It's the one thing that has annoyed me, he has been so well behaved and clam. I just want the old feisty Mourinho back. Just feels a bit too passive since he joined us
Mourinho's Press Conference, Huddersfield (a): Sat, 6:30 pm, CET
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That's what he said, but it's not really what happens on the pitch. Lingard is quite obviously playing a more central #10 role and nobody really knows what Pogba is doing right now. Admittidly, I had to watch the Newcastle match on a crappy stream and I was only half watching, so maybe Lingard wasn't playing the #10 role, but he has been for almost every match he's started this season.
Anyway, a midfield 3 is the right approach in my mind, but Lingard isn't part of that or we end up with 2 midfielders attempting to play forward, leaving Matic exposed. Pogba needs to be the main driving force from CM, with Matic playing deep and a box to box type (we will buy this player in the summer I believe, since Herrera has fallen off the map and we have no one else to fill the role) playing the last spot. It won't work with Pogba/Matic/Lingard.
That is a joke. Lingard isn't a midfielder. We were NOT playing 4-3-3. A 4-3-3 is supposed to help you dominate the midfield yet we've done anything but that in the last few games. Lingard plays a lot further forward that you can't really call him a midfielder.
So Jose is lying?
I agree with you, especially on the last sentence. Mourinho does need to share some of the blame for the team not being able to consistently string three forward passes together, but it doesn't excuse Pogba's lack of effort.
The whole team needs to up it's intensity, we are embarrassing when it comes to covering distances during games and the team is last in the EPL on that stat alone.
I reckon McTominay would do better than Lingard in that role. He seems to be the type that will be happy to sit and let others play their game.
We need to stop using players in roles they don't fit or excel in.
Might as well be playing Matic is a midfield of 1 based on Jose's comments.
Playing Lingard as a CM is a joke and some huge insight into how much Jose just doesn't rate Herrera. Buy the right box to box CM this summer, and if Jose employs the right tactics, could be night and day next season.
I'm surprised he's actually bitten regarding the formation debate.
We haven't played recent matches with a more traditional three man midfield. Lingard is more like a forward and Pogba has been playing considerably deeper.
Whatever the intention is, it hasn't been working to great effect.
We haven't played recent matches with a more traditional three man midfield. Lingard is more like a forward and Pogba has been playing considerably deeper.
Whatever the intention is, it hasn't been working to great effect.
I was with you on this but the public feud with Conte showed that there is still plenty of fight left in Jose. He is default mode is to be passive these days but he is never far away from making headlines.
He did but its all the extra fluff that the journos pick apart. Why use 100 words when 2 will do, likes the sound of his own voice does Jose
Just to be clear im a Jose fan and I'm glad he's on the aggressive
Manager cannot play for his players. Only of our players show same passion as their manager. Pogba should take these criticsms on his chin and prove everyone how great he is in upcoming games.
He was talking about the Newcastle game, for which Herrera was injured.
You don't need Arturo Vidal to play a three man midfield. I think McTominay actually would have made a difference but that is besides the point, the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 debates and use of Pogba can be discussed in the other threads.
The point here based on that conference is, was that a proper 4-3-3 with a proper three man midfield and I think anyone with an ounce of dignity and lack of bias would say, no way was that a proper balanced three man midfield. Jose is clearly chatting shit in that regard.. yes he might have asked Jesse to drop deeper, but tactically to claim that midfield is just as able to free Pogba up as a typical three man midfield with two more deeper CM's is a lie.
There is bullshitting to save face and there is bare faced made up lies. The two are markedly different.
Lets not forget the City game where we fought like kittens on the pitch and then when the result didn't go our way, we fought like lions in the dressing room because they played music too loud.
Embarrassing. That is not what I want to see from United team, nor do I associate that with a typical Jose team.
I wasn't talking about Newscatle in particular either. Do you think Herrera will be starting for us for next season?
I'm not surprised. I'm actually quite surprised about how much Jose seems to care about the media, he was upset about the coverage for a good while afterwards.
Agree with the rest of the post, it's time to change things, even it means dropping some players.
But he was only talking about playing Lingard as a CM for the Newcastle game. Unless you think he's been playing there for a while with Herrera on the bench?
Well Lingard offers extra going forward. It should be enough against fecking Newcastle. Pogba was wank end of story.
An ounce of dignity ffs
Love to see back tracking and revisionism, i said in the other thread Pogba is nearly always level with Lingard apart from when Lingard makes runs past Lukakh, heat maps show that.
Lets just move on to the next bullshit reason for failure shall we
and what about Spurs?
True, this.
How about the heat maps I showed and the passing maps, which you've obviously conveniently chose to ignore.. which compared how Rakitic plays compared to Lingard.An ounce of dignity ffs
Love to see back tracking and revisionism, i said in the other thread Pogba is nearly always level with Lingard apart from when Lingard makes runs past Lukakh, heat maps show that.
Lets just move on to the next bullshit reason for failure shall we
One being a proper CM who plays in a three week in week out, alongside Iniesta (who occupies the same role Pogba would want to play) versus a guy who supposedly played in a three against Newcastle. They looked vastly different.
More than happy to post it here again if you have forgotten it.
Is Lingard the better player? Yes.
Is Lingard the better player at CM? Probably not.
Pogba and Lingard both wants to go forward. I don't think that is really possible unless both are disciplined enough to track back every time when needed. Having two similar profile players don't seem feasible. Look at RM for example, Modric and Kroos. I think Modric is the more attacking of the two.
