Our attack is a mess | Joint 10th with Bournemouth for goals scored

[K2K]

I think the buck has to stop with the manager, LVG's tactics means that this team is even less creative than it can be. Playing two number 6 will not make us any more creative and there is blantantly no link up between the midfield and attack. I think the setup of the team is just far too negative , and that has resulted in the team that we have now. We need to get our shackles off and play with the swagger of Man United, not this ....passathon..

The one that I did notice even with his Holland side at the world cup, especially after the group stage was how heavily reliant they were on the counter rather than taking the initiative. It means that even with a creative player such as Robben, they were games were they absolutely blunt e.g the Costa Rica game.

I think the Leicester game affected LVG far too much..instead of trying to go out there and attack, we'd rather play in a way that we are not attacked.

 

[Godfather]

No one that watched us play today or during pre season can deny the fact that we look absolutely shite up front and really need to do sth about it

 

[Di Maria's angel]

I think the Leicester game affected LVG far too much..instead of trying to go out there and attack, we'd rather play in a way that we are not attacked.

Jamie Fecking Vardy!

 

[Sam]

No one that watched us play today or during pre season can deny the fact that we look absolutely shite up front and really need to do sth about it

As I said earlier, since the Barca game, our '1st XI' haven't managed to score a goal from open play.

Barca - Header from a set piece
PSG - No goals
Spurs - Own goal.

Whats even more worrying, is we haven't even looked like scoring. We barely even look like threatening.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

No one that watched us play today or during pre season can deny the fact that we look absolutely shite up front and really need to do sth about it

But that won't happen while we have Rooney unfortunately

 

[K2K]

Edit: Jamie Fecking England international Vardy!

 

[032Devil]

Why we sold Nani I will never understand. We miss him these days!

Probably because most of the time he was crap. His shooting was the worst in the whole of football.

 

[izec]

Is it really surprising? Memphis plays out of position, Young isnt good enough, Rooney looks past it and Mata isnt creative and fast enough to really be threatening from the wing constantly. Playing with 2 deep lying midfielders doesnt help, we look isolated and absolutely devoid of any creativity.


The only time we look threatening is when the fullbacks go attacking. Says it all.

 

[Asger]

Probably because most of the time he was crap. His shooting was the worst in the whole of football.

We could say the same about many of our players... Even Rooney, has many poor games in every season... Nani was our best winger last 5 years or so.

 

[K2K]

We could say the same about many of our players... Even Rooney, has many poor games in every season... Nani was our best winger last 5 years or so.

I really think it was just time for both parties to move on..Nani is the kind of player that frustates at times, brilliant at others, and one who the fans had a love hate relationship with at the end..I think he is someone that needs a manager that puts a shoulder over him..but LVG doesnt offer that..It was for the best imo

 

[mattsville]

We have good attacking options, the "intent" however is not there. Today was slow, methodical and slow, low risk football, 1 shot on goal, awful statement of intent, 3 points granted so you can't complain after the 1st match last season. The place is usually hopping at the start of the new season it was very muted. The biggest issue with that was we didn't even do that too well, we were messy at times and they could have scored.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Probably because most of the time he was crap. His shooting was the worst in the whole of football.

Funny, I can't remember the last time anyone scored from a ranged shot, heck I don't remember the last time we shot from long range.

 

[clarkydaz]

I think the buck has to stop with the manager, LVG's tactics means that this team is even less creative than it can be. Playing two number 6 will not make us any more creative and there is blantantly no link up between the midfield and attack. I think the setup of the team is just far too negative , and that has resulted in the team that we have now. We need to get our shackles off and play with the swagger of Man United, not this ....passathon..

The one that I did notice even with his Holland side at the world cup, especially after the group stage was how heavily reliant they were on the counter rather than taking the initiative. It means that even with a creative player such as Robben, they were games were they absolutely blunt e.g the Costa Rica game.

I think the Leicester game affected LVG far too much..instead of trying to go out there and attack, we'd rather play in a way that we are not attacked.

my memory tells me bar that freak opening Spain game they had little to offer other than relying on Robben fullstop

 

[NoLogo]

Funny, I can't remember the last time anyone scored from a ranged shot, heck I don't remember the last time we shot from long range.

