What's all this about posession. It's not that we had 30 percent of it and completely gave it to Saints. I mean in some parts we gave them the ball but it wasn't that long and also I liked how we tried to get to their box as quickly as possible when we'd get the ball. It looks a lot more direct than during LVG reign. No meaningless possession.
Jose Mourinho's Utd
- Thread starter royboy16
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
- Status
Agree, you can have posession all day long playing sideways and backwards but its pointless if itskeeping hold of the ball without doing anything positive with it. I like the way we are set up and enjoyed watching it.
Footballs changed, the lower teams all look to the Barcelona's and Bayern's and are better at keeping possesion. English football isn't just about hoofball anymore. The majority of the teams now look to pass and move so naturally posession stats are going to look more and more balanced.
Southampton looked like a really good team, passing it around the pitch really well at times I thought but ultimatley most of thier shots were long potshots from outside of the box.
Anyone notice how much free movement we play with nowadays? Zlatan,Rooney, Mata, and Martial were all interchanging positions all over the pitch. Sometimes Martial would be at ST with Ibra on the left or Rooney would move out wide as Mata comes inside.
I also noticed that defensively, our back 4 is very in line and tightly closed together. I have no problem with that as long as our wingers are actively participating on the defenseive end. A nice change from our disorganized approach last season.
I also noticed that defensively, our back 4 is very in line and tightly closed together. I have no problem with that as long as our wingers are actively participating on the defenseive end. A nice change from our disorganized approach last season.
Yup, in both games against Madrid in 2013, they had us pegged back and controlled possession for the most part.
This. In fairness, we are a bit scarred!
In appreciation of good management - it's refreshing to see all business completed before the season's start and a clear squad strategy.
I honestly have no clue why more managers don't do this. So many points being lost in August by a lot of teams.
I honestly have no clue why more managers don't do this. So many points being lost in August by a lot of teams.
After LVG the cafe seems to have developed a distinct "possession is bad" mindset 
A page or two i made a similar point. Stylistically, i feel United's fans prefer counter attacking football as opposed to possession based football. i looked at as a club that played like Real Madrid accept they had red shirts.After LVG the cafe seems to have developed a distinct "possession is bad" mindset
I don't like seeing us have less of the ball than Southampton at OT tbh. Better than the LVG era, but not entirely satisfying. Good enough for now.
I'm hoping for a 433 that can build attacks from possession but also counterattack. an 07 and 08 SAF team really, that has to be the target for me. At the moment we're relying too much on teams fecking up and giving us the ball to counterattack for my liking.
I wouldn't like it either if i was a fan. The 2007-08 United side was the best i've seen United play since i started watching football a bit over a decade ago.
Meh, 2006/07 is where it's at if you want revel in fast attacking relentless football. 07/08 was a touch negative at times after Ferguson was annoyed getting dumped out by Milan.
Don't think the former will ever reappear with United though with Mourinho in charge given his pragmatic nature.
Don't think the former will ever reappear with United though with Mourinho in charge given his pragmatic nature.
It was in reaction to one poster saying that we needed to have more possession against Southampton. As I recall it was roughly 50/50, we had perhaps a bit less. I have absolutely no problem with us having 50% possession rather than 60% or 70% if it results in more direct football and better chances being created. Against Southampton the signs were there that we can be a good counter attacking team, and generally our best moments were when we were able to transition quickly from defence to attack and exploit the open space. I just don't get why someone would say "we need more possession" when it was obvious that us not having the ball as much as we're used to was actually beneficialAfter LVG the cafe seems to have developed a distinct "possession is bad" mindset
This This and This. Enjoyed the game but it was very disappointing the way we surrendered the ball to them and refused to press.
I always want my team to have the ball. One of the reasons i preferred Pep.
I don't think Mourinho will change much but it also depends on the team we face. We saw a lot of the ball against Leicester.
I couldn't care less about possession stats, I care about goal stats. If we keep scoring more than the opposition then we can keep having less possession than them for all I care.
Giving teams space to feck up a little beat was the hallmark of the great AC Milan team with Rijkaard, Gullit, van Basten. They even made fake mistakes to give the impression there was an opening while they were waiting for it.
This. I never understood why everyone marked that season down as our zenith under SAF. The pace of Ronaldo, Rooney and Saha was a sight to behold that year, and tbh, I don't think we've ever come close to it since. the 4-0 away to Bolton is IMO the best performance I've ever seen us put in. Was as close to perfection as you can get.
You're forgetting that Southampton played a 4-3-1-2 with a closed diamond. A closed diamond!
It's all about winning and not style then?
Winning ugly is still 3pts
Playing the most beautiful football in the world and not winning is still 0pts
Over the years people remember the winner, occasionally an unlucky great team, but still if style didnt win you match it's all for nothing
Not one elbow from Fellaini so far.
I call that a good style.
I call that a good style.
We won and we played better football than in most of our games under Van Gaal where we had 60% possession
What's having more possession got to do with style? I never said I want us to play bad football, I said I don't care about having more possession than the opposition.
