[kps88]

This system has been found out. We played some decent football with it but Mourinho and his bus showed everyone just how devoid we are of pace and creativity if teams sit back and let us have the ball. Yet we played the exact same system and near identical line up (bar injuries) three games in a row expecting something to change.

Lets go two up top, lets go to a diamond in midfield - just try something else. We played the entire game with just one striker up top against a team with 11 men behind the ball. Do we really need that extra man in midfield to help a sideways pass along against teams that willingly let us have the ball?

 

[togg]

Nah..this one we were meant to win....especially at OT where we have been good. LVG lost the plot today...he talks about preparation and he didn't do it against a Pulis side that is known for defending against big teams. We have so much firepower in terms of talent and it meant nothing. I'm a huge LVG fan..but today he failed big time...

 

[hobbers]

Thankfully Liverpool's last 3 fixtures are even tougher than ours.

Palace will be the kingmakers.

 

[Rezyuz]

Valencia di maria just get the f out.

And this match again shows fellaini IS NOT PLAN A material

 

[Momochiru]

Di Maria is the most frustrating player ever...

 

[kundalini]

So slow in possession. Really missing some pace in attack and players that can beat an opponent.

 

[iAm20Legend]

We don't have a plan B. Which is what I feared at the end of the last game. Sit back. defend deep and hit on the counter - this is the way to beat us.

Now not a single bloody team will come out of their half. Not even Arsenal. I really think top 4 is far from sewn up.

 

[Will Singh]

What is this bullshit, we want on a winning run with big wins and then we can't beat WBA at OT!!

Fecking bullshit, LVG has to step up and drop players who ain't doing feck all but wearing a armband!!

Enough is enough!!

 

[Rolandofgilead]

Why don't we use the wings anymore?

Anyway, LVG once again proving to me that he has no plan B, players look like they're already on their holidays, no Carrick means yet again we look clueless in midfield, Fellaini was awful, ADM was somehow worse. We need to scrape top 4 in the remaining three games and re focus in the summer.

We now look in serious danger of dropping down to 5th and going into the Europa league instead, 3 games left and one is at home to Arsenal, we looked laboured at home to West Brom, Liverpool are only 4 points behind.

To summarize, not good enough, No plan B, shit without Carrick.

 

[That'sHernandez]

One of the most brain dead performances I've seen from our lot in quite some time

From the players or the manager?

 

[#07]

Van Persie in midfield and Fellaini up front - that was hideous. You just knew at that point we weren't going to try and win playing actual good football.

Bizarre. Van Gaal pressed the panic button at half time and things went downhill from there. The way we started the second half, it looked like had caught fear.

We moved the ball at a snail's pace. Easy to get men back against. So slow. Poor.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Liverpool 4 points behind. We have 3 very hard games. Palace away, Arsenal home, Hull away. We could potentially lose all 3.

Just knew RVP would miss. He always seems to when the pressure is on. Remember him missing one in a similar situation against us at OT. It was a harsh handball anyway.

Saying that, I don't know what else we could have done against bus-parking like that. We just don't have the individual brilliance to unlock something like that, nor do we have a centre forward who can currently turn scraps into goals, or create something from nothing, like we did with RVP 2 years ago, or Rooney a few years before that.

Not looking forward to the next 3 games. We keep letting Liverpool back in it, every time they slip up. It would be catastrophic if they overtake us. I predict Chelsea will have won the league by the time they play them, so may not be as tough an encounter.

Meh.

 

[Judge Red]

Always fun to lose to a side that spends the entire match fighting for a draw.

The better team lost but that's because it's been found out and there's been no answer

 

[Dobba]

That team is what, two players (CB and Carrick) away from the one that went on the run of wins? You'd believe they'd never met watching the last two games.

The reliance on a more injury prone Carrick, who will be 34 before the first ball is kicked next season, is just terrifying.

 

[Woodenlung]

Top 4 is not safe by any means. We've been crap in away fixtures all season and have a very tricky game against Palace to play. And our last home game is against one of the form teams of the calendar year, Arsenal. We could very well bottle this.

 

[Sunny Jim]

again we lacked a player/players who can dribble past opponents. Without that its merely possible to break teams down.

Fellanini is back to his useless self.

We miss Carrick.

 

[Bobcat]

Fuming, but let's try to get some perspective here.

We went away to Chelsea and matched them at their own ground. Then we lost to a very good counter
We went away to Everton and got sucker punched three times.
Today we had plenty of chances (including a fecking penalty) to secure the win against a team who defended with 10 men the whole game. We again got sucker punched with a very, very lucky deflection.