Well Memphis tried it 2 times today if I remember correctly. Wasn't really great though, one was blocked and the other went like 10 miles past the goal.

 

[K2K]

my memory tells me bar that freak opening Spain game they had little to offer other than relying on Robben fullstop

They did beat Chile and Australis..but really, Australia deserved so much more from that game, they could easily have won..but yes, from there, it wasnt exciting

 

[Nanotron]

Funny, I can't remember the last time anyone scored from a ranged shot, heck I don't remember the last time we shot from long range.

Blind and herrera are the only ones i remember. Thats what you get now for it though, one gets ignored and the other gets moved farther away from having the opportunity to do it again.

 

[LilRicky]

We have good attacking options, the "intent" however is not there. Today was slow, methodical and slow, low risk football, 1 shot on goal, awful statement of intent, 3 points granted so you can't complain after the 1st match last season. The place is usually hopping at the start of the new season it was very muted. The biggest issue with that was we didn't even do that too well, we were messy at times and they could have scored.

Slow, Methodical and...?

I really am tired of the negative bs on here. United are currently in a rebuilding phase, LVG arrived last summer and has started to turn the club around from a woeful year from Moyes. Weather you agree with some, none or all of his decisions does not matter. He knows more than you me or any other poster on here and we should be respectful of a manager who has won at every club he has managed.

He is smack bang in the middle of rebuilding Manchester United, since his arrival last summer he has sold a staggering 25 players in total (youth & first team players), whilst signing 13. The quantity of transfers is down to him rebuilding an needing to do this to get the team / squad to his liking. This summer is his first real chance to delve into the market and obtain players that he liked after arriving late last summer. Of the players obtained this summer all 5 of them debuted today and I would suggest All done very well today.

Romero started nervy but grew into the game
Darmian looks a fantastic bit of business already
Schneiderlin likewise started nervous but relaxed and grew as the game rolled on
Schweinsteiger came on and bossed the midfield, directing play well
Depay when fed the ball showed some moments of brilliance and linked up ok with Rooney and Mata, it wasn't perfect but will improve with time

Did you ever think the reason for the low risk football was to protect said debuting Goalkeeper? Or to give protection to a player (Blind) learning his new role at CB?

"The place is usually hopping at the start of the season" - If you mean Old Trafford, I thought the fans were fantastic today. They gave all the new signings a great welcome and cheered Romero's name post match and gave Bastian a fantastic welcome coming on. United are notoriously slow starters to the season and I don't recall to many opening matches were we looked like world beaters from the get go. If you look back at United's opening Day results they are hardly memorable, in the last 5 years previous to today's result United

• Lost to Swansea 2-1
• Beat Swansea 4-1
• Lost to Everton 1-0
• Beat West Brom 2-1
• Beat Newcastle 3-0

The Swansea win really was a flattering result, they dominated United for much of the match and we really were lucky to run out with that score line. Not that it mattered much because what followed in the months after is best forgotten. The West Brom result was also down to a late Own Goal, otherwise that would of been a draw. The only result that really was one side was and us walking to a win was the Newcastle match.

 

[sunama]

I think the Leicester game affected LVG far too much..instead of trying to go out there and attack, we'd rather play in a way that we are not attacked.

Up until the Leicester game, we were free flowing and were playing attacking football.
And Di Maria...oh Di Maria. Some comments which I read from fans, saying that they couldnt believe Di Maria was playing for us. He was that good.
I really do believe that that game was the turning point, after which LVG decided he wanted to use players who were more defensively minded.

 

[World Game]

The problem starts at the back. How many times do we have to resort to passing back to the keeper/hoofing the ball up? Playing Blind in CB helps out a bit in this department but we still struggled to build up properly. Against a team like Spurs we should be having 60%+ possession. There are many players who are still not up to scratch technically, don't have the confidence to pass/receive the ball to tight spaces.

 

[buckooo1978]

Up until the Leicester game, we were free flowing and were playing attacking football.
And Di Maria...oh Di Maria. Some comments which I read from fans, saying that they couldnt believe Di Maria was playing for us. He was that good.
I really do believe that that game was the turning point, after which LVG decided he wanted to use players who were more defensively minded.

