[JustAFan]

Chances for Liverpool to finish above us?

 

[RetroStu]

Terrible football again, almost laughable at times with some of our players zero technical ability and complete cowardliness on the ball.

 

[Raven Blade]

You'd hope that LVG get's the message now. A slight change in formation with added urgency and we suddenly look like a decent team again. We're handicapping ourselves with bizarre tactical choices. If a fool can see it, then surely a genius manager can.

 

[Revan]

We started playnig better, created more chances and scored twice when we changed the formation. What a coincidence!

De Gea man of the match IMO. Made a few good saves again.

Fellaini scored a goal which won us three points and was very happy with Wilson's performance. Voted all these three players with 8/10.

Rooney, Falcao, Di Maria and Carrick were bad IMO. Evans bad as usual. Blind played again good.

On those minutes we played on diamons we were good, but the other 60 minutes were awful. Hope we bin once and for all the awful 532

 

[FreakyJim]

We actually did better than I expected, even in the first half. QPR are awful of course but still. There is some hope for us.
Wilson was very good, delighted for the lad.

Good subs by LVG, good change of formation. He's got a breather.

 

[Roboc7]

That should be a turning point, stop playing people out of position, bench players who don't fit in no matter who they are and play four at the back.

If we line up 3-5-2 in the FA cup I will be very concerned about the direction LVG is going in, deserves credit for his subs and the change of formation but it was only correcting his own mistakes.

Fellaini and Wilson both very good, blind, de gea and rojo all played well but Rooney and mata aren't midfielders and di Maria isn't a striker.

 

[sunama]

Hopefully that's the end of 3-5-2.

Definitely not.
People have been asking for 4 at the back for many months now, so dont expect anything to change.
352 is our formation of choice.
For the remainder of the season at least, I think we will persist with 352.
To abandon a formation is a major commitment.
Lets not forget that LVG is unbelievably stubborn. His stubbornness, saw him sacked twice before.

I think our major problem is playing players out of position. Why play Di Maria as a striker? Why play Rooney as a midfielder?

 

[RK]

We got the first goal when we switched from the 352.

Yeah the merits of each formation are still up for debate, I just wanted to point out that "we looked more dangerous in this game with 4-4-2" isn't a very good reason on it's own.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

I joined in with 15 minutes to play. Thought Rooney looked shattered. Barely ran at all when I started watching and his passing was a bit off. Was he like that all game? He really needs to play up front.

Diamond is definitely the way to go.

Rafael Jones Smalling Shaw

Blind

Herrera DiMaria

Mata

Rooney Wilson​

I'm glad Fellaini got his goal. I wanted the Mata>Fellaini sub to be made last weekend, but it came much much too late in the game.

 

[Winrar]

For once LVG got his substitutions right.

I really hope that spells the end of 352.

 

[Galactic]

Relief more than anything for me.

 

[rotherham_red]

As bad a first half I can remember, credit to LGV for changing things which made us more of a threat. Delighted for James Wilson, excellent cameo.

No need to give him credit, he'll go straight back to the 3-5-2 next week, I'll put money on it. He did it in other games this season and he'll no doubt do it again in the future.

Though annoying, I'll wait and see what happens with the ins and outs in the summer before I truly make my mind up on LVG.

 

[Infra-red]

Wilson, De Gea, Fellaini all very good, Rooney, Di Maria, Evans, Jones and Van Gaal all very bad. The result is a relief.

 

[Devil may care]

It was pretty poor stuff for the most part, the commentator said we switched to a diamond but it looked like a 4-2-2-2 and 4-1-3-2 mix to me. It improved us and Di Maria dropping deeper and getting on the ball started to fashion some chances, while Blind got more into the game as a basic LB than did as a LWB.

Fellaini did well when he came on and so did Wilson, at least both wanted to take the ball towards QPR instead of away from them. Our CB's were mostly awful bar Rojo who I thought did well against Zamora.

Rooney and Carrick were both poor, Carrick simply hasn't looked sharp since the raft of games over December.

 

[Lennon7]

I joined in with 15 minutes to play. Thought Rooney looked shattered. Barely ran at all when I started watching and his passing was a bit off. Was he like that all game? He really needs to play up front.

Diamond is definitely the way to go.

Rafael Jones Smalling Shaw

Blind

Herrera DiMaria

Mata

Rooney Wilson​

I'm glad Fellaini got his goal. I wanted the Mata>Fellaini sub to be made last weekend, but it came much much too late in the game.

