PSV 2:1 Man Utd
Still in of our 11 best players, even on a bad day.
21
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 41
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Status
I would be putting him back at 10. Mata definitely isn't the answer there, or in a proper midfield three. He should never have been taken off. Bastian was starting to flag. Bring Michael and Morgan on, move Ander up front in place of Mata. Would have secured the midfield and Ander can grab you a goal.
Not sure why he was taken off tbh
The curious case of Ander Herrera, he'll work hard no matter where you play him but in this formation he just doesn't feel like a natural fit in the double pivot or as a #10, but certainly better at the latter IMO.
Yes. Definitely one of our 11 best players. Agreed.
Looks better at #10 than Mata.
Definitely. People wanted to know how Juan would perform there, now we know. Juan was not very good against Liverpool, so he is off form atm.
He doesn't fit in a two cm midfield for me, not under LvG at least.
Not sure why he's always first pick to be taken off when we need to chase a game. LVG needs his head checked and soon.
No idea why he got taken off.
We know based off one game where a freak injury ended up changing the game? We've a far larger sample size of that from Mata's playing career outside of United.
Play him as an a/m it's for me the obv choice and in a 2 with someone like scheiderlin. Facing the opposition goal as the 3rd man he's got a lot to offer, energy, workrate and an ability to link up, run in to channels, get in to the box and finish. Push him up to number ten where he's expected to hold of defenders isn't his strength whilst he's shown some nice touches. Fabregas, mata, Silva, Iniesta etc are all the same. They want to be closer to the midfield than the striker as they're away from the centrebacks and can often get in behind the midfield.
Not a good day, but didn't deserve to get subbed off. He's a fighter, he doesn't hide, but maybe the philosophy prefers measured, controlled, and gutless robots to someone who cares and is willing to bust a gut. Perennially disallowed.
Bit of a contradiction there, no? If he was off form anyway then a poor performance today hardly proves he can't play #10. Especially when some of the elements of his game that deserted him today have nothing to do with the position he was in.
I mean Herrera had even more of a nightmare playing in midfield a few weeks ago but that doesn't mean he can't play in midfield. In fact I still think playing as a b2b midfielder is his best position....
Yep it is.
My head isn't straight tonight at all. Just hearing more about Luke has upset me more. I hope we hammer them when they come to OT.He's been playing very cautios. He always goes for the safe optioni nowadays or turns around and plays it backwards. His strength though is to bring the ball forward, quick play and passes, movement off the ball. Let's hope he brings that out again (or is allowed to bring that out again)
Didn't think he was a great yesterday, he's not a LVG type midfielder (slow possession type), not sure if we will see the best out of him with the philosophy.
Does not look comfortable playing in a deeper role.
Hopefully he will now be our number one number 10. The way we played last night both Mata and him looked out of position. I don’t mind him in midfield against weaker opponents but he’s much better as AM.
This. Its a pity that in our current setup we don't have room for an out and out B2B. Herrera can do a job as a deep CM or an attacking 10, but these are not his natural roles to me
I'd play him as a right attacking midfielder. That is when he was at his best last season
I agree, he needs to be closer to the midfield than the forwards, the inverted triangle in 4-3-3 is the system that suits his skill set most, but now we aren't using it I feel he's not having the same impact and will need to up his performance in the double pivot to get game time as Rooney is going to get the #10 role IMO.
Yeah, I just don't get the obsession with LVG with playing effectively a second striker there when his players suit a slightly deeper role. I can see Rooney dropping deeper as well. Don't think it's the best idea personally as Rooney as a number 10 and it's the same issue with Fellaini in some ways, is that what they want to do doesn't suit what our wide players, mata/depay want to do. Rooney will shift it wide and then get in the box but mata/depay don't want to be pinned wide. Where as herrera will actually link up with them in that position. You can still end up with the same number of players in the box but we can work Depay/mata in to areas they are best suited too.
he indeed was very good there last year.
for my 2 p, i'd like to line united up like this when people are healthy:
---rooney - martial
de pay - mata - herrera
----schweinsteiger - schneiderlin
shaw - blind - smalling - darmian
--------- de gea
but of course, that'd result in us having 12 players and you just KNOW that teams like liverpool would complain about that.
I think it all comes down purely to goals, if our front 3 were prolific I reckon he'd probably stick with the inverted midfield 3 as opposed to a second striker/#10 system. The thing I feel he's missing in this is both Herrera and Fellaini were bigger goal threats last season playing deeper. Of course another issue may be that he feels Schweinsteiger suits a double pivot better than the inverted midfield 3 system.
You could argue that Rooney and Mata add up to about 1 in their current form...
He needs to start.
Of course he does. I would have taken Rooney off for him. LvG decided to let Paddy have some time which is good for him. Ander will play during the week, so can get time then. Bet Rooney bloody plays up front so no matter what balls they put through he will either deflect them into the stands or can't get on the end of them. Sigh.
I would have done the same. Rooney was shit and Herrera could have helped in the middle and brought the ball forward much quicker to feed our attacking players
Should clearly be ahead of Rooney for the #10 position. Although there are probably 3 or 4 others like that as well. Should be starting.
Will start mid-week and at the weekend after a horrible performance by Rooney. Hoping to see him play behind Wilson in the League Cup game with few minutes for Martial as a sub.
He's in a tough spot, I don't think LvG likes him in the double pivot and he has to displace Rooney to get the other role he can play in the current system.
Man Utd 3:0 Ipswich
I'm a fan but I am not convinced by him in the double pivot, he plays on the line too much for that role IMO.
not sure if we see he best out of him when Van Gaal's here, he's creative little player who can do all stuff, he's not cleverley who should play it safe backwards. Understand Mr. Van Gaal? He really brought fear into some palyer's eyes so they are too tidy afraid of risky passes. tbf 60minutes were really poor from us today, we won because they were shit.
By his standards he's having a poor season so far. I expected a lot more from him. Hopefully he improves like last season.
I feel this is how LVG wants him to play, we all loved Herrera, how he started last season constantly trying through balls, good in tackle actually and always on the run giving options, so basically a very good midfielder, and a stark contrast from our Anderson, Cleverley and co. After the Leicester city debacle and moulding his game according to LVG's liking he is getting more starts which suggests he is happy with him.
Last night i actually dont remember a single poor pass from him, his passing stats must be above 95%, but i feel he is very much playing within himself and one thing i have noticed with him, he plays first time passes far too much, and at times he has more time and if he turns he might actually have more say in the games with assists and goals. but i feel the risk of losing possession has supressed him somewhat..
Last night i actually dont remember a single poor pass from him, his passing stats must be above 95%, but i feel he is very much playing within himself and one thing i have noticed with him, he plays first time passes far too much, and at times he has more time and if he turns he might actually have more say in the games with assists and goals. but i feel the risk of losing possession has supressed him somewhat..
One thing i noticed is how more adventurous he was once Mata was off. It seemed like Schweinsteiger and Fellaini were the midfield protection, while Herrera was more of an AM with Pereira, Depay and Martial in front.
It's obvious he's capable of much more. He had an okay game but poor for his standards. But I absolutely love his style and hope he becomes something more than second tier player for van Gaal.
It's obvious he's capable of much more. He had an okay game but poor for his standards. But I absolutely love his style and hope he becomes something more than second tier player for van Gaal.
When's he back, we need someone to play number 10 the way he does urgently.
Injured?
- Status