[NM]

I was probably a little harsh on Falcao, but I stand by my opinion on Mata. I just didn't see him create anything of note today and thought he was caught in possession more than once. If Di Maria had not been injured and seeing how Herrera played today, I would start Herrera over Mata

To be fair, I'd probably start Herrera over Di Maria right now. Mata was keeping things ticking beautifully today. Him and Herrera were excellent at giving each other the ball in space. He played more as a midfielder than an attacker, but I thought he was very good.

 

[caid]

As brilliant as the midfield play was today
I'd still put di maria back in as soon as hes fit.
The play opened up a bit a few times today and we just didn't have the runners or the pace to take advantage.
Hererra, Mata or Fellaini would just have to turn back and play it to carrick or one of the defenders.

Maybe you could put him back in as a striker in a robben like role but i dont think hes really suited to it.
Regardless i think the pace he brings is just too valuable to drop him.

I wouldn't give individual credit for the midfield play today, they all played their part.
The play between hererra and mata in particular was brilliant - had hull chasing shadows.
Carrick was just classy - back to his form from 2 years back. His forward passing was outstanding.
Fellaini was very ... functional (?) - i dont mean to be mean with that description.
He gave a good balance to the midfield, he was strong and good at holding on to the ball under pressure till mata or hererra could show for the ball.
He made sure our midfield wasn't outmuscled. The physical part of the game might not be pretty but its a significant part of the game in this league and hes pretty damn good at it.
We looked good on set pieces and he plays a big part in that too, if for nothing else taking attention off others (like smalling)

Its really hard to pick one of them to leave out which is a brilliant turnaround from previous years.

 

[Red_toad]

Smalling, Carrick, Fellaini, Rooney. All excellent.

Carrick & Smalling for me, overall I think Carrick gets it because of his overall play.

Smalling,Carrick and Herrera MOTM hard to pick one. Best performance alongside QPR.

Great match, a real winning performance. Rooney, Smalling, Carrick and Herrera MOTM contenders for me. Hard to pick one.

Great to see some positive posts for Smalling. Lad has taken so much shite in here for the last 2 seasons. Play him in his best position & he's a very good player. Seems a lot of posters had forgotten what he's capable of when playing in his natural position!

 

[POF]

I think, nominally at least we played a diamond. Starting out with RVP behind Di Maria and Rooney, Carrick sitting and Fellaini and Mata to the right and left. RVP moved up front when Di Maria went off and Mata took his place with Herrera coming into midfield.

As you say though, we were so fluid that if you took a picture of the pitch at any given moment the players positions would look different every time, but I reckon if someone made an average positions chart it'd look like a diamond with the full-backs pushed forward.

That's exactly how I saw it too except I thought Herrera played at the tip of the diamond with Mata left. I expected them to play as you mentioned but the change never came. Left of a diamond is a really odd role for Mata. He doesn't seem to have the athleticism or defensive ability to play there but he was very good in that role today.

Excellent performance overall. When Valencia and Young are in the back 4 you expect a nervous game defensively but United dominated possession so much it didn't even matter. I think today was the first real indication of the long term style under Van Gaal. It won't be swashbuckling gung ho football but controlling the game seems to be the key.

Very impressive performance from all players. Shame Falcao couldn't finish to make it 4 late on. It would have been a big goal for him. Di Maria's injury is a big worry. Even though the team played well without him, he adds a dimension to the attack that nobody else can.

 

[Lawman]

Not long back from the game and it was a very good performance and result.

Van Gaal is really starting to stamp himself on the team.

Yep I'm just in the door after hospitality today at the red cafe impressive performance today

 

[Jazz]

Was at the game today. Very impressed with the team on a whole. Some good passing and movement. Always seemed like someone was there making themselves available for a pass. If we carry on in this vein we will be absolutely fine. Herrera was
Carrick, Mata, Rooney, all playing their part. Rojo looked like he hadn't been out at all. Very assured. Long may all this continue.

 

[noodlehair]

We were better. Only the second game this season that we haven't spent a significant proportion of looking like a bunch of clowns.

We looked very laboured in attack without Di Maria though. Didn't create very many chances for a team with nearly 80% of possession (even two of the goals weren't exactly chances), and there was a lot of passing for the sake of passing....we were rarely drawing players out of position or playing quickly enough to open up space. I think we'll struggle to create openings if we play like that on Wednesday.