Swap Smalling for Rojo and you've got a deal. Thought he was class today.

 

[Kostur]

Yeah the merits of each formation are still up for debate, I just wanted to point out that "we looked more dangerous in this game with 4-4-2" isn't a very good reason on it's own.

Is looking like a piece of shit with 352 good enough?

Yea I know where you are coming from by the way but I'm sure you understand that everybody here is tired of that fecking shit we're witnessing with that formation.

 

[Freak]

I suspect even the players hate 352. They don't seem to know what to do.

 

[KeninDC]

Game was like the joke about the guy who bangs his head against the wall because it feels good when he stops.

Awful first half-no surprise given the formation and AdM out of position. AdM and Fellani were good in MF after the switch.

Will need to shut down gaps in MF if (when I hope) we play 4-4-2 diamond as a first choice.

 

[Jev]

Who votes for Rojo? Seriously? Abysmal.

As always though.

Agree. Not United quality for me, at least for the lineup. Horrible deal at that price.

 

[soapythecat]

Every passing game I have less and less respect for LvG.
Looked half decent after switching to 442 but the stubborn twat won't see this.
We will be back to 352 next match, guarantee it.

 

[siw2007]

We switched from 352 to 442, scored 2 goals and ultimately played better.

The first half was the worst I have seen us play all season, we looked completely and utterly lost out there. After the switch in the second half we were so much better. I know we had to weather QPR's storm at times but we created more chances ourselves. Fellaini played well when he came on and scored a great goal which was a big relief. Wilson also did really well when he came on and should have set up Falcao twice to go along with his goal. Players like Rooney and Di Maria also improved in the second half.

Hopefully this will signal and end to the 352 experiment and gets us back playing a 442 and results will be better.

 

[bosnian_red]

As we've all been saying the last 20 minutes is more like what we expect from United. Making chances, attacking with pace and actually scoring goals. No surprise it instantly came with Di Maria going deeper and suddenly transforming into a class player, and us switching to a back 4. Hopefully the 3-5-2 is gone for good. The first hour was horrendous really, basically the same as every time we've played a 3-5-2.

I've been saying it though, I think Van Gaal is a top manager, he's just way too fecking stubborn. He's capable of getting us playing great stuff and competing for trophies, but he tries to be too clever and be the one who makes the difference so to speak, instead of just letting the team play.

 

[pjaya]

Definitely not.
People have been asking for 4 at the back for many months now, so dont expect anything to change.
352 is our formation of choice.
For the remainder of the season at least, I think we will persist with 352.
To abandon a formation is a major commitment, as all the players will need to trained to play using a different formation.
Lets not forget that LVG is unbelievably stubborn. His stubbornness, saw him sacked twice before.

I think our major problem is playing players out of position. Why play Di Maria as a striker? Why play Rooney as a midfielder?

Really hope this would be the last 352 we will see but probably wont

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

Happy with the good away result, LvG really needs to examine this 352 thing

 

[Galactic]

To his credit. ...he made the appropriate change and we improved. Time for him to make the formation change permanent.

Maybe he needed time to learn about how his players will respond when they are subbed in. It's not that straight forward.

 

[RetroStu]

You know how bad we have become when its rumoured the freaking QPR manager will actually get sacked if they lose against us.

 

[JustAFan]

Apart from some brain fart passing, I thought we looked pretty good 2nd half. Can't think why though, it's truly baffling.

Getting tired of some of this passing do they not know who their teammates are?

 

[vivaronaldo]

The less said the better ...3 points , let's move on

 

[Moriarty]

Rojo played very well and handled their two bruisers with ease. Those Argie boys know a few tricks and Austin and Zamora will be counting their bruises. What the hell was 'arry thinking bringing on that tub of lard Taraabt? He'd have been better off chucking the ball boy on. Maybe he's for the sack.

 

[Dargonk]

Lots of negatives to take from todays game that I hope we learn from.

3 at the back needs to go. It is far to easy to play against, and any team that plays for a draw we will struggle to beat.
Di Maria shouldn't be played as a striker. Get the man deeper and on the ball as often as possible. Let him run at people and create things from there.
We need a striker with pace, such as Wilson out there to actually get in behind defenders.
Defenders were again poor, with many of QPR chances coming from their mistakes. 2 CB may help them, as it takes the pressure of them to be on the ball as often. I'd also look to bring in some real quality here if anyone is available during the window.

