Can you ever imagine this group of players being good in possession?

[Idxomer]

I had hopes that if we get someone like Ten Hag in the summer, I could see these players improving in that regard.

The last couple of months has put me off this notion completely, I mean they are even finding pressing and increasing their workrate hard work.

Maybe if those players have just come to the club, they could learn to do well in possession.

I just don't see it now with basically any player who has spent the last few years at the club.

 

[tomaldinho1]

The irony if we get Ten Haag and Donny leaves in summer

McFred is a difficult base to play possession football from, I don't think Ragnick is really bothered about possession either so probably not this season!

 

[Vidyoyo]

Not so much with this formation. We do have some good pass and movers but the speed we play at, and insistence at getting the ball to wingers and driving it in, creates a lot of unforced errors. Other top teams are much better than us at passing the ball around the box and waiting for the right opening. City are ridiculously good at it.

Funnily our goal came tonight came from this sort of attack so we can do it

 

[Crashoutcassius]

yes we have a very good squad. forum posters fought tooth and nail with me at the start of the season when I said I thought chelsea still had a better squad. now the same posters want to go the opposite way and say we shouldn't be able to beat newcastle.

the problem is the coaching hasn't been good enough under ole and appears to be far worse under ralf, if we take the performances as an indicator of coaching. once we get the management situation correct the players we look much better

 

[thegregster]

Does it matter? The next manager will want to bring in at least 8 first team players over the next two summers.

 

[Bastian]

At the moment it's hard to imagine it, but with proper training and with the players buying into it, I'd say we're a midfielder short for it and overcoming this crisis of confidence. A player like Rashford is not as terrible as he's been for the last few months. Nor is Maguire. And with Bruno reverting from pinging through balls at every single opportunity but to also play it sensible, I could definitely see this team be able to control possession in most matches with just one midfield addition.

They've not had that training for about 6 years.

 

[Mainoldo]

Does it matter? The next manager will want to bring in at least 8 first team players over the next two summers.

We don’t need that many.

GK
RB
2 CM’s
Winger
CF

Well suppose your close enough.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Possession football, well we've been there in Louie van Gaal era. It's not only about possession though, Rangnick often points to overall physical presence to compete for the ball and it shows.

I totally could imagine United not giving up ball for cheap. We need synchronized midfielders and some dynamic fullbacks who make runs accordingly to tempo. It's not rocket science to create something similar in United, even though our players look less than clueless.

 

[mu4c_20le]

The squad is more suited to a counter attacking style. Feels like Ralf has been slowly moving towards that as well, by pulling back the double pivot and playing long balls into space for the wingers.

 

[thegregster]

At the moment it's hard to imagine it, but with proper training and with the players buying into it, I'd say we're a midfielder short for it and overcoming this crisis of confidence. A player like Rashford is not as terrible as he's been for the last few months. Nor is Maguire. And with Bruno reverting from pinging through balls at every single opportunity but to also play it sensible, I could definitely see this team be able to control possession in most matches with just one midfield addition.

They've not had that training for about 6 years.

What manager could trust him after the last 6 months? If your job is at stake do you trust a player that made those terrible mistakes V Leicester,Watford etc? He would be the first player out the door if I was in charge.

 

[Revaulx]

I’m hoping that the improvement in squad fitness that Ralf seems to be working on will increase the players’s confidence, and that from that they will become less likely to make so many basic errors.

I can’t believe that we’ve managed to assemble such a technically poor group of players at so great a cost.

 

[Canucantona20]

Once we buy some proper midfielders our possession will be better. Until then, expect more of the same

 

[Hugh Jass]

The squad is more suited to a counter attacking style. Feels like Ralf has been slowly moving towards that as well, by pulling back the double pivot and playing long balls into space for the wingers.

This. Its a counter attacking team and has been since Mourinho was hired.

Assuming Rangnick goes upstairs in the summer, you are looking at two years before an attacking manager gets us up to speed. Took Pep a year with City and Klopp two-ish years with Liverpool.

