bruno--Greenwood
------------Ronaldo
Rashford---Bruno--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Martial---Pogba--Sancho
It goes on and on......
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---Bruno--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---DVB--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Pogba---Greenwood--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Lingard---Bruno--Greenwood
------------Ronaldo
Rashford---Bruno--Sancho
------------Ronaldo
Martial---Pogba--Sancho
It goes on and on......
No the tape is out there and way more informative than a few sentences to the press. Opposition teams learn from our game film not from quotes to the media
Our Midfielders in the middle have to become better if we want to be able to execute properly the 4-2-2-2 formation.
Not that long ago we had a "certain" red-head in this role and he had the ability to come from behind and to have a shot on goal, neither of them have that.
Ralf will have to work with both them in order to develop them.
Not that long ago we had a "certain" red-head in this role and he had the ability to come from behind and to have a shot on goal, neither of them have that.
Ralf will have to work with both them in order to develop them.
he has nothing to hide. Tuchel and Klopp knows all about his tactics.
All great points, insinuated similar thoughts in my post.
I just feel like he doesn’t have to explain himself so much. I realize it’s a minor thing though.
Amad also seems perfect for one of those roles, hopefully he'll get a chance at some point.
He just likes to preach about how he thinks football should be played. Do you think he got nicknamed "professor" without a reason?
Why on earth would you or we put Pogba in all these formation? The guy will be out for months and he probably would not even be here after that.
4 - 2 - 2 - 2 is the formation we have players for. We really don't have great wingers. Both Rashford and Greenwood are more like inside forwards which would suit 2 strikers system pretty well. Sancho is a bit more of inside player maker. So, a no 10 role suits him.
The issue we have is that our CMs are not exactly reliable which would always be a weakness no matter what formation we use.
Anyone else think Dan James would be a Rangnick favourite and work in this set up?
If he or someone like that at United became Rangnick's faourite, I would be worried.
The guy lacks a lot of things.
If he could control the ball then yeah
Just watched the Villa highlights. McGinn would be pretty awesome in this system.
Hate to say it but the positions that Sancho and Bruno played today look like they’d suit a certain French midfielder we have. Suppose as always it would depend on how switched on defensively he is but I can see another false dawn brewing with Pogba.
was thinking the same about Harvey Barnes for one of the 10 positions of Pogba and Lingard are moving on.
For off the ball work, James is great, but everything he does on the ball is Championship level at best. I honestly don't think he'd make the bench.
No real concern about a RB. Decent right back should be good for about 600 games. Phil Neal 650 games, Gary Neville a bit lightweight at 400, so shouldn't really see the backup RB and I guess the answer is AWB or Lindelof. LIndelof will probably lose his place to Varane with the undropable captain keeping the other spot. So he will have to become a utility defender to try and get a game so will need to be DM or RB as and if needed.
Greenwood could grow in very nicely in this role? And both Martial and Rashford are capable too.
Ahhh. But do you know what you are not seeing ?
I presume because it wasn't a helpful answer.
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We really do need an upgrade on McTominay for this system to come alive (McGinn or Haidara next to Fred would be great) but other than that it really suits the players we have. I'm cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season.
The problem is if you fire it into Fred you don’t know where it’s going to end up. Play it into McTominay and you know it’s coming back, hopefully still in our possession. Around the hour mark Maguire played a direct pass into Ronaldo and he tried a bit of link up with Rashford in tight spaces and we inevitably lost it, and Bruno comes out complaining at Maguire for trying to be too progressive instead of slowing it down.
We really don’t have the players to make those kind of passes reliably. It’s infuriating to watch us close off those avenues with dallying on the ball, but it’s equally frustrating watching us try and fail over and over again. Maguire’s among the worst for dallying but he’s actually quite good at picking out those passes when he sees them. The receiver is generally not very competent at turning that into a chance.
Haidara. 33m release clause and Ralf knows him too.
McGinn is average and Villa would ask 50m +. Not worth that money.
Nope. Looks like RR wants pressing and then an instant clever pass. Not something James is capable of.