That's why he is annoyed, I suspect. Maybe his plan, and the players execution/understanding of it, are not quite jelling. Thus his sensitivity to criticism. There is a kind of storming/norming dynamic going at the moment between Jose and PP. Hopefully both they and the team come out happy and successful and in love at the end of it all.
The Pogba part of the news conference was entirely too defensive. What's the benefit in a point by point rebuttal of tabloid news. He actually publicly admitted what system and position Paul prefers. Why? Is he going to do the same for Martial and Sanchez? Totally unnecessary. Those answers needed an edit.
The problem with Jose is he never publicly takes responsibility for any of the teams performances. Even "We, can do better, the coaches and players both" would at least direct things things in a more constructive direction. The tactics, the lineups have been bad, especially in the Spurs game. I'm heavily critical of Mourinho's midfield construction. Matic is just a plug. With this slow attacking tempo and as the team is currently constituted, he needs another world class MF just to have a chance against City, Spurs, Liverpool. You could fudge it in a higher pressing system and a front 3 that clicks (this is not happening w/ Lukaku).
The problem with Jose is he never publicly takes responsibility for any of the teams performances. Even "We, can do better, the coaches and players both" would at least direct things things in a more constructive direction. The tactics, the lineups have been bad, especially in the Spurs game. I'm heavily critical of Mourinho's midfield construction. Matic is just a plug. With this slow attacking tempo and as the team is currently constituted, he needs another world class MF just to have a chance against City, Spurs, Liverpool. You could fudge it in a higher pressing system and a front 3 that clicks (this is not happening w/ Lukaku).
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Agreed that Pogba was wank, no exuses there. But Jose has never won at St James's Park, he should have picked a better balanced team knowing his record. We all knew Newcastle would be up for it and we struggle away from home at times
He has, I think the last 3 games or so. I noticed it vs Burnley away, it didn't work very well then either tbf
Jose has said there that Paul Pogba himself has accepted that he isn't playing very well at the moment.
Pogba can accept criticism of himself that a number of people on the internet can't and refuse to. Either that or Mouirnho is just completely lying, for no reason at all.
If anything I'd see that as a positive as it suggests Pogba is willing to take on responsibility to do better. Rather than doing what a lot of people seem to want him to, which is basically nothing at all.
Pogba can accept criticism of himself that a number of people on the internet can't and refuse to. Either that or Mouirnho is just completely lying, for no reason at all.
If anything I'd see that as a positive as it suggests Pogba is willing to take on responsibility to do better. Rather than doing what a lot of people seem to want him to, which is basically nothing at all.
Indeed
I don't recall anyone admitting that he can't do better or that the Newcastle performance was solely down to tactical issues only. But feel free to rewrite the narrative.
This all detracts from the real issue which is that frequently against the better teams we lose the midfield battle and are overrun. The latest example being Spurs where Pogba and Matic were dominated by Dembele and Dier with Eriksen dropping in as an extra midfielder and Alli making runs from deep.
Was there a wider suggestion that Pogba played well against both Spurs and Newcastle?
I've no idea what post you're referring to but it still doesn't change the fact that the entire premise that Pogba has been tactically restricted is quite clearly bullshit.
Pogba himself has said he wants to do everything box to box, the manager has clarified he is instructing Pogba to play in his favoured position, but you want to call the manager a liar and carry on pretending Pogbas bad form is all just him being misused? Feel free
Would i want an actual midfielder rather than Lingard sure but it's not so fundamental to excuse anything
He's just sticking to the narrative he set. After all, we won't win the league with Pogba of course.
If Lingard has been playing in midfield then that pretty much sums up the problems we've been having, to me Lingard is not a midfielder hes a #10 and not a great one either. So with this in mind no wonder we get overrun in midfield because Lingard and Pogba don't hold their positions and go roaming forward. Next time Matic needs to give them a good bollocking, he needs to act like the leader in midfield for us.
It's been pointed out by several people that technically Lingard was supposed to be a second #8 in the recent games, the problem being he's not a #8, he has no traits for such a role, he'll run around a lot but he has no clue positionally and isn't a great passer of the ball, so it should come as no surprise that it didn't work, trying to play Jesse there isn't helping Pogba and it's hurting Lingard's game as his best games have come playing off the striker as his best work is done around the edge of the box.
Those cheekbonesBaiily is back!
He's also a decent footballer.Thing is I have a lot of respect for Noodle, guy speaks his mind and isn't a sheep who just follows the manager or whomever just because he thinks it is the safe thing to do.
If he believes the part in bold, it is because he genuinely believes that and isn't jumping on a bandwagon and he thinks Jose is in the right here, which he is entitled to do.
Disagree with him though, that he thinks we all think the Newcastle performance was simply Pogba being unable to play in a two. We know he can play there against weaker sides (sometimes doing really well, other times looking a liability). What we are arguing is that performance wise, side has been looking meh too many times this season even before this month and the midfield hasn't been playing terribly fluently, so it is an indication it is not working both for the team as well as Pogba.
When you see most of the other top sides in Europe, it is rare to see them have so many off days in performance to the point they look barely capable of stringing passes together - which we do very regularly. Even compared to Liverpool, Spurs.. they look much more coherent on a consistent basis.. other parts of their sides might let them down, but you rarely see them out-footballed by teams on a regular basis which you see from United an awful lot. That is unacceptable.
The english national team is a side who also very regularly gets outfootballed even by smaller nations. That is usually an indication of a malfunctioning midfield, as that is the area which is the most important in helping you to control any given game of football.
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It's not really meaningless. You can tell by a player doing almost nothing but jogging that he wasn't giving his all. Either that or he was injured.