Best players in their best positions

[Someone]

Is that a thing of the past now?

I feel that i don't understand football anymore, my brain hurts, football has evolved and i can't catch up in my mid 30s, wide players central and central players wide. Could someone young and bright walk me through this advanced tactic?

 

[Raw]

That makes sense, idiot. Under Van Gaal, things must be complicated.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Young the striker

 

[JB08]

I can understand the reasons for playing Mata and Martial on the wings, and for Rojo playing LB. But bringing Young up front is truly bizarre. Also, playing Lingard in no. 10 and pushing Mata on the wing is ridiculous.

 

[DWelbz19]

Not quite related but Morgan Schneiderlin taking a corner only to play it two yards was bloody great to watch.

 

[Snow]

I can understand the reasons for playing Mata and Martial on the wings, and for Rojo playing LB. But bringing Young up front is truly bizarre. Also, playing Lingard in no. 10 and pushing Mata on the wing is ridiculous.

Mata wasn't even on the wing. He was like a 3rd midfielder that was supposed to close down their winger.

 

[JB08]

Mata wasn't even on the wing. He was like a 3rd midfielder that was supposed to close down their winger.

Maybe not in particular today, but in general.

 

[Rossa]

Not quite related but Morgan Schneiderlin taking a corner only to play it two yards was bloody great to watch.

Almost up there with Jones taking corners

 

[Rossa]

Why the hell play the left wing Young as a striker and the striker Martial as left winger?

 

[stevoc]

Van Gaal playing players out of position has gotten to a ridiculous level.

Today at one point we had Martial, Young, Mata, Rojo, Blind and Mensah all out of their natural position.

Our whole attacking unit was fecked up. A winger up front, a striker out wide, a no.10 on the RW and the only player sort of in his natural position was Lingard.

Why not put Martial up front, Mata in behind, Young left and Lingard right?

None of it makes any fecking sense.

 

[bosnian_red]

Lingard at 10 and Mata on the right is just idiotic. No reason for it. Young on at half time to play CF while Martial is on the left is again, idiotic. As is constantly playing Carrick ahead of Herrera. But hey, Van Gaal knows what he's doing right?

 

[Footyislife]

Vote which decision makes LVG, the deranged Dutchman, the worst coach in the premier league:

1. Exchanging extramarital services from Lingard and Mata for starting positions. And then playing them horribly out of position to punish them for blackmailing him with video evidence of their affair.

2. Forgetting that Daley Blind might be the worst CB in the league. But who needs to worry about Blind's atrocious defending since he can pass the ball really well sometimes. Fits our Gung Ho, outscore our opponent, tactics.

3. Playing Carrick with Daley Blind as a hybrid DM/CB to better pass the ball backwards and drive up our passing percentage. While all the fools worry about goals, we know real victory is measured in passing percentage.

4. Carrick & Blind are a little slow, but Tottenham isn't a young athletic team so we'll be fine. If it doesn't work i'll just complain about the lack of pace in the team.

5. Things aren't working, what should i do? Mata and Lingard aren't playing well, but i can't get rid of them due to their, ahem, blackmail. I'd get fired for taking of Martial. So i'll just sub Young for Rashford. Hopefully that does something.

 

[McK@n]

a centerback at leftback, a defensiv midfielder at centerback, a right winger at attacking midfield, a striker at leftwing, a rightback/leftback cum winger at striker and a slow attacking midfielder at rightwing.

Well thats retarded mr LVG!

All season long i have been waiting for it to make sense, but I am not suprised that you still dont see the quality the players possess almost 2 yeras on. Process you say, i say stubborness. Move on now Louie!

 

[Golden Nugget]

Angel is right after all.

I remember reading something on Clough and his eagerness to play a youth/reserve fullback when his first choice was injured, as opposed of playing a centre back there etc... His response was that they would have been playing that position all their lives, so they're a professional there - so they would bring more to the team than someone played out of position (well it was something like that).

Here we have a manager that thinks the complete opposite.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Edited

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

I was happy with the team today, and felt we did well enough until the goal. After that, we fell apart.

Apart from our full backs, who are centre backs by trade, everyone played in positions that they're pretty used to. This also applies to Mensah and Rojo, who are used to playing at full back like they did today, but the both are naturally defence minded.

As I've explained in the post match thread, that's where I think the game was lost. Spurs' full backs push very high and make a lot of runs in behind, which forces our attacking players back. Our full backs didn't also give us that outlet, which is no surprise, seeing as they're both centre backs, as I mentioned before.

I think this is where we miss Shaw and Valencia as our full backs. Constantly running up and down. In the modern game, this is needed. Made the difference today.

 

[Sandikan]

Mata on the right gets him in the team, but is just wrong on so many levels.
He has license to wander inside, but then if you don't have a full back with any attacking level, you basically lose that whole wing for attacks.

