"I am a gambler – a risk taker"

[bosnian_red]

That's what Fergie said was one of the biggest reasons he was as successful as he was. He was always attack first, take risks, make things happen. Don't pass for the sake of passing, don't worry about getting 70% possession, but make things happen and be purposeful with the passing. It's why we got so far with a mediocre midfield. It's why we won game after game, because we were always prepared to lay it all on the line to win the game and get goals. And it made for exciting stuff.

Since he retired, it's been the same tumescent crap. Now I want to say I back Van Gaal, but he really has to buck up and realize what Manchester United is about. You can play possession football without making it boring as hell to watch. You can dominate games with possession without having your center backs have the most passes by far every game. He never has his teams take any risks. How can you play football when you tell your teams to just play it safe, keep possession of the ball and wait for the opposition to make a mistake? Whenever a team has sat back and defended, we've been clueless. Doesn't matter the level of opposition, doesn't matter who was on the pitch. It's very much down to the playing style.

The reason Moyes got sacked, or why so many fans didn't want him in the first place, was because of his boring, defensive and risk averse style. That's exactly how Van Gaal has been so far, and that's been a huge disappointment. What we as fans want is our manager to throw caution to the wind, go and attack teams, make chances, score goals and really entertain the fans. Not have 3 or 4 shots on target per game, maybe get 1 clear cut chance and hope our forward takes it. Every single game pans out the same way with us, and it's a shame because with the players we have, we should be playing great stuff. Everyone is clearly holding back with their risk taking, apart from Herrera and that is most likely why he isn't starting. Shocking really. Even Di Maria at the start of the season, when he was absolutely amazing in his first 5 games or so, scored and created chances non stop, was criticized by Van Gaal because he gave the ball away too much. Sorry, but I'm not having that.

I would much rather a player take risks, try and make things happen but then occasionally lose the ball, then just pass it around the back 4 or 5 for 90 minutes and finish games without a sniff of a chance. At least they lost it trying to make a chance and play some exciting stuff. Yes, the opposition might get a chance on the break if we attack them and throw players forward and play quickly. Guess what, that's football. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the time, with the likes of Rooney, Van Persie, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata, Herrera and everyone else, that we would be able to out score any opposition we play against if we just got them playing fast, attacking football and encouraged taking risks. Formation doesn't matter. It's the whole mentality which is making us boring as feck.

 

[Raptori]

That's what Fergie said was one of the biggest reasons he was as successful as he was. He was always attack first, take risks, make things happen. Don't pass for the sake of passing, don't worry about getting 70% possession, but make things happen and be purposeful with the passing. It's why we got so far with a mediocre midfield. It's why we won game after game, because we were always prepared to lay it all on the line to win the game and get goals. And it made for exciting stuff.

Since he retired, it's been the same tumescent crap. Now I want to say I back Van Gaal, but he really has to buck up and realize what Manchester United is about. You can play possession football without making it boring as hell to watch. You can dominate games with possession without having your center backs have the most passes by far every game. He never has his teams take any risks. How can you play football when you tell your teams to just play it safe, keep possession of the ball and wait for the opposition to make a mistake? Whenever a team has sat back and defended, we've been clueless. Doesn't matter the level of opposition, doesn't matter who was on the pitch. It's very much down to the playing style.

The reason Moyes got sacked, or why so many fans didn't want him in the first place, was because of his boring, defensive and risk averse style. That's exactly how Van Gaal has been so far, and that's been a huge disappointment. What we as fans want is our manager to throw caution to the wind, go and attack teams, make chances, score goals and really entertain the fans. Not have 3 or 4 shots on target per game, maybe get 1 clear cut chance and hope our forward takes it. Every single game pans out the same way with us, and it's a shame because with the players we have, we should be playing great stuff. Everyone is clearly holding back with their risk taking, apart from Herrera and that is most likely why he isn't starting. Shocking really. Even Di Maria at the start of the season, when he was absolutely amazing in his first 5 games or so, scored and created chances non stop, was criticized by Van Gaal because he gave the ball away too much. Sorry, but I'm not having that.