That's nonsense

We struggled for goals early on as well.... watch United away to Burnley for example... perhaps one of the worst games of Football I've seen - think we had one RVP half chance

We scored more goals under Moyes....think about that considering LVG added Falcao, Herrera and Di Maria to the team

 

[RedRonaldo]

I think prob is:
Rooney - in poor form
Young - good threat on wing but bad delivery
Depay - out of position, offer nothing in middle
Mata - lack of pace on wing, cutting inside is his only option

 

[Water Melon]

Front 4 are isolated from the back 6.
Wingers prefer to cut inside, while full backs are instructed to play it safe.
Wayne drops deep to receive the ball, thus we have no proper attacker upfront.
Memphis is getting used to the team and prefers to shoot, instead of making the final pass at times.
Hoofing the ball to Wayne does not help much, as he is not tall and naturally tends to lose most of aerial duels.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Young's still a useful squad player, he just shouldn't be starting. We shouldn't just get rid of players who are squad players at best, you need people like young.

I wasn't advocating getting rid of him. It's just I thought it was Uniteds policy to only give one year contracts to players over 30. Then review it year by year.

 

[legball]

I'll go on a mini rant. This has been an issue since LVG became our manager. I like the man and have high hopes for him, but my God, I've seen smaller teams move the ball at a higher pace than we do. I look at the team we had out yesterday, and apart from Mata, that attack has some reasonable pace in it...Carrick & Schneiderlin [whom most of us wanted] can pass it with reasonable pace - so the question remains, why are we not doing it? Why is the build up so laboured and so slow, I know it's the first game of the season, but this is just a continuation of what has been going on last season, we create precious little.

It's really bad that I watched United play for 90 minutes and there was hardly an attacking highlight, if Spurs had converted that early chance, our blunt attacking would have had to do something extraordinary for us to win yesterday. We don't force things, the passing lacks any purpose, the movement is slow, the striker had almost nothing to work with. We go on about needing a new/better striker [maybe we do], but, what would Diego Costa have done with the "nothing" we created yesterday? Would Benzema have any fared better? I'm not sure.

Carrick and Schneiderlin did quite well, but the space between Rooney and Memphis was empty, no one was linking midfield with attack, players were very far apart from each other, we looked like a team lacking in technical coaching and we have a manager that prides himself in this. Once again, I believe in LVG, but right now I don't understand what he's trying to do with this team. New players or not, Manchester United players should be able to play better at home, at home, it's at home for crying out loud!

 

[Garethw]

We could have Ronaldo, Mesi and Bale as our front three and we'd still struggle for goals because LVG is a negative coach that seems to have lost his bottle when it comes to attacking football.

 

[Jerch]

Nah i would want to wait who we buy this transfer window. If we buy Pedro and one striker we are good to go. This was first game of the season and it was all about the result. And it looks like pre-season was about preparation for the first game. We played against defensively very solid and organised Spurs team. We got 3 points and we now go to Villa who are much worse than Tottenham and our aproach could be more offensive.

 

[Escobar]

To be honest, I think one of the things LVG will not be able to improve is our attack. He likes to play players out of position for whatever reason and overcomplicates things with his tactical instructions. It's too rigid for our players to play with creative freedom. To have a shot after 60mins is an embarrassment

 

[Raees]

We could have Ronaldo, Mesi and Bale as our front three and we'd still struggle for goals because LVG is a negative coach that seems to have lost his bottle when it comes to attacking football.

He's a negative coach because he hasn't got the balls to drop 2 out of his front 3 and inject some pace and dynamism into the side. We had an entire transfer window to bring in some fresh attacking talent and yes it is hard to find top top players but it remains an unresolved problem.

 

[Speak]

Neither Mata or Rooney will take us where we want to go.

 

[Litch]

Did anyone watch the city, Spurs, Liverpool or Chelsea games last season? The problem is not against the big teams, it's against the teams who park the bus (in fact that includes Chelsea). What we lack is a player that we thought we bought last season that can unlock defensives. To find another is going to be very difficult and we might have to wait another season for the Bales of this world 'fail'. The irony of it, we've been trying to sign this type of player since Ronaldo left....

 

[Walrus]

It was refreshing to see Memphis, a player actually prepared to carry the ball forward and take players on. I think Nani could have done a similar job for us. That is at the moment the most important piece of the puzzle though, as without a ball carrier we do simply lack creativity.

