Our Passing v Fulham

[Zen]

I missed the first 25-30....but from what I saw, minus the awfully shaky last 10 minutes, I thought it was a very good passing game from us, incredibly unlucky not to get a 2nd and kill off, some very good openings from Rooney, especially the one to Young, and another when he was offside.

Obviously they said Fulham did quite well to start the game, but I missed that, so judging from the 50 minutes of the 60 I saw....this is the not the game to be crying about our passing, it seemed like Fergie told them to go out there and do a professional job, 2-0 or something instead of thinking of goal difference, and they were very unlucky not to get just that, which then obviously led the shaky ending.

We've been far worse this year and won....and also been battered for it on other occasions(Newcastle, Bilbao etc)

 

[VeevaVee]

I think I know what the OP's getting at. I reckon we have been playing some sloppy football this season at times. Definitely lacking that clinical sharpness on occasion. Tonight there were a few times where we dawdled or took a touch that wasn't needed too.

What annoys me more at the moment and I noticed it tonight was, despite possessing two (hell, three) fast wingers whom are also good crossers of the ball, we aren't as apt at that slick, pacey, jugular tearing counter attacking as we once were. This makes me sad.

 

[ghaliboy]

624 of 708 passes completed (88%).
59.6% possession.
149 of 202 passes completed in the attacking third.
12 backpasses.
609 of 673 passes completed short.
314 of 376 passes completed forward.
191 of 194 passes completed backward.
119 of 137 passes complete square.
4 of 5 passes complete GK distribution.
13 of 13 completed throw-ins. (GET IN 100% THROW IN!)

Honestly, I don't see much wrong with our passing going off those stats??

Michael Carrick
96 of 104 passes completed (92%).
89 passes received.
22 of 27 passes completed in the attacking third.
1 chance created.
4 of 6 passes completed long.
92 of 98 passes completed short.
51 of 59 passes completed forward.
26 of 26 passes completed backward.
19 of 19 passes completed square.

 

[Cold_Boy]

It was only the final ball which was lacking.

Giggs was shocking and was the main culprit.

 

[girish]

Our passing and general link up play in the first minutes were good. We were even closing down the Fulham players and getting the better of them. But Gigs didn't give any kind of support for Carrick in the middle and was too busy trying to play like Scholes; trying cross-field passes failing every time. And the final balls in the attacking third were very poor.

 

[Nathan]

It was the all intensity affair i was expecting. We started well and then allowed them some possession and that gave them hope. In the second half with the changes we made we took our foot off the gas and tried to hit them on the counter, our front players Wellbeck/Hernandez didnt hold the ball up well enough.

Having said that it is 3 points in the bag.

 

[Sniggleton]

this thread is fully stupid. i remember an interview ronaldinho gave a few years back in his first few seasons at barca where he talked about one of the challenges of slotting into a new team in understanding which players prefer the ball played to their feet and which prefer a ball played a yard or so in front of them that they can run on to.

not all players play the same style, have the same instincts, read the game the same way. i guarantee you the likes of scholes, xavi, riquelme, and the whole of that "midfield maestro" genre of field conductors prefer a pass played directly into them so that they may immediately dictate where the next move occurs, rather than out in front of them where they must run onto the pass before being evaluate what options are available given their orientation & momentum.

clearly you've never stepped on a pitch yourself.

When passing it makes sense to play the ball generally IN FRONT of your team mate to allow for your team mate to run on to and keep up the general momentum of play. We've done this very effectively with midfields of Keane, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs of course.

This season all too often the ball is played to where the player is standing at the time of the pass which means:-

1. The ball is effectively played behind the player and the player has to stop and play a backwards pass, or

2. The opposition player reads the ball and gets to it first.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I think I know what the OP's getting at. I reckon we have been playing some sloppy football this season at times. Definitely lacking that clinical sharpness on occasion. Tonight there were a few times where we dawdled or took a touch that wasn't needed too.

What annoys me more at the moment and I noticed it tonight was, despite possessing two (hell, three) fast wingers whom are also good crossers of the ball, we aren't as apt at that slick, pacey, jugular tearing counter attacking as we once were. This makes me sad.

How can you counter-attack against a team that sat as deep as Fulham did last night?

If you want to see brilliant counter-attacking football again, get a video of our trip to Craven Cottage. Turns out Jol is a competent manager who adapts his tactics to counteract the opposition strengths. Who's have thought it?

 

[Feed Me]

Possession was good, completion was poor in the final third.

We need to take way more care with final ball - Rooney and Welbeck particularly culpable in this regard.

 

[finneh]

A lot of it can be put down to swapping and changing personnel all the time. We often start with different varieties of pairings all over the pitch from one game to the next, so it is hard to get any real fluency or form.

Nev said it tonight about Evans. He is getting better because he is getting a regular run of games. Young has had a few now and he is getting back to his best, Valencia was brilliant before his injury and the confidence that gave him has carried on as though he has never been away.

