I am struggling to understand how a professional football team can be so bizarrely awful at simple passes, not talking complex ones, just simple balls. It is beyond baffling at this point.
Sloppy passing and touches
- Thread starter Solius
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We lack technical ability and modern football understanding.
This is our biggest issue, we are so bad at passing they should all be embarrassed but this has been happening for such a long time it can’t be down to just the players, it’s the root cause of our issues that needs sorting out before we’ll consistently start stringing top performances together
It’s a deep rooted issue at our club, we’ve gone through so many players, coaches and managers I just don’t get it. Even without really trying we much fall on the right combination of all those to improve it, even just a bit.
Our passing rate of the pen to sign new contract is pure elite class sublime masterpiece.
Incredible how bad our passing is.
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I honestly feel the route cause of all our problems are how bad we are on the ball and the number of unforced errors in possession.
If we lose the ball in easy possession 50 times a game, that's 50 potential counter attacks gifted to the opposition. Ralf can talk about winning individual battles, controlling the transitions, pressing more aggressively - but if you're losing the ball on a simple 5 yard pass every 10 seconds like we do, how on earth are you meant to control a game? No team is that good out of possession that they can win the ball back quickly every single time they lose it when they gift the opposition possession every 10 seconds.
From giving the ball away with basic errors the opposition can hit us in transition, it can lead to a spell of possession for them, it can lead to them winning free kicks and corners which puts us under sustained pressure. Every easy loss of possession is a lost chance for us to go on the attack and potentially score a goal.
If we even cut out the basic errors by even 50% that makes a massive massive difference in the flow and momentum of the game.
If we lose the ball in easy possession 50 times a game, that's 50 potential counter attacks gifted to the opposition. Ralf can talk about winning individual battles, controlling the transitions, pressing more aggressively - but if you're losing the ball on a simple 5 yard pass every 10 seconds like we do, how on earth are you meant to control a game? No team is that good out of possession that they can win the ball back quickly every single time they lose it when they gift the opposition possession every 10 seconds.
From giving the ball away with basic errors the opposition can hit us in transition, it can lead to a spell of possession for them, it can lead to them winning free kicks and corners which puts us under sustained pressure. Every easy loss of possession is a lost chance for us to go on the attack and potentially score a goal.
If we even cut out the basic errors by even 50% that makes a massive massive difference in the flow and momentum of the game.
It's difficult to decide who to pick out from the list to criticise. Sancho has done something special to be that high when he only played 45 minutes
Come on lack of match fitness and still adjusting to high intensity training is the cause. Be patient like Tottenham were with Conte and look at them now.
Compared to the other so called big 6, we must be the worst technically.
We've taken the instruction to "get the ball forward quicker and more often" as "the ball is a hot potato... panic!".
Under Ole we were slow and painful to watch with only Bruno really attempting a killer pass. Now we're playing basketball.
The players need to be more composed in possession and stop surrendering control.
Under Ole we were slow and painful to watch with only Bruno really attempting a killer pass. Now we're playing basketball.
The players need to be more composed in possession and stop surrendering control.
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I've gone full starting XI w*nker here but I think this is probably our tidiest XI available when it comes to technical consistency (bar Bailly but he's miles better than Maguire at defending). I had hopes we'd finally have a manager that values consistency above everything else, but he seems to be choosing all of our most inconsistent players at once at the moment, hence the shit show. These next few games will be interesting, we'll find out whether Rangnick can really identity and fix the problems in front of him.
That’s horrible to see. It sometimes seems we actively avoid playing balls over the top when we actually have players clearly making good runs. Then we smash the ball over the top only for the camera to pan and show no one remotely close to being behind the defence. It’s infuriating.
Yeah that’s pretty painful to watch. Shunting Bruno out wide hasn’t helped our cause at all for this link up (even though he can be guilty as hell as well)
The premise of that clip would make a lot more sense if Ronaldo wasn’t also one of the main culprits. Last night he managed to somehow turn a simple 5 yard pass straight back to the feet of the player he’d received the ball from into a chest high bobble. They were all fecking at it. So frustrating to watch.