I would much rather a player take risks, try and make things happen but then occasionally lose the ball, then just pass it around the back 4 or 5 for 90 minutes and finish games without a sniff of a chance. At least they lost it trying to make a chance and play some exciting stuff. Yes, the opposition might get a chance on the break if we attack them and throw players forward and play quickly. Guess what, that's football. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the time, with the likes of Rooney, Van Persie, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata, Herrera and everyone else, that we would be able to out score any opposition we play against if we just got them playing fast, attacking football and encouraged taking risks. Formation doesn't matter. It's the whole mentality which is making us boring as feck.

Is that true though? Haven't his teams historically been known for inventive, attacking football - ignoring the last year?

 

[bosnian_red]

Is that true though? Haven't his teams historically been known for inventive, attacking football - ignoring the last year?

Have they? Plenty of Bayern fans like @Balu I'm pretty sure have come on here and said how Bayern was just passing for passing sake, not making chances, just keeping possession aimlessly. Holland at the world cup was the same in the games they weren't playing a counter attacking style in. From what I remember in the United against Bayern games in 2010 as well, they hardly troubled us, in the first game they had around 65% possession I think but created next to nothing, then scored off a free kick and then out of nothing in the last minute Evra had that terrible mistake to give them a win. In the home leg it was the same, we were on a different level to them, they did nothing, scored a fluke goal from Olic, ref sent off Rafael because Ribery was a whiny bitch, and then they had the ball the entire second half but did nothing with it until Robben scored that volley.

Even if you read his interviews, or even Blind's interview recently, they're very much in line with this. He likes to keep possession, wait for the opposition to make a mistake. He said recently football is a game of mistakes. That to me just sounds like his ideology is about keeping the ball for as long as possible and just expecting the opposition to have a lapse in concentration and then you play it through them at that moment and you take your chance.

 

[Raptori]

Have they? Plenty of Bayern fans like @Balu I'm pretty sure have come on here and said how Bayern was just passing for passing sake, not making chances, just keeping possession aimlessly. Holland at the world cup was the same in the games they weren't playing a counter attacking style in. From what I remember in the United against Bayern games in 2010 as well, they hardly troubled us, in the first game they had around 65% possession I think but created next to nothing, then scored off a free kick and then out of nothing in the last minute Evra had that terrible mistake to give them a win. In the home leg it was the same, we were on a different level to them, they did nothing, scored a fluke goal from Olic, ref sent off Rafael because Ribery was a whiny bitch, and then they had the ball the entire second half but did nothing with it until Robben scored that volley.

Even if you read his interviews, or even Blind's interview recently, they're very much in line with this. He likes to keep possession, wait for the opposition to make a mistake. He said recently football is a game of mistakes. That to me just sounds like his ideology is about keeping the ball for as long as possible and just expecting the opposition to have a lapse in concentration and then you play it through them at that moment and you take your chance.

Was his Ajax side like that though? Maybe he's become progressively more conservative over time, he does seem to be very cautious about it at the moment :/

 

[Blue always red]

Was his Ajax side like that though? Maybe he's become progressively more conservative over time, he does seem to be very cautious about it at the moment :/

No point in discussing his Ajax teams as football has come a long, long way since then. I think the speed of the PL is throwing him so he feels the need to properly slow the game down to a pace that he feels comfortable at.

 

[bosnian_red]

Was his Ajax side like that though? Maybe he's become progressively more conservative over time, he does seem to be very cautious about it at the moment :/

No idea, was only a baby then. Something must be wrong if you have to go back 20 years though. The thing is, I'm sure he's capable of getting us playing brilliant football, it's just out of stubbornness or whatever else, he prefers a different approach.

 

[2cents]

I seem to remember his Barca side of 98/99 being very much gung-ho in the two ties with us, hence the two 3-3 draws. It's very possible that he's grown more cautious throughout the years.

 

[Raptori]

No point in discussing his Ajax teams as football has come a long, long way since then. I think the speed of the PL is throwing him so he feels the need to properly slow the game down to a pace that he feels comfortable at.

