A sense of urgency

[Rado_N]

Not a single player acted like they gave a feck then.

Used to be in that situation the last 15 mins would be attack after attack after attack with us constantly driving forward.

Sweinsteiger turned away from goal in the second minute of injury time for feck sake.

I hate this version of United.

 

[Shane88]

Happy with the point.

 

[An Irish Red]

Happy with the point.

We would have played with the same intensity if we were behind. The lack of tempo is the most consistent part of our style these days.

 

[Raven Blade]

Baffling really. Bravery wins you points you don't always deserve, safety first risks losing what you have. We should know that the outcome of a match is often determined by your mentality.

 

[Varun]

I said it after the last game too. Hide the scoreline on the screen, put someone who isn't aware of the score to watch the game and he'd never be able to guess whether we are winning, drawing or losing. We play in the same gear regardless of the situation. It's very irritating.

 

[Anustart89]

That was terrible to watch.

 

[Sigma]

Like someone said in the match day thread, it takes us 30 seconds to take a throw...

 

[Ryan7]

This is the way it is, unfortunately. Van Gaal is a coward. In a dream world we get rid of him at the end of the season. I doubt it though.

 

[Globule]

What is this word?

Ur.....Urg..........urge........

....philosophy.

 

[Mindhunter]

It is cringe worthy how the players waste the injury time minutes practising training drills in the middle of the pitch. Get the fecking ball up for God's sake!!!

 

[Di Maria's angel]

It's not going to change, either. It all started, here, and it won't go away. Looking forward to 17/18.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I can't imagine LvG telling the players to play backwards all the time, there is alot of times we have the options through the middle but we don't make the pass.

If LvG isn't encouraging our players to be penetrative then he is wrong. It cost us alot of point, we could have won against City and Leicester if we had done that.

 

[RedStarUnited]

We don't seem to care about wanting to win.

Only Martial and Lingard seem to want to create things. Everyone else is deferring to the other player.

 

[Mindhunter]

What is this word?

Ur.....Urg..........urge........

....philosophy.

Playing a possession system with these players is going to the washroom without toilet paper.

 

[Alock1]

Moyes got ripped constantly for having a 'small' mentality due to setting up to not lose.

I can't imagine LvG telling the players to play backwards all the time, there is alot of times we have the options through the middle but we don't make the pass.

If LvG isn't encouraging our players to be penetrative then he is wrong. It cost us alot of point, we could have won against City and Leicester if we had done that.

Why not? He doesn't want us to lose, seems content with taking draws and clearly doesn't encourage risks and expression. Whether or not he's saying 'turn backwards all the time' doesn't matter, his over-arching philosophy & demands encourage it.

 

[Fergus' son]

Out of the two teams, it was us that wanted the winner.

I'd be far more annoyed if we had played like Leicester did today.

 

[Sarni]

I can't imagine LvG telling the players to play backwards all the time, there is alot of times we have the options through the middle but we don't make the pass.

If LvG isn't encouraging our players to be penetrative then he is wrong. It cost us alot of point, we could have won against City and Leicester if we had done that.

I can imagine it perfectly fine. He's safety first manager, was that way at Bayern and fans turned on him after a while and so did the board. He's not going to change his attitude, he wants us to keep the ball more than anything.

 

[Globule]

Playing a possession system with these players is going to the washroom without toilet paper.

But don't people do that the majority of the time? I virtually never take toilet paper to the loo on the assumption that it'll already be there.

Poor.

 

[Sarni]

Out of the two teams, it was that wanted the winner.

I'd be far more annoyed if we had played like Leicester did today.

Leicester are not supposed to be title challengers. They were top of the league at the beginning of the day but they know well that top 7 is the best they can do, they won't be top 4 and they won't win the league, they're probably not going to make it into Europe at all. Leicester are not expected to be beating United at home, United are however expected to dispose of teams like Leicester even when they're in good form. I can't believe we're happy with a point at Palace and Leicester just because they've had some decent results this season.

 

[Cee90]

To be fair to Bastian, he didn't really have much on in front of him, so turned back to recycle the ball and to wait for other players to get forward.

If someone had made some space or an intelligent run ahead of him, I'm sure he would have tried to pick them out.

He was one of our better players today.

We need a right winger and a striker in January if we want to seriously compete.

 

[PSingh]

I said it after the last game too. Hide the scoreline on the screen, put someone who isn't aware of the score to watch the game and he'd never be able to guess whether we are winning, drawing or losing. We play in the same gear regardless of the situation. It's very irritating.

Spot on. It's awful we are so one paced

 

[Chicharito_]

This side is everything I hate in the way a football side can play.

Slow, boring, predictable, no excitement, no risk, no desire and no passion.

The problem is LVG is too stubborn to change it so it will never change..

 

[thejtrain]

But don't people do that the majority of the time? I virtually never take toilet paper to the loo on the assumption that it'll already be there.

Poor.

 

[...aka Las Cortinas]

This side is everything I hate in the way a football side can play.

Slow, boring, predictable, no excitement, no risk, no desire and no passion.

The problem is LVG is too stubborn to change it so it will never change..

I agree.

 

[SkeppyRed]

This has been a notticable issue over the last 17 months. We rarely ever step the tempo up enough.

 

[drdoityourself]

Young's shtick when taking a throw in bugs me. Turns down a perfectly good option to take it quickly. Turns down the next 3 who give him an option. Looks back and remembers that taking a backwards throw in is frowned upon. After 30 seconds of this show he'll opt for a long throw up the flank where it's most likely a bigger Leicester defender will win the ball. This happened 15 times probably.

 

[Livewire1974]

The problem is LVG is too stubborn to change it so it will never change..