 

[Oranges038]

With this exact group then? No

But, having seen what can be achieved with a limited group in a short period after seeing how Stephen Kenny has got Ireland keeping the ball at times. Anything is possible. But, the only way it is going to work is if there are changes in the team personnel in a couple of key areas.

Keeper needs to be comfortable on the ball. DDG is not, he will have to go.
Full backs - it's never going to work with them - they all need to be replaced.
Need 2 new midfielders - Fred and McT both need to just go.

 

[Hugh Jass]

With this exact group then? No

But, having seen what can be achieved with a limited group in a short period after seeing how Stephen Kenny has got Ireland keeping the ball at times. Anything is possible. But, the only way it is going to work is if there are changes in the team personnel in a couple of key areas.

Keeper needs to be comfortable on the ball. DDG is not, he will have to go.
Full backs - it's never going to work with them - they all need to be replaced.
Need 2 new midfielders - Fred and McT both need to just go.

Agreed. No control in MF at all.

 

[Timdbro]

No, I was literally thinking during the match, we have very few players who are any good in possession, and even fewer that actually play. I don’t think we’ve put any importance on that for our recruitment over the years, barring the odd exception like DVB who can’t get a start. At this point, it’s a pretty systematic thing to have to reverse, I think we struggle to integrate the odd player (like Donny) because we’re not setup to play like that. It would have to be a sudden change to something like half the starting 11, with maybe a pre season to get the tactics drilled into them.

 

[Leftback99]

Any combination of our midfield options with Dalot or AWB at right back will never form the basis of a good possession team.

Replace those 3/4 positions with players comfortable on the ball (technique, passing, dribbling) and the rest I think would be OK in possession.

I think Fred or McTominay would be fine squad players in a 3 alongside 2 CMs good on the ball.

 

[SuperiorXI]

No. It was never a team built for that, it was a counter-attacking team.

 

[redshaw]

Too many players suited to sitting deep and counter attacking at speed. The technical ability is not there. Perhaps a 3 man midfield can get a bit more control though and someone like Ten Hag could work with some for a while but I suspect others will have to leave and we take a loss on fees.

 

[MrSingh2002]

They knocked it about the first 30mins as well as we have for a long time.

Some actual diagonal balls instead of pedestrian recirculation with the CBs. Good start to the game.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

No too many of our core players are very loose in possession. We would have to alter our spacing and formation to adopt more of our possession based players (this is assuming trying to do so without sales/purchases in the transfer market).

Rashford, Fred, McT, AWB, Maguire, Bruno. That's 6 "core" players that aren't great at retaining the ball under pressure/tidy with possession in tight spaces. You'd probably need at least 4 of those replaced minimum to change how the team performs in possession.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Between Mourinho and Ole, which is about what, five or six years at this stage, it was a counter attacking team. We sit back and then bruno gives a pass into the space for the attackers to run onto.

We are trying to change that, so it will take time and we dont have the players currently to do it. The MF is shambles in controlling the game.

 

[Jezpeza]

I think our players make it difficult for themselves in possession. Often very close together and take too many touches before playing the obvious pass, by which time the recipients marker is closer. Theres a general lack of players moving off the ball to create or find space as well.

 

[Raees]

Not just a tactical issue. Personnel is huge problem. Fred struggles to trap a ball and McTominay hides and doesn’t ask for the ball enough. Get the right players in and then we can go from there.

 

[tenpoless]

No. Which is why Conte was the best option to get results. You can bring Ten Haag or anyone else that fancies a non counter attacking approach and there will be a change in personnel.

 

[MO_Football92]

It'll take time but I feel it's moreso about balancing the team and tactical tweaks than ability.

There are good technical players in your squad but spaces aren't being optimised; many times angles and distances for successful possession play are non-existant.

Possession football isn't really United's philosophy but the basic passing and movement should be better.

 

[croadyman]

Certain that is only going to happen IF we sign players even half decent on the ball, not even asking for classy at this stage just better than what we have now.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

The irony if we get Ten Haag and Donny leaves in summer

McFred is a difficult base to play possession football from, I don't think Ragnick is really bothered about possession either so probably not this season!