Just trying to get a feel for how his philosophy has changed over the years, since like you say it's been a long time

No idea, was only a baby then. Something must be wrong if you have to go back 20 years though. The thing is, I'm sure he's capable of getting us playing brilliant football, it's just out of stubbornness or whatever else, he prefers a different approach.

Yeah I was too young as well, that's why I was wondering - it could be something that he's become more comfortable with over time but it's hard to tell without knowing more about how his teams played in the past :/

 

[Boycott]

Ajax always play that way. It's inherit in their identity and if they start to change, then a change in structure will occur. Martin Jol lost his job for trying to make them more pragmatic.

Van Gaal's CV is very good. So is Wenger's. I put Wenger in here because people say he is out of touch with modern football. His lack of trophies, and his mindset to building teams. Most of Van Gaal's success came in the 90s. He's been very hit and miss. Hit at the start, usually leads to a bitter departure. More than twice puts the onus on it being his fault for it. He's been out of club management since 2011.

Prior to that he was at AZ winning the league, very good for a club of that size. How much can we take out of that? Quietly went about their business with the expectations off, and overachieved. Steve McLaren did the same with Twente. His last scrutinized role was at Barca over a decade ago. He failed.

 

[bosnian_red]

Ajax always play that way. It's inherit in their identity and if they start to change, then a change in structure will occur. Martin Jol lost his job for trying to make them more pragmatic.

Van Gaal's CV is very good. So is Wenger's. I put Wenger in here because people say he is out of touch with modern football. His lack of trophies, and his mindset to building teams. Most of Van Gaal's success came in the 90s. He's been very hit and miss. Hit at the start, usually leads to a bitter departure. More than twice puts the onus on it being his fault for it. He's been out of club management since 2011.

Prior to that he was at AZ winning the league, very good for a club of that size. How much can we take out of that? Quietly went about their business with the expectations off, and overachieved. Steve McLaren did the same with Twente. His last scrutinized role was at Barca over a decade ago. He failed.

He's a terrific manager with a very good track record, and I do think he will play a big role in rebuilding us, the problem is that I don't think we could take the next step without moving onto a different manager who takes more risks, like Bayern did. We'll still get top 4, and he can get us competing for the title I'm sure, as he's a very good tactician especially in big games. The problem is I don't think he'll get the consistency required to really put the smaller teams away consistently to really win things as going forward we are too easy to neutralize with his style.

 

[izec]

Have they? Plenty of Bayern fans like @Balu I'm pretty sure have come on here and said how Bayern was just passing for passing sake, not making chances, just keeping possession aimlessly. Holland at the world cup was the same in the games they weren't playing a counter attacking style in. From what I remember in the United against Bayern games in 2010 as well, they hardly troubled us, in the first game they had around 65% possession I think but created next to nothing, then scored off a free kick and then out of nothing in the last minute Evra had that terrible mistake to give them a win. In the home leg it was the same, we were on a different level to them, they did nothing, scored a fluke goal from Olic, ref sent off Rafael because Ribery was a whiny bitch, and then they had the ball the entire second half but did nothing with it until Robben scored that volley.

Even if you read his interviews, or even Blind's interview recently, they're very much in line with this. He likes to keep possession, wait for the opposition to make a mistake. He said recently football is a game of mistakes. That to me just sounds like his ideology is about keeping the ball for as long as possible and just expecting the opposition to have a lapse in concentration and then you play it through them at that moment and you take your chance.

spot on. They were piss poor against us, created next to nothing in the final against Inter too.

 

[adexkola]

I would much rather a player take risks, try and make things happen but then occasionally lose the ball, then just pass it around the back 4 or 5 for 90 minutes and finish games without a sniff of a chance.

Remember this kid named Nani? He got shunted out in favor of more "dependable" players like Valencia and Young.

 

[Revan]

Is that true though? Haven't his teams historically been known for inventive, attacking football - ignoring the last year?

Ajax apparently was. Barca (on second regime), Bayern and Holland (on both regimes) weren't. Obviously, Bayern wasn't as boring as us but the second season there was a borefest and it was heavily depended on Gomez's individual brilliance (a player Van Gaal wanted out). It wasn't enough though, and Van Gaal was sacked a few months before the end of the season (with Bayern in fourth place - back then not a place which sends the team to UCL). It finished third under the new manager though.