Remember Paul Scholes? Always had 95% passing stats. Now we have midfielders with 70% passing stats.
I'm looking at Bruno on Whoscored. It says that Bruno had 15 long ball passes and 4 accurate long ball passes. I presume that means he had 11 out of 15 bad long passes....so maybe he shouldn't do long passes?
Harry McGuire had 15 long passes with 11 good, in contrast.
Yep. Ronaldo is far from the problem. His movement and finishing is still clearly excellent, it’s the supporting cast who are incredibly wasteful. I like Rashford but he is so sloppy at times, Bruno too. We need a couple technically reliable midfielders.
They seem to have 2 modes
Hollywood Pass mode (Results in possession being given away)
Slow Zombie Pass mode (Results in possession being given away)
No professional footballer should need his manager to tell him how to pass a football.
Hollywood Pass mode (Results in possession being given away)
Slow Zombie Pass mode (Results in possession being given away)
No professional footballer should need his manager to tell him how to pass a football.
I don’t think the premise was to highlight a great passer lamenting shit passers with no vision. Our centre forward isn’t picked to progress the ball from midfield or the wings.
We basically only have three players in the squad who have the vision to see and complete less obvious, high upside passes. For whatever reason Bruno is too high up the pitch to regularly make them, and Lindelöf and Pogba are both injured. We miss them dearly. We’re going to continue to have low chance creation when none of these three players are put in the position to receive the ball and create.
Ok, yeah, then I agree. Although some of Maguire’s passes are excellent too. It’s a huge problem to have so few players in midfield and attack capable of unlocking defences with a quality pass.
Although I thought this thread was more about making a pig’s ear of simple passes. Which all of our players seem to do, all of the fecking time. With Ronaldo the most recent addition to the list.
Been saying for ages it's our biggest problem. Fed up of hearing about pressing when a team can't pass.
What I really can't understand is playing Bruno and Rashford in those two advanced midfield slots. They are the biggest culprits when it comes to losing possession and you'd think that position requires your two best in terms of first touch and retaining the ball.
Certainly Rashford should be nowhere near that position.
What I really can't understand is playing Bruno and Rashford in those two advanced midfield slots. They are the biggest culprits when it comes to losing possession and you'd think that position requires your two best in terms of first touch and retaining the ball.
Certainly Rashford should be nowhere near that position.
I know we've been bad at this for a long time now, but last night was on another level.
Everyone can accept a pass going wrong or hitting another player when trying a half difficult forward pass, but how players at this level can't seem what should be basic passes time and again never ceases to amaze.
Everyone can accept a pass going wrong or hitting another player when trying a half difficult forward pass, but how players at this level can't seem what should be basic passes time and again never ceases to amaze.
Forwards will lose possession more often than defenders as the passes they are attempting are usually tougher.
We actually kept possession from one of the worst passes of the season in the first half when Maguire drilled a thigh high ball out to Telles who by some miracle managed to control it.
I'm done blaming coaches. It's the players at fault. They pass the ball for a living. It's utterly unacceptable they can't consistently find a team mate with a ball under no pressure
On the first one Ronaldo is offside which is probably why Rashford ends up in two minds trying to play it.
He gave the ball away himself anyway so it seems a bit rich to paint everyone else as the problem.
The problem with Maguire's passes though are that they are almost always when our opponents have found their shape and it might only amount to getting the ball wide to a full back who's not in a position to do much with it.
Losing possession with this drastic change in managerial philosophy is expected, I think.
It'll get worse before it gets better - it takes time to learn to press, finish off an attack before Columbus Day, win the ball back immediately after lost possession - all these facets of the game, that we and the players haven't seen come form a player wearing the United badge in soon to be a decade.