Donny is pretty average so it wouldn't be a big deal.

I don't think we've seen enough impact from Rangnick to draw conclusions. And he's never managed a big tram before so has no track record

 

[ReallyUSA]

This team does nothing good. Our wingers don’t pass. Our defenders as well as our midfield are inconsistent. They can’t keep position, they won’t press, they don’t do anything. Team needs an overhaul, and wage structure has to be fixed.

 

[Rightnr]

Donny is pretty average so it wouldn't be a big deal.

This reminds me of people saying Herrera is average and we won't miss him and now we're stuck with McTominay.

 

[Tarrou]

not really, without a proper midfield to build around I don't see how it's possible

 

[amolbhatia50k]

This reminds me of people saying Herrera is average and we won't miss him and now we're stuck with McTominay.

Herrera was much better and I'd have kept him. Donny usually makes no impact so I'm not fussed. Would I like to see him shine under a great manager? Sure. Do I think he'd be a big loss if he was sold? Nope.

 

[Rightnr]

Herrera was much better and I'd have kept him. Donny usually makes no impact so I'm not fussed. Would I like to see him shine under a great manager? Sure. Do I think he'd be a big loss if he was sold? Nope.

But how do you know?

LvG refused to play him even if he looked great the few times be did (Juanfield was awesome and he scored with 5 out of his first 5 shots) and Fellaini played instead.

Then Mounrinho came and he loved him, so did OGS. Fans were convinced he was good and he had never made a CL semifinal as a starter.

I don't see why the same cannot happen with DvdB. He may not be as good but he's certainly miles better than his minutes have led to believe.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

But how do you know?

LvG refused to play him even if he looked great the few times be did (Juanfield was awesome and he scored with 5 out of his first 5 shots) and Fellaini played instead.

Then Mounrinho came and he loved him, so did OGS. Fans were convinced he was good and he had never made a CL semifinal as a starter.

I don't see why the same cannot happen with DvdB. He may not be as good but he's certainly miles better than his minutes have led to believe.

Well he has to prove it. And he's usually average when he plays. For me Herrera showed much more even prior to his POTY run.

 

[Ogaranya]

It is all about right coaching, Ole was clueless about anything possession, it was three years of training them to defend deep and counter.

Get the right central midfielders and Ten Hag or Enrique in the summer, things will change for good.

 

[Amadaeus]

We have a much talented bunch of players than Ajax. if Ajax can do it, so can we. it is just something the manager has to imbue into these player. Same way that van gaal was doing here before, pep did at city, Pochettino at spurs and psg, biesla at Leeds, Arteta at Arsenal, ten hag at ajax, and so on.

 

[hobbers]

There's a tipping point when it comes to number of players who are bad in possession meaning the team cant be comfortable with the ball.

When you've got AWB, Maguire, Fred, McTominay, Rashford and Bruno (on this season's form) all on the pitch together, it's impossible to play possession football. They wouldn't manage it against Derby, let alone Villa or Wolves.

 

[Greck]

Even our best players aren't great in possession and throw away attacks repeatedly. The team was built to get the ball up as quick as possible no matter the error cost. Then for those thinking possession means passing the ball aimlessly we really should be past this by now, Pep and Klopp's teams are great in possession. There are different style and ways to be good at it. Even Fergie's teams were good in possession relative to the league they played in. We were passing teams ragged when the default PL style was still hoofball. It's not the same as today but was fairly sophisticated for its time.

 

[Foxbatt]

Donny is pretty average so it wouldn't be a big deal.

I don't think we've seen enough impact from Rangnick to draw conclusions. And he's never managed a big tram before so has no track record

I thought all trams ran on tracks. Please take this in the right spirit.

 

[Judge Red]

It’s as much about what they do off the ball. More often than not there simply isn’t a decent option available to the player on the ball. I think that’s why we’re seeing an increasing amount of selfishness. For instance, I keep seeing it mentioned that McTominay hides from the ball. It’s his job to be the heart of the team.