Our problem is not being able to play Giggs or Scholes next to Carrick for more than one game at a time. Had Cleverley or Anderson been available more, we may have seen a more settled midfield. As it is the elder's need resting. At least we only have one game a week now i suppose!

I half agree with what your saying, although the biggest culprits more often than not seem to be players who are getting a run of games. The likes of particularly Giggs and Rooney, but even Evra, Rio and Welbeck (although the latter is understandable given it's his first real season, so he will require time getting up to our usual tempo). Add players into the mix who are sporadically playing as well (Young, Hernandez etc) and it doesn't bode particularly well.

I presume the problem is just a lack of concentration.

 

[Cina]

Nothing wrong with our passing this season, overall. Largely down to Carrick and Scholes.

It's the final ball that's been lacking.

 

[Brwned]

Nothing wrong with our passing this season, overall. Largely down to Carrick and Scholes.

It's the final ball that's been lacking.

All season? The fact that we're on course to score more league goals than anyone else in the last decade bar Chelsea in 09/10 surely suggests the final ball hasn't been too bad?

 

[misterredmist]

A combination of some careless passing in good situations for us in the final third - when generally are passing and movement was pretty good - and Fulham's dogged defending restricted us to less opportunities than we'd like.

I can remember two particular passes in good situations that were excecuted poorly in promising situations - when under no real pressure - one by Rooney in the first half played to the left but behind Wellbeck's run, and one by The Pea in the second half, where he played a square ball to our right too softly, and took Rafael and Valencia simultaneously out of the game leaving Fulham to charge up field in attack.

Wellbeck was pretty ineffective last night - not a criticism - all players have off days, and yesterday was one of those days that wasn't his.

 

[marjen]

The final ball yesterday was wasteful, and we were sloppy and a bit nervous during the last 10 minutes.

Other than that, I thought we played some very decent football against a well organized, hard working side.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I'm completely distressed.

Distressed? After a 1-0 win? I'd hate to think what you must be like after we actually lose a game...

Anyway, whoscored have our passing accuracy for the game at 88%... now, let's take any other random game from this weekend, say Arsenal 3 - 0 Villa. What was the passing accuracy for this resurgent, in-form, do-no-wrong Arsenal I hear you cry?? Why... 88%. Incredible... sorry OP, INCREDIBLE!

So yes, nothing wrong with our passing on the whole, it was just our final ball / killer pass that let us down last night (which I would just put down to an off day, as we have generally been very good with our final ball this season), but we were having no problems at all passing the ball up to Fulham's final third.

 

[Cina]

All season? The fact that we're on course to score more league goals than anyone else in the last decade bar Chelsea in 09/10 surely suggests the final ball hasn't been too bad?

The final ball from our midfielders.

Our wingers have generally been great and a lot of our goals have come from the wings. Hardly a surprise as we're always reliant on wingers at the club. It's a part of our game.

Through the middle, yes, it has been lacking. But it's been lacking for years in truth.

 

[finneh]

Nothing wrong with our passing this season, overall. Largely down to Carrick and Scholes.

It's the final ball that's been lacking.

Scholes and Carrick have been the exceptions to be honest. Their passing has been accurate very consistently this season.

 

[Cina]

Scholes and Carrick have been the exceptions to be honest. Their passing has been accurate very consistently this season.

And they've been good at getting the ball forward, a myth always associated with Carrick not being able to do. They haven't delivered many defense splitting passes at all though. If anything Giggs has been our best at that, but only cause he tries it a bazillion times every game.

 

[fergieisold]

I thought Carrick passed very well last night.

 

[Stretch]

Our passing has been fine this season though we've struggled to hold on to the ball in European competition when pressed for the ball. And last night our passing was fine but we denied ourselves a lot of opportunities in the final 3rd because of sloppy passing and not concentrating. Giggs was the main culprit I felt last night. None of his hollywood balls came off really and I was shouting at the TV for SAF to bring on Scholes in his place. SAF took too long with bringing on Scholes because we needed him to come pull the strings and we might have been able to get that elusive 2nd goal. But really, in general, over the season our passing has been fine.

 

[Brwned]

The final ball from our midfielders.

Our wingers have generally been great and a lot of our goals have come from the wings. Hardly a surprise as we're always reliant on wingers at the club. It's a part of our game.

Through the middle, yes, it has been lacking. But it's been lacking for years in truth.

That's a tactical issue rather than a personnel issue, I'd say. The midfielders are their to provide a platform for the attackers and we orchestrate most of our attacks through the wings, we've always done that I thought. Even when it was Keane-Scholes it's not like there were many defence splitting passes because that's just not Scholes' forté and Keane was too busy dictating the play from deeper. We create through the wings and to me that's not an issue or a flaw that's just a way of playing, it just seems like people are getting bored or tired of that style because I can't see why anyone would complain about a tactic that's clearly been so successful. I don't see why it matters where the final ball comes from as long as it leads to a chance.

 

[acnumber9]

Was at the game last night and had the benefit of seeing how well Fulham defended. They were excellent at blocking off the passing channels and gave Utd few options. That said they were the most negative team I've seen in my all my times at Old Trafford.