 

[Crackers]

I seem to remember his Barca side of 98/99 being very much gung-ho in the two ties with us, hence the two 3-3 draws. It's very possible that he's grown more cautious throughout the years.

Cautious with age seems likely. He seems like he's unwilling to try anything risky as he think we need to place it safe to guarantee top 4. No, United are a team that traditionally live on the edge. United teams attack ruthlessly, we rush the box with attack after attack. He's got to be a bit more attacking minded I feel. Go out at Leicester with a desire to absolutely batter them.

 

[bosnian_red]

Remember this kid named Nani? He got shunted out in favor of more "dependable" players like Valencia and Young.

Don't remind me. The last few years, since Ronaldo left in fact, most of the players who took more risks rather then the safety first approach have been treated ridiculously harshly. Happened with Nani, is happening with Herrera and even some people criticize Di Maria because of it as they did with Giggs. No idea why, like they want to be entertained but then criticize players for trying to do just that.

 

[Boycott]

He's a terrific manager with a very good track record, and I do think he will play a big role in rebuilding us, the problem is that I don't think we could take the next step without moving onto a different manager who takes more risks, like Bayern did. We'll still get top 4, and he can get us competing for the title I'm sure, as he's a very good tactician especially in big games. The problem is I don't think he'll get the consistency required to really put the smaller teams away consistently to really win things as going forward we are too easy to neutralize with his style.

He has a track record of burning bridges. Are we going to be a club that recycles players in and out to keep up to Van Gaal's wants. Many will agree that our defence is not that good but his solution seems to be just to stick an extra man in there rather than coach/train the team to be defensively structured. Mourinho turned a leaky Chelsea defence into an awesome wall, Koeman has built his defence. Two managers who have utilised the transfer market to better use too. He reminds me of Benitez in a way. Successes are down to him, defeats are the faults of players. I have yet to see pragmatism to change the pattern of play on the pitch. We've got away with it due to an outstanding keeper and lucky goals. The latter is drying up alarmingly and De Gea is only human.

Also his Ajax + AZ side and the Netherlands side of 2014 he had absolute full control. Ajax demand a certain style, Van Gaal is an Ajax man and he also had the cream of talent at his disposal. When he's been scrutinized by directors he gets insecure. He's fallen out with big players. Look at his first stint with Holland. Many of his Ajax players were there but they grew their reputations. He failed. Barca he ended in a horrible way, same with Bayern. He famously fell out with Robben and Gomez who had they left he would have seriously struggled. He's too stubborn for his own good.

 

[Skills]

He's far more defensive than Moyes ever was. Moyes actually wanted to play attacking football against most teams but was just completely clueless on how you go about executing it. Van Gaal's intention is defend first.

 

[RedStarUnited]

He's far more defensive than Moyes ever was. Moyes actually wanted to play attacking football against most teams but was just completely clueless on how you go about executing it. Van Gaal's intention is defend first.

Really? Id hardly call us defensive mate...

 

[bosnian_red]

Really? Id hardly call us defensive mate...

It's been our problem. The past 3 months or so, we've been perfectly fine defensively but have been awful going forward. Think we've conceded 7 goals in our last 14 games but scored only 22? Ignore the reputations with all the big name players we have, our whole tactics have been defensive and been more about keeping clean sheets rather then making chances.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

There has to be more to it. In the 2/3 of his career (10/15 seasons) his teams had the best attack in their leagues. Even in his last season at Bayern, the period so many Bayern fans point out as solid proof for how static they looked up front, Bayern Munich finished the Bundesliga with the best attack, having scored 81 goals while the champions, Dortmund, came second in that category with 67.

I think he still hasn't figured out the way to win the number of matches needed to challenge for the PL or maybe a top four finish, that's why he keeps mentioning the words balance and philosophy. This is what has kept Wenger alive at Arsenal, they have the way to get the wins that will provide them a top four finish.

