We look much better with him on the pitch. That last 30 minute team is a much better side.
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- Appearances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Needs to play every match, daft that he doesn't.
That's the type of midfield options we have now. Great isn't it? Even bringing subs on doesn't weaken us. In fact it enhances us.
We're just so much better with 3 in midfield. I hope he will start as an AM soon
Really hope he starts against Brugge.
Hoping we see him starting now. LVG in his post match seems to think our performance was better after we made the substitutions so here's hoping he includes Ander in the mix from now on...
Think he's a cert to start vs Brugge.
"I like a second striker in that position more than a third midfielder. That is why, for example, Herrera is not playing but is always coming in because he is more of a controlling midfielder there." van Gaal after tonight 
Stronger, more athletic and more dynamic than anyone else we have tried in the role so far, yet it seems he's destined to be used as the sub.
He and Schneiderlin already seem to be on the same page more often than not. I'd forgotten what a midfield that links up with the attack looked like (except for that one crazy game against City with Anderson and Cleverley).
Confirms what i thought initially in pre season. Van Gaal doesnt have a place for him in our current setup.
He prefers different midfielders and different players behind our striker, which leaves him on the bench currently.
He prefers different midfielders and different players behind our striker, which leaves him on the bench currently.
I think people need to take a cold shower. Herrera did almost exactly nothing in the entire time he was on the pitch. The play didn't improve in anyway, he didn't create any chances. It was a nothing performance and didn't demonstrate any reason why he should kick a different player out of the team.
If he prefers a striker in that number 10 then Herreea needs to be one of the 2 central mids.
Just because he good at attacking does not mean he's not goid defensively, he has a very solid workrate and puts himself into tackles.
He is the link between the midfield and attack we need to avoid the long ball after long ball from our deep midfielders problem.
Just because he good at attacking does not mean he's not goid defensively, he has a very solid workrate and puts himself into tackles.
He is the link between the midfield and attack we need to avoid the long ball after long ball from our deep midfielders problem.
He really wasn't very good tonight. I'm a big fan of his but it's very tedious reading the very predictable "has to be playing" posts whenever he makes an appearance, even though it doesn't reflect anything he did, only the narrative.
Memphis looked far more dangerous centrally which is what you want from your AM when you only have 1 striker which is exactly the point Van Gaal seems to be making.
Memphis looked far more dangerous centrally which is what you want from your AM when you only have 1 striker which is exactly the point Van Gaal seems to be making.
Yep. It leaps off the screen. The front 2 should be him + another for the next game, I think. Give him time in the role and he'll figure out how to change what he needs to in order to be more effective, but having mobility and the ability to turn away from an opponent with a first touch puts him one up on Rooney right now.
Writing that, there's also a case for Pereira getting a shot if we continue to look toothless. He'll give the ball away but he can come to the ball and then beat his marker at times, which would help.
Sounds better for Fellaini than Herrera."I like a second striker in that position more than a third midfielder. That is why, for example, Herrera is not playing but is always coming in because he is more of a controlling midfielder there." van Gaal after tonight
I'd love to see Ander get the start against Brugge, LvG has tried Memphis and Adnan as starters there so giving Ander a starting shot is the next logical move IMO. I can see Pereira getting his chance at it in the Capital 1 cup.
That exactly what I've seen (the play did improve but Bastian had a bigger impact for me) but seems the caf has made up their mind that he should start every game.
Herrera should look to compete for the number 8 role instead of 10 IMO.Bastian-Herrera would be interesting to try out (did well together in the first game of pre-season).
Hererra wasn't incredible, but he did have 32 touches in only half-an-hour which is really good for a #10. It shows how well he made himself available for a pass.
The effect he had was to give his teammates an out-ball at all times, whilst raising the tempo with the speed of his passing. It may have been a bit of a 'vanilla' performance, but he's the type of player we've been missing sorely for much of the opening games. If we aspire to be a possession team, we need someone like that high up the pitch. Without that, the ball moves around too slowly for us to even contemplate opening teams up. If he'd started the match, I'm confident we'd have created a lot more chances.
BTW, I've not made my mind up about anything. I was keen to see Memphis in the hole at the start of the season. But looking at the way things have gone, I leaning more towards Herrera right now. Our lack of tempo is what's holding us back and Herrera is our best fix for it.
The effect he had was to give his teammates an out-ball at all times, whilst raising the tempo with the speed of his passing. It may have been a bit of a 'vanilla' performance, but he's the type of player we've been missing sorely for much of the opening games. If we aspire to be a possession team, we need someone like that high up the pitch. Without that, the ball moves around too slowly for us to even contemplate opening teams up. If he'd started the match, I'm confident we'd have created a lot more chances.
BTW, I've not made my mind up about anything. I was keen to see Memphis in the hole at the start of the season. But looking at the way things have gone, I leaning more towards Herrera right now. Our lack of tempo is what's holding us back and Herrera is our best fix for it.
Bit weird to say that the play didn't improve after he came on. We were under a lot of pressure for the first bit of the second half - when we made our subs we took control of the game again and played our best football of the game. I'm not at all saying that was because of Herrera, but there was a noticeable shift and we saw the game out comfortably.
I have to agree with this. I don't think that he was very good when he came on.
Schneiderlin-Herrera or Schweinstiger-Herrera would form a good partnership in the system we are trying to play, imo. Don't mind him at number 10 either, especially for the tougher games where you need more to control the midfield.