Which is the reason that he needs to be sacked at the end of this season.

 

[Mindhunter]

But don't people do that the majority of the time? I virtually never take toilet paper to the loo on the assumption that it'll already be there.

Poor.

Exactly, we just pass the ball around without a plan on the assumpsion that goals will come if we have the ball for 70% of the time. There is no plan to expose the opposition weaknesses and score.

 

[Chicharito_]

The fact I get a bit excited when a player makes room for a cross or we win a throw in quite far up the pitch says it all really..

 

[VeevaVee]

I said it after the last game too. Hide the scoreline on the screen, put someone who isn't aware of the score to watch the game and he'd never be able to guess whether we are winning, drawing or losing. We play in the same gear regardless of the situation. It's very irritating.

Good way of looking at it.
We are stifled.

 

[a_devil_inside]

I thought the first ten minutes of the 2nd half were a sign of things to come but they just went back to casual mode after that

 

[langster]

Used to be in that situation the last 15 mins would be attack after attack after attack with us constantly driving forward.

I agree, but last week when Watford equalised, United did exactly what they used to by going all out attack and getting the winner almost straight after. This week, revert back to type. Madness. But we know from a couple of recent polls on here, that nearly two thirds of the Caf would accept this style of play as long as it brought the club trophies.

 

[Sam]

That bit with 15 second left, when Scweinstiger turned round and passed it backwards, in one moment, summed up everything that is wrong with this current United team.

Its gutless, cowardly football that perfectly encapsulates everything that LVG stands for.

 

[drdoityourself]

That bit with 15 second left, when Scweinstiger turned round and passed it backwards, in one moment, summed up everything that is wrong with this current United team.

Its gutless, cowardly football that perfectly encapsulates everything that LVG stands for.

We are gutless, but that's a little bit harsh. There was still time left to play but the referee decided upon new injury time rules. The ball found Martial who was in some space with 10 seconds left of the minimum of added time. We found the best option to attack them at that moment, but the ref...

 

[the hea]

Sweinsteiger turned away from goal in the second minute of injury time for feck sake.

I went crazy when this happend it was the dying seconds and he had the choice to go forward but just turned backwards.

 

[RoadTrip]

Have to say though, our finish at Watford after their penalty, it was refreshing to see as we wanted it, we had the drive, and we were piling on the pressure.

I thought just maybe it'll help us turn the corner.

But no. Next game, back to the same insipid waste of time football.

Ferguson played by the motto you have to risk it to win it. LVG goes by the if you risk it, you might lose it rule.

I absolutely hate that too.

 

[RoadTrip]

The statistics in the first table in this article is so telling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34954731

 

[RedPnutz]

This side is everything I hate in the way a football side can play.

Slow, boring, predictable, no excitement, no risk, no desire and no passion.

The problem is LVG is too stubborn to change it so it will never change..

Yet another baseless and lazy criticism of Van Gaal.

Too stubborn to change? I think he has shown a great willingness to change. When 3-5-2 didn't work, he changed. When 4-4-2 didn't work he changed. There were several matches he was decisive and changed formations and players at or before half time. When possession didn't work, he changes to 'hoofball to Fellaini'.

You always have to let your experiments play out over a period of time before you discard them.

The only point where I think he has been been stubborn is persisting with Rooney. It has come to the point that I think there is a political reason.

 

[RedPnutz]

The statistics in the first table in this article is so telling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34954731

The stats tell nothing except what you want them to tell.

I could interpret it the following ways as well:

1) From the season starting 2010 to 2013, we wasted respectively 278, 275, 280, 231 chances. My god, SAF's and Moyes' attack were so wasteful compared to LVG's who only wasted 238 and 179. In the second season, LVG's team wasted 59 less chances, that's a 24.8% improvement.

2) Out of total shots, shots on target were 24.5%, 27.12% 26.64%, 26.88%. LVG's first season was 24.43% but second was 26.63% which is higher than the average of 26.16% of the first 3 seasons in that table which were under SAF. Woohoo... LVG's team not only improved from his first season but also managed to edge SAF!!!!!!

3) How about goals as a percentage of total shots? From season starting 2010 to 2013, the stats are 9.15%, 10.13% and 10.54% and 8.70% respectively. LVG's last season was 9.16% and currently it stands at 10.05% Woohoo... another improvement and manages once again to edge out SAF's three-year average of 9.94%!!!!

4) Maybe we can move on next to goals per shots on target? The stats are then 37.33%, 37.35%, 39.29%, 32.35%. LVG's seasons are 37.5% and 37.74% respectively. Based on this, it implies LVG's has only "failed" to match the 2012 season under SAF. He's beaten all the rest of the seasons in that table.

So the stats above conclude that:

a) SAF's team did create the most chances, but the strike force was so inept it has wasted so many more chances. If they were as well-coach as LVG's team, then they would have scored more goals.

b) LVG had a slow start but his strikers have progressively gotten more accurate because the ratio of shots on target to total shots have improved.

c) Another one: LVG's team is better coached because it scores more goals compared to shots taken (much less wasteful)

d) Better strike force surely? LVG's strikers convert a higher percentage of shots on targets into goals on average.

e) However you splice it, Moyes is shit. His team wastes the most shots (280), has the poorest goals as a total of shots taken (8.7%), converts the least percentage of shots on target (32.35%) and of course finished 7th... lowest so far.

I wonder what the defensive stats are?

So what ARE the stats telling? Not much...

 

[NextSeason]

That bit with 15 second left, when Scweinstiger turned round and passed it backwards, in one moment, summed up everything that is wrong with this current United team.

Its gutless, cowardly football that perfectly encapsulates everything that LVG stands for.

You watched LvG's Ajax team then?