I have also banged on about our midfield shape for what feels like years. Playing with 2 #6s really hinders any sort of creativity in the side. Even Chelsea under Mourinho (a pretty defensive manager) partner Matic with Fabregas, a creative playmaker. None of Carrick, Schneiderlin or Schweinsteiger can fulfill that role however, so playing two holding mids simply doesn't work for us.

I would like to see us line up with Schneiderlin, Herrera and Fellaini as our midfield three, with the latter two operating in a box to box role like we saw last season. That for me was a well balanced and effective midfield (with Carrick rather than Schneiderlin obviously) and would allow us to play Memphis, Mata and Rooney as a proper front three, which also has good versatility and balance when used in the system I am proposing.

 

[DevilRed]

It was refreshing to see Memphis, a player actually prepared to carry the ball forward and take players on. I think Nani could have done a similar job for us. That is at the moment the most important piece of the puzzle though, as without a ball carrier we do simply lack creativity.

I have also banged on about our midfield shape for what feels like years. Playing with 2 #6s really hinders any sort of creativity in the side. Even Chelsea under Mourinho (a pretty defensive manager) partner Matic with Fabregas, a creative playmaker. None of Carrick, Schneiderlin or Schweinsteiger can fulfill that role however, so playing two holding mids simply doesn't work for us.

I would like to see us line up with Schneiderlin, Herrera and Fellaini as our midfield three, with the latter two operating in a box to box role like we saw last season. That for me was a well balanced and effective midfield (with Carrick rather than Schneiderlin obviously) and would allow us to play Memphis, Mata and Rooney as a proper front three, which also has good versatility and balance when used in the system I am proposing.

At least we have options in midfield. We can mix and match to however we like it to be. Playing two holding midfielders was detrimental to our attack but look at how we kept the clean sheet and won numerous challenges In the middle of the park.

Im sure we will get the balance and mix right soon enough. Its adding a proper right winger and someone to create behind Rooney that's the worrying thing. Hopefully LVG will see the light and drop Young for Herrera. Wish we would stop playing our attacking players out of position.

 

[Walrus]

At least we have options in midfield. We can mix and match to however we like it to be. Playing two holding midfielders was detrimental to our attack but look at how we kept the clean sheet and won numerous challenges In the middle of the park.

Im sure we will get the balance and mix right soon enough. Its adding a proper right winger and someone to create behind Rooney that's the worrying thing. Hopefully LVG will see the light and drop Young for Herrera. Wish we would stop playing our attacking players out of position.

Yeah I like that we have options although for me I wouldn't have signed schweinsteiger and would have tried to find a playmaker like fabregas.

 

[Oneunited26]

I think prob is:
Rooney - in poor form
Young - good threat on wing but bad delivery
Depay - out of position, offer nothing in middle
Mata - lack of pace on wing, cutting inside is his only option

And he has spent a fortune, and still plays players out of position

 

[KingMinger22]

The players in attack simply do not have the pace, creativity or talent that LVG mentioned we were lacking.

 

[sully1]

As of right now LVG's plan b should be to get Hernandez and Rooney upfront together if this Rooney and Memphis partnership fails.

We can do with Chica's pace and i think he won't have any problem letting Rooney be the main man. Wayne finishing inside the 6 years box is awful and this is where Hernandez comes in.

 

[Everest Red]

Fellaini + Pedro will change it. Fellaini is an ariel threat and Pedro is a quick, ambidextrous finisher. The question is who else plays alongside them.

Jamie Fecking Vardy!

England's Brave Jamie Vardy.

 

[sully1]

The more i think of yesterday the more i think selling RVP was a stupid idea. those 2 chances Rooney missed Van Persie would have buried them

We really need another striker, that is for certain

 

[sully1]

Fellaini + Pedro will change it. Fellaini is an ariel threat and Pedro is a quick, ambidextrous finisher. The question is who else plays alongside them.

I dont understand why he doesn't just play the wingers in there position. Memphis and pedro on either wing and let mata and Fellaini play the number 10 role

 

[Sam]

3 games

2 goals -

1 own goal
1 deflected goal

We need major attacking reinforcements, and we need them now if we're so have any sort of 'successful' season. Missing out on Pedro was such a clusterfeck.