Every single team we play against knows that when Mata gets the ball, get on him super tight. He's not going to burn you down the wing, and even if he slips you, you can recover. He's like a pygmi amongst some physical beasts too.

Great on the ball at times though, but very much a case of enjoy him while you can, as he's surely first name on the list to axe for Mourinho.

 

[Sandikan]

I was happy with the team today, and felt we did well enough until the goal. .

It is a shame that this will get forgotten. That Martial run too, could very easily have been a goal.

Almost like a Mourinho big game performance, park and steal. But the obvious truth is that under VG, this is just the way we play anyway.

Roll on the end of the season finally putting us out of our misery.

Not especially looking forward to Wednesday now

 

[Earthquake]

Going out of his way to one up playing Jones as an attacking mid/second striker.

 

[VeevaVee]

I was happy with the team today, and felt we did well enough until the goal. After that, we fell apart.

We were lifeless until then too.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

We were lifeless until then too.

We weren't great, no, especially going forward, but I felt we looked pretty good as a unit before we capitulated.

 

[VeevaVee]

We weren't great, no, especially going forward, but I felt we looked pretty good as a unit before we capitulated.

I didn't think Spurs were looking all that but we still managed to offer minimal threat. A single shot on target isn't good enough.

I think it's a sign of fallen standards if people are thinking we look alright with that kind of performance.

 

[shabadu84]

It was the right defensive approach - stay compact and limit their key players' influence - but the players he used and where he used them left us completely hopeless in attack. We ended up hoofing and hoping we could get it past midfield. It can turn out OK if you take advantage of the limited chances but if can go to crap quite fast when the resistance breaks down. This training the players' brains was supposed to make them more instinctive, not less. Instead, they're left thinking about their new roles all match - you can see the gears turning with each decisionmand so can the opposition.

Seeing him try Martial and Mata on the wings with Young and Lingard in the middle was peak LVG, all the pegs in the wrong holes for no reason.

 

[Adam-Utd]

LVG and the whole coaching staff are tactically clueless. Everybody knows they push their wide men inside and bomb the fullbacks forward, so what does he do? Play our most immobile and slowest player to run and chase a quick fit fullback up and down the pitch!!

He did more defending than attacking, and whenever he does get the ball he either lost it when pressed or just went backwards. He's a complete waste of space on the right wing, and I can't believe he didn't change it at half time to realise it wasn't working.

When I saw going coming on I thought oh ok he's either going on the right or pushing martial up and lingard right. But to see Mata staying on the wing and young going upfront I just knew it would cost us eventually.

Surprise surprise all 3 goals came from the left wing. Why couldnt anybody see it??

 

[Will Singh]

His taking the fecking piss out of us, Young up front is a fecking joke and a piss take. What a joke his made our club.

I can't believe it has been over 20 years when we went 3-0 down at white heart lane in the first half but came out in the 2nd and ripped them to shreds, time flys but since LVG has taken over its slowed the feck down!!!

 

[Jonno]

Mata just looked exposed and lost all game by Danny Rose.

Why oh why didn't LVG address it?!

 

[stevoc]

It was the right defensive approach - stay compact and limit their key players' influence - but the players he used and where he used them left us completely hopeless in attack. We ended up hoofing and hoping we could get it past midfield. It can turn out OK if you take advantage of the limited chances but if can go to crap quite fast when the resistance breaks down. This training the players' brains was supposed to make them more instinctive, not less. Instead, they're left thinking about their new roles all match - you can see the gears turning with each decisionmand so can the opposition.

Seeing him try Martial and Mata on the wings with Young and Lingard in the middle was peak LVG, all the pegs in the wrong holes for no reason.

Yeah seeing that today confirmed (as if we didn't already know) that Van Gaal is a crackpot.

Football is a simple game, get good players and play them in their natural positions. Everyone of that quartet was in the wrong position, not to mention Blind and Rojo.

Spurs are a decent side you can't hope to beat them away from home with 6 players playing out of position.

 

[bugmat]

Yeah seeing that today confirmed (as if we didn't already know) that Van Gaal is a crackpot.

Football is a simple game, get good players and play them in their natural positions. Everyone of that quartet was in the wrong position, not to mention Blind and Rojo.

Spurs are a decent side you can't hope to beat them away from home with 6 players playing out of position.

Pfft1 We are talking about a living genius here! Simple is for simpletons like us! He is from another plane of existence...I wish he'd go back there!

 

[ZIDANE]

Is that a thing of the past now?

I feel that i don't understand football anymore, my brain hurts, football has evolved and i can't catch up in my mid 30s, wide players central and central players wide. Could someone young and bright walk me through this advanced tactic?

Shocking isn't it. It definitely isn't a thing of the past or an advanced tactic. It is just the United way at the moment and we're crap because of it. There is a club that plays the same team every week and in their 'proper' positions, guess what position they are in the league...