Thought Herrera and Carrick were really good. Chris Smalling seemed to be playing in defence for both teams, though luckily the one playing for Hull seemed to be the rubbish version.

Thought the game was quite dull over all. Could have done with Hull actually making some kind of attempt to attack at some point. It was something you could count as progress though, providing the 45 minute circus doesn't roll back into town against Stoke.

 

[sunama]

Excellent performance overall. When Valencia and Young are in the back 4 you expect a nervous game defensively but United dominated possession so much it didn't even matter.

You've explained very well, why possession is so important.
The LvG system requires high possession.
Fans who dont like high possession will have to get used to it, because over the next few years, this is how we are going to play and will be how we beat Bayern, Madrid, Barca, etc.

We looked very laboured in attack without Di Maria though. Didn't create very many chances for a team with nearly 80% of possession (even two of the goals weren't exactly chances),

Dude seriously. We won 3-0. And you are complaining?
We absolutely dominated the game.

 

[Rood]

We were better. Only the second game this season that we haven't spent a significant proportion of looking like a bunch of clowns.

We looked very laboured in attack without Di Maria though. Didn't create very many chances for a team with nearly 80% of possession (even two of the goals weren't exactly chances), and there was a lot of passing for the sake of passing....we were rarely drawing players out of position or playing quickly enough to open up space. I think we'll struggle to create openings if we play like that on Wednesday.

Thought Herrera and Carrick were really good. Chris Smalling seemed to be playing in defence for both teams, though luckily the one playing for Hull seemed to be the rubbish version.

Thought the game was quite dull over all. Could have done with Hull actually making some kind of attempt to attack at some point. It was something you could count as progress though, providing the 45 minute circus doesn't roll back into town against Stoke.

Ye well that's the way LvG likes to play so you better get used to it!

It was a bit dull TBF but that was because Hull were shite so it was never a contest, Stoke will surely put up more of a fight

 

[noodlehair]

Ye well that's the way LvG likes to play so you better get used to it!

It was a bit dull TBF but that was because Hull were shite so it was never a contest, Stoke will surely put up more of a fight

I'll get bored with it long before I get used to it. Plus if Van Gaal was that much of an advocat he'd have Mata playing every week and would despise Di Maria

From what I've seen in the past he prefers his teams to control the game but move the opposition around and force them to do the leg work. A lot of our passing was in areas where there were no Hull players to move around. The intensity seemed to disappear from it after 20 minutes or so.

I think with players like Herrera we can do it a lot better. It was a lot better than against Palace though.

 

[Rood]

rather than us being that much better, ii think palace were just better organised than Hull

LvG is not tiki taka but i think it was Carrick who commented about the focus on keeping the ball moving and posession - where perhaps Fergie was more direct

 

[Tarrou]

Complete control today. It was a step-up from the Palace performance, the passing was quicker, and the movement in midfield was better. You can feel the team starting to click as they understand more and more what the manager wants from them.

People will say Hull were crap, but we didn't let them play at all and deserve credit for that. We only had two defenders in the line-up. In similar situations in recent years, the team has gone into meltdown (Fulham away, for example).

The improvement from last season is becoming quite obvious now.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Its a crime if Ben Arfa even gets paid for this week. A random member from on here would have put in a better performance for 30 mins.

 

[Whiteside1985]

Hull were poor though.
It was as if they had it drummed into them that they had to close us down quickly, but forgot any other aspects of their game-plan.
Tuesday will be much tougher.

 

[Wumminator]

People say "Hull were poor"

We lost to nine teams at OT last year! Nine! That's with us not losing to arsenal and Chelsea as well. These are games last year we struggled in so much. Hull aren't that bad we made em look shit.

 

[villain]

We were better. Only the second game this season that we haven't spent a significant proportion of looking like a bunch of clowns.

We looked very laboured in attack without Di Maria though. Didn't create very many chances for a team with nearly 80% of possession (even two of the goals weren't exactly chances), and there was a lot of passing for the sake of passing....we were rarely drawing players out of position or playing quickly enough to open up space. I think we'll struggle to create openings if we play like that on Wednesday.