We have a four point lead on Liverpool who play Chelsea at SB next. Top four is secure

 

[Joemo]

4 centre backs for West Brom and we still seemed to maintain the philosophy of playing through the middle. I'm not asking for continuous crosses and just aimlessly pumping the ball into the box, but if that's where your opponent's weakness lies then exploit it.

 

[Freak]

Pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass.

Lose a goal

Pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass.

Full time. Idiots.

 

[charleysurf]

Simply not good enough going forward.

Herrera and Mata were baby sitting Fellaini, Valencia and Rooney. Neither of that trio had the capacity to do anything positive going forward. Young stayed wide to keep width.

Van Persie was clearly under instruction to drop deep and provide a foil for Fellaini and Rooney to run on to but neither did anything of note going forward to match that movement.

McNair should have scored. Van Persie should have netted the penalty too. That said, we still weren’t good enough against a basic block defence of 2 banks of 4. Funadamental issues with movement that Di Maria should have been brought on for earlier, or following the previous 2 results and current form of Fellaini, should have started.

3 defeats in a row, each with caveats but 0 points nonetheless. Must do better. Fellaini needs to be dropped. Rooney should be too in truth.

I saw you with the same shite, same word, in the first half. You just copied and pasted as soon as Niall opened up!

Herrera had an appalling game, but no surprise you wanted to gloss over that by selecting Fellaini as scapegoat

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Well said by Fletch there anyway.

 

[sunama]

In a nutshell, if a team parks the bus, lets us have the ball and hits us on the counter - we lose.
We simply cant cut through a group of defenders who dont want the ball.
The question that I would like answered: with so much of the ball, why cant our (highly paid, highly decorated, decent) players score a goal?
And why would you bring on Falcao, when you need a goal? This was comedy.

 

[tom33]

Far too slow with the ball. I don't mind possession football, but you'll never pull defenders out of position if you play at that pace. Having said that, its an absolute travesty that we've lost, Pulis has definitely made some kind of deal with the devil.

 

[Wumminator]

Blind and Valencia were awful.

 

[Silva]

Seemed like we had more chances with Di Maria than without him, wasteful, sure but it's not like they were doing much with the ball when they had it.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

Not good enough. 3 games without a goal is just shocking really.

As I've said before, we need to make top 4 or he's out. We've regressed since the City game to an extraordinary level... we were making great strides and everything clicked. But now it seems so simple for the opposition - just stay organised and sit back. You'll get a chance eventually. Mourinho set the template now everyone knows how to beat us.

If it's a case of Carrick being needed for the system to work, then get him whatever surgery/physio/horse placenta he needs and start creating a new plan for next season. Really we should have a decent plan B, C, D etc already ..

Otherwise, get someone else lined up.

 

[Snow]

Seriously, we were a tad unlucky today.

Even if we draw vs crystal palace and arsenal, were still favourites for too 4. Can't lose any of those two.

I don't think we were that unlucky. Lucky to get a pen which was wasted. The goal was unlucky. But looking at many of our victories this season, the games have been similar. Us not creating much. Sometimes we've won the games. Recently we haven't. Very rarely has there been confident performance with a confident victory.

 

[sunama]

Well Liverpool are even more shitty so we will keep our spot in the top 4.

This is our saving grace.
Had LFC not sold their best player, we'd be in 5th place.
I can't believe that the only reason we are still in top 4 is because Suarez was sold.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

From the players or the manager?

Bit of both, mainly the players, who were consistent in making some ridiculously shit decisions for 90 minutes.

 

[That'sHernandez]

again we lacked a player/players who can dribble past opponents. Without that its merely possible to break teams down.

Fellanini is back to his useless self.

We miss Carrick.

Actually I think Fellaini was one of our better players, he won the ball back for us more than most.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

We are the worst possession team of all time. LVG should have changed things up after the Chelsea game like any decent manager would do, we get smashed 3-0 by Everton still no changes.

Palace, Arsenal and Hull up next. We need Chelsea to get us into 4th place, because we sure as hell are not going to do it by ourselves.

 

[DevilRed]

Shocking. We were unlucky in some ways but it goes to show you how poorly our strikers have played this season. Its the last thing that you would have guessed. Rooney just isn't a midfielder and RVP had a good game but just couldn't score a goal. Playing fellaini upfront is a joke.

Nonetheless, we will probably need to stick with fellaini in the lineup for the away match against palace. Its the only way we can keep possession and force teams to defend deep. But it means we sacrifice any semblance of pace and penetration.