After the defeat at Leicester he also keeps repeating that the PL is very difficult. I still have faith in him because i believe he's a very good tactician but i don't think he'll take many risks until this issue is resolved. He must find a pattern to get wins against the majority of the teams in the lower half of the table.

But while most think that switching to a back four and replacing a CB with the midfielder is the way to improve our attacking plays, my opinion is that he should drop one forward in favor of a midfielder. He instructs both forwards to play near each other in the box or on the edge of and harness the opposition CBs. This results in our forwards getting isolated and the whole team looking static.

Imo this is the risk he'll have to take and i call it a risk because the whole team has been built around the two forwards and Mata playing in the hole.

 

[rover]

fergie was successful in his way, mostly in domestic games, simply because we were superior in term of quality and we ripped the most reward when invited other local teams to attack us. the so called risk taking that many pundits nowadays would like to get the soundbite.

even in the prime days, we were hardly to break in if an opponent was determined to pack in their box. our bigger chances came when we let them attack and set on the counter with great pace since that was the only moment space behind the opponent's defense shown up. the only year that we were invincible in anyway was the 98/99 one. we were playing great possession football at great pace. even opponent was parking their bus, we were still able to get a late goal in the 2nd half when they got tired. exactly what blind was trying to mean it in his interview.

but this was also the biggest drawback prevented fergie to maintain a continuous success in winning consecutive trophies in a straight way, not until very late of his career at least. given our 98/99 team, i was expecting we could have gone winning the champion league three consecutive times in a straight way and made us one of the few true elites in european football. but it didn't happen because we were lacking of consistency and didn't have a required structure which could make it happen. instead, that invincible team fell apart very quickly even though ferige is such a genius to rebuild another winning squad quickly.

fergie saw the problem and tried to make up of his deficiency. that's the reason why he spent such a huge amount to bring in veron and imported kleberson. he wanted to introduce into some continental element to improve the structure and to make our play in more consistency. it failed because bringing in two continental style of players cannot simply change the play way of the whole squad. instead, it only brought in chaos. this is not his expertise for how to organize to play in a more systematic way of football.

that's the reason why he turned to foreigners and brought in queiroz and meulensteen later on to help him out. fegie himself tried to make us more continental for over 10 years before his retirement. and we could see this was the period scholes performed the best and giggs evolved his style into a complete continental player.

there are several challenges lvg is facing this reason:

. a new league;
. a new crop of players mixed with differenet styles brought in different stages under different managers;
. the non-stop injuries bizarre keep players in and out on and off through out the season. even they are now coming back but a player won't be 100% for at least one or two months after back in full action. for example diMaria is absolutely not in his best form yet and that's the reason why we used to say the league won't start until october november time;
. even then, we still need to try out what would be our best combination of players to put in field to get the right balance and produce the optimal results. then he will have a decision to make to decide who to stay and who other players he needs to bring in to accomplish the deficiency. but obviously the schedule is in a big delay this season because of the injuries

for a new team the most important thing is to have a structure to follow. and i see us are now playing in a very organized way, this is exactly the way how to access the true quality of a football coach in a proficient way. ancelotti is receiving so much praise is because he finally gives the galacticos a structure that they don't have for a very long moment, probably for around 10 years

we might not be desirable in some area like not creative enough in some area and such can be resolved by introducing some creative players. but the platform laid out in his early stage of career here in united is the foundation lvg can rely on to move out from there.

it's just beginning.

 

[.Rossi]

Fergie's teams were cack since 2009

Let's not hide that fact

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Posession football doesnt have to be dull as feck. But possession without penetration always is.

I'd just like to see us play with a bit of urgency.