Thought Herrera and Carrick were really good. Chris Smalling seemed to be playing in defence for both teams, though luckily the one playing for Hull seemed to be the rubbish version.

Thought the game was quite dull over all. Could have done with Hull actually making some kind of attempt to attack at some point. It was something you could count as progress though, providing the 45 minute circus doesn't roll back into town against Stoke.

This entire post is bizarre but what does the bolder part mean?

 

[Rooney in Paris]

This entire post is bizarre but what does the bolder part mean?

I guess he means Curtis Davies looks like Smalling?

 

[Escobar]

Don't know if I quite buy that, though. RvP has clearly not been up to speed. Carrick wasn't fully match-fit when he was put into the side recently. I feel like there must be more behind Herrera being dropped, seeing as when he's played, he's been among the team's most influential players.

Maybe that's just me conspiracy-mongering. Anyways, I hope after today that Herrera is firmly cemented back into the starting XI for the foreseeable future...

But being not fully match fit and having pain is a different thing. Plus we had Fellaini in midfield doing well. In the end we don't know but I doubt that LVG doesn't rate him

 

[villain]

I guess he means Curtis Davies looks like Smalling?

I thought so too it's just so random and pointless to say that I dismissed it

 

[Lawman]

Mata, Carrick, Herrera, Rooney

Add Fellaini to that as yesterday again he was everything we needed and played his part.

 

[Lawman]

Difficult to gauge where we are after a match like this. Hull kept passing the ball back to us making our job easier.

If Fellaini is going to play on the right side he needs to pick up the overlaps more, several times Valencia/AH made runs into good space only for MF to hold the ball too long.

Plus he needs to cut his hair shorter and smile a bit more on the park.............(thought to my brain) need to keep finding something wrong with Fellaini mode!

 

[Lawman]

Great performance. Carrick was a cut above. Bit worried about Rooney - I was level with his when he slid off the pitch he absolutely SMASHED into it.

Yep me too I was thinking before he went for it to just leave it but that boy doesn't give anything up! Great player our Wazza

 

[noodlehair]

I guess he means Curtis Davies looks like Smalling?

It's not a particularly difficult post to understand either.

We beat Hull 3-0 with two long range shots and a scrambled corner where the goalkeeper fell into his own goal with the ball. We had only one clear cut chance other than that...in a 90 minute game where we had the ball literally three quarters of the time.

It was hardly a masterclass of swift attacking football. Large parts of the game was us pointlessly passing the ball around while Hull made no real effort to win it back.

If we play like that against Stoke/Southampton it will still be a struggle for us to pick up wins. It was a performance to build on, not anything like a finished article.

We desperately need to find a way to speed up our attacking play that isn't 100% reliant on Di Maria.

 

[Trizy]

It's not a particularly difficult post to understand either.

We beat Hull 3-0 with two long range shots and a scrambled corner where the goalkeeper fell into his own goal with the ball. We had only one clear cut chance other than that...in a 90 minute game where we had the ball literally three quarters of the time.

That's football, had we not have won with those goals we'd have found them elsewhere. For example, Arsenal won 1-0, hit straight at the keeper who knocked it into goals and Liverpool won 1-0 not from a clear cut chance but a deflection. If you're gonna talk shite about how we didn't create the chances we scored at least don't make it sound like it was just us.

 

[RORY65]

That's football, had we not have won with those goals we'd have found them elsewhere. For example, Arsenal won 1-0, hit straight at the keeper who knocked it into goals and Liverpool won 1-0 not from a clear cut chance but a deflection. If you're gonna talk shite about how we didn't create the chances we scored at least don't make it sound like it was just us.

But surely the point is those teams are playing just as poorly? We actually dominated the game yesterday, something we haven't done often over the last couple of years, yet still struggled to actually create chances which has become a worrying pattern given how much attacking quality is in the team. Even yesterday when not playing well and really low on confidence, it seems (from MOTD) as though Liverpool made more clear-cut chances than we did. I know it's a bit harsh criticising our performance because we controlled the game really well but it's fair to point out that we should be opening teams like Hull up more frequently when we have the ball almost 80% of the time.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

We dominated the game. We created a certain amount of chances. We scored three goals, none of which was unfair or especially lucky, all the while completely dominating the game and not letting Hull get into it. It was as clearcut a win as you're going to find, I don't understand the point of arguing otherwise.