It is however really a shame how most of our players looks so fecking stupid when it comes to football intelligence - so much in fact, that our transition will undoubtedly take longer for Ralf to implement, than it took, say, Tuchel, Klopp, Bielsa etc. Some of our players yesterday (after four weeks with Ralf) were casually walking with the ball for multiple seconds, some players doing stepovers 49 meters away from their goal, and some other players were incessantly passing it sideways as if they were wearing a device that was sending electrical shock through their body for every progressive pass.
I reckon Ralf will want to experiment in his time here. Not just player-wise (I'm almost certain we'll see more to Donny, Elanga and Mejbri in the coming months) - I also think the 4-2-2-2-formation will be challenged.
It'll get worse before it gets better - it takes time to learn to press, finish off an attack before Columbus Day, win the ball back immediately after lost possession - all these facets of the game, that we and the players haven't seen come form a player wearing the United badge in soon to be a decade.
It is however really a shame how most of our players looks so fecking stupid when it comes to football intelligence - so much in fact, that our transition will undoubtedly take longer for Ralf to implement, than it took, say, Tuchel, Klopp, Bielsa etc. Some of our players yesterday (after four weeks with Ralf) were casually walking with the ball for multiple seconds, some players doing stepovers 49 meters away from their goal, and some other players were incessantly passing it sideways as if they were wearing a device that was sending electrical shock through their body for every progressive pass.
I reckon Ralf will want to experiment in his time here. Not just player-wise (I'm almost certain we'll see more to Donny, Elanga and Mejbri in the coming months) - I also think the 4-2-2-2-formation will be challenged.
No, the video was all about failed passes or spurned opportunities to pass to Ronaldo.
Maguire definitely has the confidence and loves attempting ranged passes and switching the play, but he doesn’t have Lindelöf’s (or Pogba’s or Bruno’s) vision for the less obvious, more incisive balls.
You initial reaction reminds me of this tweet!
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There would be a court of enquiry if Scholes or Keane lost possession.
Very interesting to see this video, much appreciated. A lot of the wasters playing alongside Ronnie are only fit for wiping his hole. In saying that was Ronnie being an idiot too expecting any of them attempts from Fred really coming off??! Fred does his usual turn inside give the ball easy get his passing stats up and get all his fanboys flouting his incredible pass completion. Most his passes are also shite even when they find their target they are not of the standard the recipient can easily deal with, ie wrong side, behind them, stretching too far, too slow etc etc. Lad is so out of his depth. Gave glimpses in the last few games but we all knew what he is really
Fred and Mctominay our two central midfielders have a relatively poor first touch at this level. Fred is a hazard close to our box for this reason and Mctominay's is probably even worse.
If our two CMs are sloppy with passing and their touch it doesn't bode well for the rest of the team.
There aren't enough highliy technical players in our starting lineup.
If our two CMs are sloppy with passing and their touch it doesn't bode well for the rest of the team.
There aren't enough highliy technical players in our starting lineup.
Or more..
We need to sign a midfielder.
We have maybe 3 technical players in our squad, we are bad technically in all areas.
No position are our players technically good enough.
I agree but we would be a much better team once we get a technically competent midfielder.
I agree but I really think we need to rethink our midfield. It's the most important area and we should start there to understand how we get control and dominate games.
I feel it's been the last thought for years.
So many issues to tackle. You have players trying cute one touch passes, that often get broken up, because the one touch is a behind them or a flick, that if works out, would look pretty, but often times doesn't work out. You have players dribbling into open space, and rather than try a pass, continue to dribble into traffic and when it's 2v1, they are often stopped and lose possession. You have players who have the ball and then stop. This one boggles my mind, they literally stop with the ball at their feet. But to be fair, the 5 other players who are waiting for the ball are standing still too. Now we have the guy with the ball not moving, the players without the ball standing still, which ends up them losing the ball. And finally (and I'm sure I'm missing others) the complete inability to break down lines. The side to side to side passing which ends up going to the wing. But when they do try to break down lines, they try a flick play, that as previously mentioned, ends up them losing the ball.