Really glad to see Wilson finally getting on the scoresheet. I hope it is a case of now that he has his first, the goals will start flowing regularly for him.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Just realised how important these 3 points were, considering it's Arsenal vs City tomorrow.

 

[vivaronaldo]

Can't fathom our slow tempo that helps defenses reset.... How many times we go from attacking at pace to passing it back to da gea has me thinking wtf???? Use our pace and speed and flood the box with numbers ....

 

[JustAFan]

Time for the players to call a meeting with LVG and discuss what is and mostly isn't working? Not a revolt but a discussion

 

[siw2007]

Rojo played very well and handled their two bruisers with ease. Those Argie boys know a few tricks and Austin and Zamora will be counting their bruises. What the hell was 'arry thinking bringing on that tub of lard Taraabt? He'd have been better off chucking the ball boy on. Maybe he's for the sack.

Agreed, I thought Rojo had a solid game and it isn't easy having to physically compete with those two forwards. If we keep a clean sheet then the defence and goalie have obviously done their job well enough.

 

[#07]

Dare we hope this is the end of the 3-5-2 experiment? We've been here before after our first three miserable performances this season: switch to the diamond start playing well only for Van Gaal to abandon it before Xmas. Hopefully he has learned his lesson this time and will stick with the diamond from now onwards.

We were a totally different team playing the diamond than playing 3-5-2. Yes, more open, but also more cohesive in attack, less stretched when we went forward and just more comfortable. Allowing Di Maria to go back into midfield, bringing Fellaini on to give us more physicality and unleashing the pace of Wilson were all plus points. However, all that would have been impossible if Van Gaal had stuck with the bloody 3-5-2. 4-4-2 diamond is the way forward and hopefully we stick with it from here.

 

[Irrational.]

Smalling/ Jones + Rojo should be our first choice central defensive pairing from now on. Enough of this tumescent 3-5-2 shite. I hope the second half sent a message to LVG.

Also, Rooney deserves to play up front. Would've done miles better than Falcao and ADM combined today.

 

[Walrus]

Ended up as a comfortable victory but feck me, that first half-and-a-bit was some of the most difficult viewing I have had as a United fan in years. Mostly because we actually have/had the personnel to play some great football but LVG seemed intent on deliberately handicapping us for some reason.

Once again the transformation when we switched from 3 at the back was immediately apparent. I think some difficult decisions need to be made with regard to the group of RVP, Falcao, Rooney, ADM and Mata. We cannot field them all at the same time, every time we have tried it we have looked rubbish due to not having a proper midfielder. Fellaini, Herrera, Blind and Carrick are our best midfielders and these are therefore the ones we need to be playing in midfield.

At this point I would be quite happy to see RVP, Falcao and Mata dropped. The best players doesnt always equal the best team.

 

[sunama]

Can't fathom our slow tempo that helps defenses reset.... How many times we go from attacking at pace to passing it back

I've observed this.
When we break, we break at speed. We get excited.

Then the man up front arrives in the final third. He stops, doddles on the ball. Waits. And then does a back pass.
We kill our own counter-attacks.

 

[Sultan]

Hopefully, after this debacle LvG never plays Di Maria as a striker.

 

[Kag]

The ultimate decision on the 352 will either save or cost Van Gaal his job.

 

[11101]

Change to 442 made a hell of a difference, although we did have a 5 minute period with it where we looked like we might do another Leicester. It took us a while to work out who was supposed to be covering their wingers.

DDG - standard really. Couple of decent saves but not much to do.
Evans - terrible as usual and gifted them what should have been a goal. I hope never to see him in a United shirt again.
Rojo - looked fairly assured and composed against a striker clearly targeting him.
Jones - some good runs, fairly standard performance.
Blind - played very well, again. Brilliant pass to Wilson at the end and to Falcao a few minutes before that.
Valencia - someone needs to teach him a new trick. Pass it inside, or flick it with the outside of your boot and kick it as hard as you can is not going to cut it much longer.
Rooney - as bad as i've seen him in a long time. Gave the ball away in dangerous positions far too many times.
Mata - reasonable game but had to come off, we were getting bullied.
Carrick - showed his age. Was turned and left for dead a few times, and did very little other than sideways passing today.
Di Maria - IS. NOT. A. STRIKER. Looked twice the player when he dropped back.
Falcao - lovely movement, unlucky QPR got minor touches on most of his best chances. Still should have scored.
Wilson - pace stretched QPR and took the sting out of the game.
Fellaini - came on and threw his weight about well.