 

[MarkC]

fergie was successful in his way, mostly in domestic games, simply because we were superior in term of quality and we ripped the most reward when invited other local teams to attack us. the so called risk taking that many pundits nowadays would like to get the soundbite.

even in the prime days, we were hardly to break in if an opponent was determined to pack in their box. our bigger chances came when we let them attack and set on the counter with great pace since that was the only moment space behind the opponent's defense shown up. the only year that we were invincible in anyway was the 98/99 one. we were playing great possession football at great pace. even opponent was parking their bus, we were still able to get a late goal in the 2nd half when they got tired. exactly what blind was trying to mean it in his interview.

but this was also the biggest drawback prevented fergie to maintain a continuous success in winning consecutive trophies in a straight way, not until very late of his career at least. given our 98/99 team, i was expecting we could have gone winning the champion league three consecutive times in a straight way and made us one of the few true elites in european football. but it didn't happen because we were lacking of consistency and didn't have a required structure which could make it happen. instead, that invincible team fell apart very quickly even though ferige is such a genius to rebuild another winning squad quickly.

fergie saw the problem and tried to make up of his deficiency. that's the reason why he spent such a huge amount to bring in veron and imported kleberson. he wanted to introduce into some continental element to improve the structure and to make our play in more consistency. it failed because bringing in two continental style of players cannot simply change the play way of the whole squad. instead, it only brought in chaos. this is not his expertise for how to organize to play in a more systematic way of football.

that's the reason why he turned to foreigners and brought in queiroz and meulensteen later on to help him out. fegie himself tried to make us more continental for over 10 years before his retirement. and we could see this was the period scholes performed the best and giggs evolved his style into a complete continental player.

there are several challenges lvg is facing this reason:

. a new league;
. a new crop of players mixed with differenet styles brought in different stages under different managers;
. the non-stop injuries bizarre keep players in and out on and off through out the season. even they are now coming back but a player won't be 100% for at least one or two months after back in full action. for example diMaria is absolutely not in his best form yet and that's the reason why we used to say the league won't start until october november time;
. even then, we still need to try out what would be our best combination of players to put in field to get the right balance and produce the optimal results. then he will have a decision to make to decide who to stay and who other players he needs to bring in to accomplish the deficiency. but obviously the schedule is in a big delay this season because of the injuries

for a new team the most important thing is to have a structure to follow. and i see us are now playing in a very organized way, this is exactly the way how to access the true quality of a football coach in a proficient way. ancelotti is receiving so much praise is because he finally gives the galacticos a structure that they don't have for a very long moment, probably for around 10 years

we might not be desirable in some area like not creative enough in some area and such can be resolved by introducing some creative players. but the platform laid out in his early stage of career here in united is the foundation lvg can rely on to move out from there.

it's just beginning.

Would say most of this is spot on and having watched United back then would agree 98/99 is the only time we have managed to "out-football" everybody something which Van Gaal seems to be trying to achieve. Ability to win games and dominate them these days for consistent success like you say is essential.

Even when we won the CL in 08 it was through admitting Barca had too much for us attacking wise and trying to nick a goal then hold on. The only good thing I could possibly see when Fergie left was that if we went for the right manager we could find somebody to teach us a more European style which would bring us the success in Europe to match the level Fergie has led us to domestically. I can see this change happening already under Van Gaal but it will take time and will need new players as you can see Van Gaal realises this now as well.

 

[Nighteyes]

Fergie's teams were cack since 2009

Let's not hide that fact

Still a hell of a lot better than this shit. Even Moyes played better football while not spending 150m and that's saying a lot.

 

[kouroux]

Football under SAF wasn't that great to watch but it was entertaining because we knew the players always had the hunger and the will to win matches.

 

[.Rossi]

Still a hell of a lot better than this shit. Even Moyes played better football while not spending 150m and that's saying a lot.

Fair point and it is very hard to argue with what's on show at the moment.

But, this bland style of football has been happening before Moyes....Maybe not as bad but, it was happening

 

[sajeev]

Fergie's teams were cack since 2009

Let's not hide that fact

its a matter of opinion. i thought his 2008-09 was his most boring. other than that, his sides were mostly adventurous, yes they had their faults, but you can't compare that with whats happening now. it is worlds apart

 

[.Rossi]

its a matter of opinion. i thought his 2008-09 was his most boring. other than that, his sides were mostly adventurous, yes they had their faults, but you can't compare that with whats happening now. it is worlds apart

Hmmm you look back at his last two season.


2011/12 - They bottled it massively!! A Fergie side losing their bottle? Unheard of
2012/13 - RVP and to a lesser extent, Giggs, digging them out of holes. Some of the football played was appalling

 

[sajeev]

Hmmm you look back at his last two season.