 

[Devilton]

Our passing wasn't great, but it was the final ball at times which was the real disappointment. We got into some great positions, and there was some lovely interplay and for the part Fulham did very little to stop us from getting the ball forward except park the bus.

Still, 3 points is all that matters. It was clear we got nervous in the final 10 minutes, and SAF's substituting Rooney was bizarre to say the least. Still, got through and that's all that matters.

 

[apotheosis]

I half agree with what your saying, although the biggest culprits more often than not seem to be players who are getting a run of games. The likes of particularly Giggs and Rooney, but even Evra, Rio and Welbeck (although the latter is understandable given it's his first real season, so he will require time getting up to our usual tempo). Add players into the mix who are sporadically playing as well (Young, Hernandez etc) and it doesn't bode particularly well.

I presume the problem is just a lack of concentration.

Inexperience in Welbecks case imo. He looked like he was trying too hard last night. It was a big game, we had the chance to go top and punish City's slip up against Stoke, Welbeck worked his bollocks off but looked a bit tense. With a bit more experience he will learn to relax and stay patience instead of getting over anxious to make an impact.

Overall i thought the team did well, we bossed the game and controled possession. But i do think they all felt the pressure of being expected to beat a team convincingly, who we always beat at OT. That expectation brings it's own type of pressure, and i thought we looked a bit edgy and over excited in the final third. The amount of poor first touches would appear to back that up.

On the bright side, we got over the line and the team will have taken great confidence from putting the pressure back on City by getting that all important 3 points.

 

[Cina]

That's a tactical issue rather than a personnel issue, I'd say. The midfielders are their to provide a platform for the attackers and we orchestrate most of our attacks through the wings, we've always done that I thought. Even when it was Keane-Scholes it's not like there were many defence splitting passes because that's just not Scholes' forté and Keane was too busy dictating the play from deeper. We create through the wings and to me that's not an issue or a flaw that's just a way of playing, it just seems like people are getting bored or tired of that style because I can't see why anyone would complain about a tactic that's clearly been so successful. I don't see why it matters where the final ball comes from as long as it leads to a chance.

I don't see much wrong with suggesting we should have more players (or utilise our current players, if people want to be anal) in order to give ourselves the option of being able to play killer balls and create chances via our midfielders on a more regular basis

There have been times this season where our wingers have been poor in games and because of that we've been completely incapable of creating anything, yet we still keep pinging the ball out to them. We need to have other options available when that's not working for us.

City create all their chances through the middle and nothing out wide, which has also cost them a lot at times. we do the opposite (mostly). If we had the ability to do what they do through the middle too then god knows what we'd be capable of. I'm hardly saying we're doomed unless we start doing that, I just feel we should look to improve it in order to strengthen

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We create plenty through the middle too, albeit usually with our one of our strikers getting involved in the link up play. A good example being the inter-play between Welbeck and Valencia which led to Hernandez' second goal against Wolves (almost created a goal between them for Valencia last night too)

 

[Cina]

That's not my point at all. I was saying this in regards to our midfielders. You named a striker and a winger.

What happens when we inevitably go 4-3-3 again in bigger games, something that needs to be done in Europe again, for me anyway. Can we rely on the wingers and a lone striker to create it all?

It's not like i've said we don't create chances, of course we do, but we should be creating more from the midfield.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

That is true to be fair. Scholes plays very deep now-a-days. It's why Cleverley has a such a huge impact on us when he plays. He has the ability to provide the spark from the centre.

 

[Cina]

That is true to be fair. Scholes plays very deep now-a-days. It's why Cleverley has a such a huge impact on us when he plays. He has the ability to provide the spark from the centre.

Cleverley is a very good example indeed. We made a lot through the middle with him there because of his runs, quick passing etc. It's unfortunate that he's so injury prone. He's the sort of player you want playing high up in a 4-3-3 system.

 

[apotheosis]

There have been times this season where our wingers have been poor in games and because of that we've been completely incapable of creating anything, yet we still keep pinging the ball out to them. We need to have other options available when that's not working for us.

Excellent point and agree completely.

City create all their chances through the middle and nothing out wide, which has also cost them a lot at times. we do the opposite (mostly). If we had the ability to do what they do through the middle too then god knows what we'd be capable of. I'm hardly saying we're doomed unless we start doing that, I just feel we should look to improve it in order to strengthen

I think we got a little taster of what we would be capable of at the start of the season with Cleverley and Anderson in the centre. One thing i noticed too during those few games, was that the wingers were actually more effective and offered more goal threat the higher up the pitch they received the ball. Clev n Ando were carrying the ball through the centre and our wingers were receiving the ball on the edge of the penalty area and the forwards in general were much closer together, rather than isolated out on the touchline. So they had more than one option at their disposal,every time they got the ball which made them even more dangerous.

So to sum up an effective creative element through the middle would actually increase the potency of our best current creative outlet, and still offer an additional threat through the middle. It surely cannot be a coincidence that we scored so many goals in such a short period of matches.