As you say it is better having less possession but be effective, than having the most possession and being ineffective.
If that's what he means, I'd concur.
That being said, I didn't get the feeling that we parked the bus at any point during our game. We didn't have a proper pre-season to speak of and there were times when we weren't closing down the opposition at the edge of the half-way line.
A lot of their possession came not on our half, but rather them recycling possession at the edge of their half.
I saw a couple of instances of Wayne walking towards the Southampton player on the ball at around the 50 minute, situations such as these lead to the possession stat being as it is currently.
Whilst Mourinho doesn't operate the Gengen philosophy, he does expect his players to close down the opposition near the halfway line. Which considering our pre-season we might not be in a condition to do the entire 90 minutes.
In conclusion, given the conditions and the situation, we really shouldn't read too much into the possession stats at this stage of the season.
I watch United not mostly to win, I watch mostly because I want to be entertained. I'm not saying we are more or less entertaining now than under LVG, though I enjoyed it more on Froday than under LVG. Waiting for the opposition to loose the ball to capitalise and break quickly is not my idea of good football tbh. I prefer a well executed possession game, which we had with a Scholes in the team. Maybe it's that we don't have that kind of midfielder available to the team but I don't like the way Mourinho set up at OT.
Likewise, players play not mostly to entertain others, but because they want to win. If all players cared about was entertaining the audience, they'd all be freestylers. Your mindset would make sense for a neutral, but for a supporter, I find it perplexing that you'd put entertainment over success for your own club, especially considering our current situation.
I'm all for style and everything, but after the last few years I'm happy with seeing us winning points and going somewhere. We can complain about style when we're back on top.
This. Amen.
That depends what you consider entertaining. The Dortmund of Goetze etc in their final year together and the Barca of 07-11 were not full of "individual freestylers" as you put it. They were a team focused, high pressing possession oriented team that won practically everything and were spectacular to watch.
We were a bit narrow against Soton. I would be a bit nervous about that if we were playing a team like us.
Agreed.
I thought we played good considering its only the start. We had many chances. We played smart and it was really refreshing to see us play. I really couldnt care less about possession to be honest. I enjoy counter attacking football and i still think this is only the start. The interplay these guys are going to start playing when they get to know eachother has crazy potential. Mourinho is the perfect manager for us i feel and he has brought in the perfect players. Hold on to your seats lads because we are in for something special.
I've never understood this mindset. You might as well just become a neutral and watch various different teams in that case.
Better than Man Utd 7 Roma 1? The build up to Alan Smith's goal in that game was lush.
I definitely agree 2006/07 was more exciting than 2007/08. We became even better at strangling games in 2008/09, when Edwin got that record number of consecutive clean sheets.
Still, as professional as some of that was it was still hundreds of times better than the last three years. When Edwin was keeping shut out after shut out who complained? That run included 10 games in which no more than a single goal was scored. That was fine by me.
You can't be brilliant all the time. On another day Martial scores his one vs one against Southampton, Pogba squares it to Zlatan, we win 4-0 and nobody complains.
This whole debate is being massively over egged. You can't win as many titles as Jose has, against good teams, if your sides don't score goals. At times he's pragmatic. So what? Few managers can get away with not being so. If Pep had been he'd have almost certainly won the European Cup with Bayern.
It feels like the swagger is back; that teams fear us again. This might be more important than any change in system etc. The self-belief seems to have returned with Mourinho, as exemplified in players like Zlatan and Pogba.
For me United winning is entertainment. I love to see us beat teams and win trophies, that's what entertains me. Possession stats, number of passes, interceptions and all the rest of it mean nothing to me. I want to see United play direct football; get the ball forward and put the ball in the back of the net. If the opposition spend 70% of the match passing it about but we beat them that's fine with me.
I'm not from Manchester, I started supporting United due to their traditions and the way they play. Winning is only part of the joy if supporting a team IMO. If you're raised a stones throw from OT then of course there's an attachment to the area itself and wanting your area/team to beat the others in the country, but I personally don't relate as much to that as I do to the enjoyment in actually watching the team play.
I'm actually talking about enjoying watching a match, not wacking one off to a stats table ffs
There's a big difference with just "passing it about" and playing some really quick paced, skilled, mesmorising pass and move football.
I don't know what you guys are rambling on about honestly. I found the game highly entertaining, we won the game, kept a clean sheet, our record signing looked immense, our centre forward can head a ball but you guys found something to complain about?
The sweet spot is to have a chameleon team that can change its approach depending on the opponent and situation in the match.
Ferguson's sides could play possession football, they could also play devastating counterattack, they could play backs to the wall, and they could play all out attack.
This made them formidable opponents at home and in Europe. We need to be aiming for the same under Jose.
Ferguson's sides could play possession football, they could also play devastating counterattack, they could play backs to the wall, and they could play all out attack.
This made them formidable opponents at home and in Europe. We need to be aiming for the same under Jose.
- Status