When Herrara first came I was in awe of his defense splitting passes. I feel with Van gaal he has been over coached about the point of possession, it has strained his creativity and you could notice it in the past couple games. Against Villa when he came on, he received the ball in the hole and he immediately started looking to his sides and behind him for retention. He missed every run that our wingers were making inside, and really if he's not going to attempt those passes, what's the point in having him as a #10? It's a shame.
I don't rate him as a no.10. I would like to see him more as a B2B, such a complete player should be playing there.
But the problem is that we don't really play with a box to box these days and he might be down the picking order for the 2 DM positions, I wouldn't be surprised to see that Fellaini will also be ahead of him when he returns for those 2 positions.
But the problem is that we don't really play with a box to box these days and he might be down the picking order for the 2 DM positions, I wouldn't be surprised to see that Fellaini will also be ahead of him when he returns for those 2 positions.
Me neither and i agree on the rest.
It's been evident but still sad to hear that"I like a second striker in that position more than a third midfielder. That is why, for example, Herrera is not playing but is always coming in because he is more of a controlling midfielder there." van Gaal after tonight
I thought he was pretty decent myself and in tandem with Schweinsteiger (mostly Schweini though) helped gain control of the midfield. Played a few nice passes and made a few mistakes but most importantly gave us a wee bit more energy, pressing off the ball and some tempo. Maybe it wasn't as good as I'm making it out to be but in relative to our rather tentative play until the 60th minute, it did look a lot better that it should perhaps. Januzaj didn't have a great game but got the winner nonetheless. I think we do not have a top notch #10/second-striker (unless Depay changes his game drastically or maybe LVG is in favour of trying out Mata there), so we might as well play to our strengths and play with a midfield trio with Herrera as the most advanced of the trio.
Rooney being isolated might be a bit of a problem though and that might be why LVG is insistent on using a #10/SS, to add a bit of a goal threat.
Rooney being isolated might be a bit of a problem though and that might be why LVG is insistent on using a #10/SS, to add a bit of a goal threat.
We effectively played 4-3-3 after Herrera came on. Basti was mostly operating on the left of centre midfield, Ander on the right, with Morgan between. He was the one expected to step out but he was playing as a 'controlling midfielder', to quote Van Gaal from last night. Van Gaal's comments about how well he thought we played after the subs, coupled with his criticism of Januzaj's ball losses, make me feel he was laying the ground to drop Adnan for Ander next week. Wouldn't be surprised to see Herrera start next Tuesday night.
Yep. He did the simple things right - made himself available for a pass, retained the ball well, defended well and didn't do anything stupid in general. Januzaj and Depay didn't really do any of that very well and the manager criticised them for that, so you'd have to think he'd be most pleased with Herrera's performance. In an ideal world he'd be playing with someone like Litmanen in there, but we don't have that. Herrera or Fellaini are our two best options there on the basis of this and last season.
Schweinsteiger was obviously the key but Herrera played a significant part. If you compare Herrera and Januzaj it seems pretty clear - Herrera had more touches, more dribbles and almost twice as many passes in half the time. Januzaj didn't help us control the game and didn't offer much in attack either.
Peoples idea of taking control of a game is scoring more goals, LvG's is getting back control of the possession in a game. This was what Bastian and Ander did. You will all have to wait for the fluid attacking game. All LvG wants is points, nothing more atm will keep him happy. His subs did exactly what he asked them to. He will be more annoyed that others in the starting lineup didn't.
Herrera is a must for me great pressing/tackling , links the attack and midfield well and great support for strikers around the edge of the box . With the energy that Schneiderlin brings to the team it bodes well for the future . I would like both of them playing with one of Schweinsteiger or Carrick . No doubt Schweinsteiger or Carrick will pick up a knock and Van Gaal will stumble on his best midfield line up .
I like Herrera, but he wasn't as good as many made him to be.
Hm. I'm not sure he's more athletic than Depay. Or stronger. Or more dynamic. I'm not sure any of those are key attributes for a number 10 anyway. More attributes of a "number 8", where Schneiderlin seems to be excelling at present.
Personally i'd have Mata playing in the middle with Schmidfield behind him. He proved again last night how good he is at making killer passes and creating chances and he did that on the rare occasions he drifted inside. Imagine depay and pedro running off the flanks with Mata threading balls through. He offers more of a goal threat than Herrera as well.
That midfield three would offer plenty of resistance, strength and creativity.
That said, its a long season and whilst Herrera is a sub in my preferred line up, he will start plenty of games when we need to rotate and keep players fresh. He may start on Tuesday with Schmidfield.
He's more agile than Memphis and has shown just as much strength on the ball, I also think his superior technique makes him more dynamic when turning quickly to try and initiate attacks. I'd also say these things are important in the role in the PL as the ball is pressed relentlessly and while we saw Mata make a couple of nice passes last night we also saw how he can't protect the ball and is easily hustled off it as he's so slow and weak.
I actually think Memphis would be better if he got rid of some of the leg muscle.
Yeah I saw this too. But it wasn't just him Yesterday, a lot of our players missed the runs Depay made.
Why do I sense that LVG screams at this guy the most? As others have said I hope he isn't getting over coached.
That's an interesting point, he is built like a 100M sprinter.
Which is fine if you are just running fast in a straight line, but he isn't he's a footballer.
lol if you couldn't see the difference then you should really watch the game again. It wasn't the best performance but his presence on the pitch means we looked much better in possession and in transition to attack, he's always available and his great movement and ability to tirelessly press players. The difference was obvious.
It wasn't a great performance at all but Villa were getting away with murder all game long. They kicked feck out of Januzaj then, when he went off, kicked feck out of Hererra instead. With a stronger ref they would have both made more of an impression.
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