2011/12 - They bottled it massively!! A Fergie side losing their bottle? Unheard of
2012/13 - RVP and to a lesser extent, Giggs, digging them out of holes. Some of the football played was appalling

It wasn't great but we played some good football whenever we wanted to. not like 2008-09, when we played some horrid football and of course not like last year when we didn't know how to play or win and this year when we are playing to win the possession

 

[.Rossi]

It wasn't great but we played some good football whenever we wanted to. not like 2008-09, when we played some horrid football and of course not like last year when we didn't know how to play or win and this year when we are playing to win the possession

What was it again in 2008/09?

10 clean sheets in a row or something?!....Constantly scoring first and sitting back until Newcastle put the shits up us and Fergie said, "Ah f**k this" and let loose

EDIT: I remember now. St James' Park....They went 1-0 up and battered Vidic. We went all guns blazing after and won 2-1.....I ended up in some nightclub in Kildare that night and dropped the hand on an off duty cop......Those were the bloody days

 

[Pexbo]

Win a few games, get some confidence back and this little blip of a loss and a few draws will be forgotten.

As much as anything I think the main problem is that we don't have any players in form at the moment. We need Rooney, Di Maria or Falcao/Van Persie to hit a bit of a rich vein and inspire the rest of them.

 

[Nighteyes]

Hmmm you look back at his last two season.


2011/12 - They bottled it massively!! A Fergie side losing their bottle? Unheard of
2012/13 - RVP and to a lesser extent, Giggs, digging them out of holes. Some of the football played was appalling

It's not like RVP dribbled past 10 men and slotted home every time. We played some excellent football that season albeit only in fits and starts and very rarely for a whole game. The Reading and Newcastle games are good examples from that season. If you class that football as appalling then this must be off the fecking charts.

Very rarely did we look this clueless under Fergie for such a prolonged period of time and our intent was generally to score.

 

[roykeane19]

Its weird, under SAF our midfield was shit, so we couldnt create much, but still we ended up with the top scorer in our team in SAF`s last 2 years( ok Rooney was 2nd in 2011/12, but not far from rvp)

But now we have the creative players we were craving, and the strikers, but still cant create anything, , even when we played shit under SAF, we always outscored the opposition, nowadays players dont really seem to have that pride and that aura of playing for united, and winning is a must, they`re just happy to take their fat checks home

 

[.Rossi]

It's not like RVP dribbled past 10 men and slotted home every time. We played some excellent football that season albeit only in fits and starts and very rarely for a whole game. The Reading and Newcastle games are good examples from that season. If you class that football as appalling then this must be off the fecking charts.

Very rarely did we look this clueless under Fergie for such a prolonged period of time and our intent was generally to score.

No, but for a vast majority of that season, we were utter dogshite.

West Ham away
Giving up 2-0 leads countless times
Needing an offside goal and them to be reduced to 9 men to beat Chelsea

It was torrid stuff a lot of the time.....We were lucky City put up naff all of a challenge.

We were better then compared to now but, compared to United teams over the last 20 odd years, it was dire

 

[Nighteyes]

No, but for a vast majority of that season, we were utter dogshite.

West Ham away
Giving up 2-0 leads countless times
Needing an offside goal and them to be reduced to 9 men to beat Chelsea

It was torrid stuff a lot of the time.....We were lucky City put up naff all of a challenge.

We were better then compared to now but, compared to United teams over the last 20 odd years, it was dire

We were shit defensively but we always had a goal or three in us to the point where there was talk about breaking the 100 goal barrier. There's no comparison between this shit and that season. We were far far better.

Right now, LVG has combined shit defensive football with shit attacking football. You might call it Total Shitball if you will.

 

[.Rossi]

We were shit defensively but we always had a goal or three in us to the point where there was talk about breaking the 100 goal barrier. There's no comparison between this shit and that season. We were far far better.

Right now, LVG has combined shit defensive football with shit attacking football. You might call it Total Shitball if you will.

Ha....I'm not arguing with you, I'm agreeing with you

I'm just pointing out that our football has been going down hill even when Fergie was here