 

[Trizy]

But surely the point is those teams are playing just as poorly? We actually dominated the game yesterday, something we haven't done often over the last couple of years, yet still struggled to actually create chances which has become a worrying pattern given how much attacking quality is in the team. Even yesterday when not playing well and really low on confidence, it seems (from MOTD) as though Liverpool made more clear-cut chances than we did. I know it's a bit harsh criticising our performance because we controlled the game really well but it's fair to point out that we should be opening teams like Hull up more frequently when we have the ball almost 80% of the time.

We were happy to sit back on a 2 goal lead though, even after the third goal we were too happy to keep the ball and wait for space to open than go look for it, maybe its nerves from previous experience this season or maybe it was the game plan. You cannot fault our first half not to mention in the modern game full backs play a massive part in a good teams attack and we're missing Shaw and Rafael hugely!

Young and Valencia have been bang on average in defense and have offered little or no attacking qualities to the team, our 442 diamond is all about penetrating through the middle with the option of width through full backs but Young and Valencia were more than happy to pass backwards every time they were in the oppositions half.

 

[Wumminator]

Apart from those three goals we had Falcao's chance, RVP's superb header (which was onside but called wrongly), Smalling's shot into the side netting, Rooney breaking free in the box and just getting tackled as he tried to take it around the player, RVP shot straight at the keeper around 40 minutes when he could have done better and Smalling had a shot cleared off the line (making that two shots cleared off the line)

So apart from our three goals, two shots off the line, one of the best saves I've ever seen stopping RVP and our top scorer going through one on one we didn't create much you're right noodle.

 

[RORY65]

We were happy to sit back on a 2 goal lead though, even after the third goal we were too happy to keep the ball and wait for space to open than go look for it, maybe its nerves from previous experience this season or maybe it was the game plan. You cannot fault our first half not to mention in the modern game full backs play a massive part in a good teams attack and we're missing Shaw and Rafael hugely!

Young and Valencia have been bang on average in defense and have offered little or no attacking qualities to the team, our 442 diamond is all about penetrating through the middle with the option of width through full backs but Young and Valencia were more than happy to pass backwards every time they were in the oppositions half.

That's all fair, it's just been a while since we've seen a United team create chances regularly. As I said, it was an improvement though and hopefully in time we'll be a bit more incisive with the possession.

 

[Maroo]

Add Fellaini to that as yesterday again he was everything we needed and played his part.

Yeah absolutely. He is becoming as vital to this side as anyone else!

 

[Manucho the boss]

Coming along surely, if slowly. 6 shots on target compared to 2 against Arsenal, 5 against Palace, 2 against City and 4 against Chelsea.

Hopefully LVG is aiming to build a system of quicker attacking breaks, the United Way. I'm not a fan of the pedestrian, passing in our own half style.

 

[#07]

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[Tarrou]

I re-watched the entire game last night because my stream/connection was terrible at first watch.

Herrera was fooking class. His movement was exceptional and it definitely made a huge difference to us. He absolutely must start every game from now on, if fit.

RVP's general play was pretty bad. He lost the ball several times in the first half in situations he shouldn't have. Amazing goal though, so hopefully that gives him a nice boost in confidence.

Did anyone else notice Brucey shouting "It's our ball yer fooking prick" at the Lino, on about 37 mins?

 

[Red_Aaron]

whilst theres no doubt hull were poor i dont think you can ignore the amount of pressing they did in that opening half-hour. they ran their bollocks off and the most impressive thing for me was how well we coped with that. we kept possesion excellently, playing our way out under pressure time and again, that we kept our cool and weren't paniced into mistakes speaks volumes for the effect LVG is having, we'd have been a mess last season under that much pressing.

Once the goal went in though you saw hull deflate, and they started to step off and i became a bit of a non-contest but how much that was purely down to exhaustion and how much it was a change in appraoch by bruce reamins to be seen. i think we can certainly take credit for wearing them out so early

maybe we should have done more with it in hindsight but 77% possesion is magnificent and a big postive for the future

oh and carrick was

 

[Jammydodger7]

I voted for Carrick as my MOTM however I've noticed most pundits and journalists voted for Mata as their MOTM, the Daily Mail gave him a 9/10. I did notice him stand out that much to be honest, however I only saw the second half.