The whole team was poor today and it just seems so difficult for our players to beat a defender. I appreciate that brom set out shop really well and have been doing it for the last few weeks now, but this was just poor. You could tell a wba goal was coming with the way we just seemed content to pass sideways.

As poor as ADM was today, I'd want him to start the next one along with Adnan because we desperately need to have players that can beat a man.

 

[stubie]

Missing out on top 4 will be a blessing in disguise. Get rid of more dead wood.

 

[Insanity]

I went with the flow after the City win but this man has me far from convinced. What in the fecking hell was that shit? Fellaini up top with our two best goal scorers in the midfield? What kind of fecking nonsense is that? What is he trying to do? Reinvent football? That was horrible viewing. Thank God that Liverpool have gone to absolute shit or he would suffer the same fate as Moyes.

He doesn't know how to deal with parked buses. He thinks he is going to counter a big team by having Fellaini up top. Is there any use for all those crosses against a tall parked bus?

He has served up shit throughout the season even after 150m spend. Is anyone confident that he can improve after another mega spend? What is this 'Balansh' he keeps spouting? And worry about our size? Are we going to buy a bunch of Peter Crouch's for 'Balansh' next?

Three loses on the bounce without scoring a goal. Is this progress?

Seething right now..feck off...Can we even hold on to 4th?

 

[Red Stone]

Fuming, but let's try to get some perspective here.

We went away to Chelsea and matched them at their own ground. Then we lost to a very good counter
We went away to Everton and got sucker punched three times.
Today we had plenty of chances (including a fecking penalty) to secure the win against a team who defended with 10 men the whole game. We again got sucker punched with a very, very lucky deflection.

We have a four point lead on Liverpool who play Chelsea at SB next. Top four is secure

If you can honestly say that our attacking play was anything other than abysmal at Everton and today I'll have some of what you're smoking.

We created nothing in the last hour of play today and even less at Goodison. Turns out you need to do that to score goals.

 

[An Irish Red]

Lets go two up top, lets go to a diamond in midfield - just try something else. We played the entire game with just one striker up top against a team with 11 men behind the ball. Do we really need that extra man in midfield to help a sideways pass along against teams that willingly let us have the ball?

Our biggest problem in an attacking sense is our issues out wide.

Chelsea have Hazard, Arsenal have Sanchez and we have Young constantly crossing from deep, Mata always cutting inside and Valencia passing it to whoever happens to be closest to him.

There's no pace or penetration there at all. Switching to a diamond wouldn't help that imo. It would just highlight how poor we are at creating from central positions.

 

[Striker10]

Second half was an improvement but it sets the tone of the game. All that ball with players happy to do feck all with it. They should be embarrassed. Wow, you can dominate WBA at home! I'm impressed. Where's the balls to actually attack with intent? Where's the hunger to win the ball back once you lose it. We've been unlucky in the last 3 games. Things haven't rolled for us BUT we've not had the right attitude I don't think. Too slow

 

[humdinger]

Well the feel-good factor and optimism of a few weeks ago has truly evaporated.

Losing away to Chelsea was fine, losing away to Everton isn't a shock although result and performance were bad, but losing at home to West Brom is an absolute disgrace.

The evidence says that players are just not clever enough to break down a dogged defence - don't have the movement or incisive passing, and look completely clueless when a team parks the bus. We had some chances today, but given the amount of possession we had and the quality of player we really should have been ripping them apart at will.

Van Gaal's tactics were poor as well. Really don't like his tendency to put players into the wrong positions when it isn't neccessary, and he has far too much faith and patience when the team are underperforming and changes are needed. He needs a rocket up his arse as much as the players.

 

[Leg-End]

We simply don't know how to break teams down, its one note football and the league has sussed it out.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

80% possession.

Inhale that statistic. We couldn't make one goal from all that time we had on the ball. The amount of passing around the box we did today was ridiculous. West Brom was camped in front of goal, I understand that. But it took us yonks until someone mustered the courage to try a killer pass. No intensity, we played as if the game was 900 minutes long.

 

[Snow]

Seemed like we had more chances with Di Maria than without him, wasteful, sure but it's not like they were doing much with the ball when they had it.

We always do. He's very wasteful but his movement is a lot different and defenders are a lot more vary of him. He doesn't just stick to the bylines and thus is more difficult to press or mark. Also makes for better movement from other players. As good as Fellaini and Young have been at times they're both incredibly static players. Rooney is as poor as always in midfield and Mata is limited on the wing.