What ARE we missing?

manunited1919

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I think Jose is on the right track and is putting together a formidable team, but at the moment we are falling just short of where we all want to be. I really am not sure: What are we missing?

Is it just lady luck that has abandoned us?

Do we need to change formation to 442 against certain teams, so that we can get a real threat out of Rashford and Ibra?

Do we need to buy better wingers?

Do we need more commitment from current players, and perhaps the leadersip of a captain willing to drag the teammates to win with a never-say-die attitude?

Or do we need another massive infusion of new blood into the team the next 2 windows to fix our problems?
 
Rotation due to being in the EL is hurting us in terms of continuity and we're missing way too many chances.
 
We are a bit unlucky for sure but we are mostly terrible at finishing. There is a big difference in terms of play and chances created in comparison to LVG.
 
This team is a joy to watch. What is missing are a bit of luck, and Zlatan playing to expectation. End-May scenario will be something else.
 
Griezmann and a winger that can run at players.

Missed a trick with Mane.
 
A Michael Carrick with the engine of a 2004 Michael Carrick.

..................Rashford....Zlatan
.............................Miki...........
............Pogba.......................Herrera
...........................Carrick
 
Confidence. Players need to believe the ball is going to go in when they strike it. (And a lot of other things, but mainly confidence to get out of the current slump).
 
1) Under-use of the wings in attack.
2) Lack of pace upfront.

Creativity in central midfield can be a problem when Mata starts on the right in the present system. We need Mkhitaryan playing on the wing and one of Martial or Rashford starting upfront.

And please, don't say 'bad luck'. We sound like fans of one of the umpteen teams we used to regularly beat.
 
manunited1919 said:
I think Jose is on the right track and is putting together a formidable team, but at the moment we are falling just short of where we all want to be. I really am not sure: What are we missing?

Is it just lady luck that has abandoned us?

Do we need to change formation to 442 against certain teams, so that we can get a real threat out of Rashford and Ibra?

Do we need to buy better wingers?

Do we need more commitment from current players, and perhaps the leadersip of a captain willing to drag the teammates to win with a never-say-die attitude?

Or do we need another massive infusion of new blood into the team the next 2 windows to fix our problems?
Click to expand...

We are moving in the right direction in terms of the important stuff. Squad cohesion etc.
 
A top class defence.

Smalling and Jones are donkeys
Rojo and Blind are squad players
Darmian is rubbish
Valencia is a winger that should have been sold yonks ago
Shaw has been underwhelming

I seriously think we need to buy a new RB, LB and a world class CB. I'm not gonna throw names out cause we can't get just about anybody. But I'd like to see a pacey set of attacking full backs like Kyle Walker, David Alaba. Along with a world class experienced CB like Pepe or Chiellini.

Our problem lies in defence.
 
In terms of moving forward as a squad, we are getting there. The players know the system and are getting better. The results will come. They are playing well. Jose is doing well. The extra something that we need will come. Have faith.
 
It's not merely finishing. Our attack isn't good enough. You know have a problem when people are lamenting luck after a 20 year old missed a big chance and Jese Lingard had a shot saved which was neither a terrific chance nor a terrific save (nice nice though). Our best talents in attack are having miserable seasons.
 
CB, RB, and a top striker. I wanted to write a winger in there also after seeing Rashford and Lingard on the wings, but then I remember we do have Miki and Martial there, we just choose not to play them. Squad definetely needs improving
 
Actually not that much...

a striker who scored goals
Rashford needs confidence
Martial...
and a manager who can behave

The football we play is actually quite good.....I was a lot more worried 1 month ago when we were shit
 
1 ) One top central defender that could have took Payet's free kick.
2) Left Back that can do what Valencia does
3) TWO actual wingers that can beat defenders
4) A striker that score more than Ibra.
 
Chaky_Best said:
1 ) One top central defender that could have took Payet's free kick.
2) Left Back that can do what Valencia does
3) TWO actual wingers that can beat defenders
4) A striker that score more than Ibra.
Click to expand...
This and maybe a great holder.
 
We lack a quality winger. We can't be starting with Lingard and Rashford on the wings in a formation which is so heavily reliant on width and expect anything better.
 
Our defends might not be the greatest, but we've still only conceded 15 goals. Chelsea have conceded 10, Liverpool 14, City 12 and Arsenal 13, so we're not that bad. On the other hand, we've only scored 18 goals while Chelsea have scored 29, Liverpool 32, City 29 and Arsenal 28. It's pretty obvious that our biggest problem, as it has been ever since Fergie retired, is a lack of goals.

We've played 127 league matches since Fergie retired and have scored just 193 goals. In Fergie's last 127 league matches we scored 278 goals. So we're 85(!) goals short for the same number of matches.
 
How can people be saying RB is a problem? Valencia is clearly the best RB in the league currently, absolutely our best player so far this season.
 
Pace.

Rashford has it but isn't the best at using it out wide. Martial has it and can use it but isn't getting a sniff.

At this point I'd even give Memphis a go on the right, having him play a simple game like 09/10 Valencia. Just create that yard and deliver the ball. He's a good crosser and has pace, but his constant cutting in from the left and blasting it at a steward is predictable. It's much harder to stop a good cross. If Valencia had a winger to overlap, he could be more threatening too. Instead, Tony is playing two positions, as whoever we normally play RW is never there.

Right now it's a mess. Pogba and Herrera are very attack minded, Mata/Lingard/Mkhi/Rooney all look to occupy the same spaces as well and are all very narrow. Rashford is better through the middle but is out wide, and Zlatan is Zlatan. He can be great or a hindrance, sometimes both in the same game.

Mata has been our best player, but he seems to only play an hour every game. We look a bit hopeless without him but it is a sub we keep making.

I think we need to settle on Carrick plus 1 in CM at least for this season. Pogba and Herrera are both great but I don't think they are a pair. Then at least one proper winger carrying out the duties of a winger on the pitch, instead of strikers and #10s all running in to the same space and having zero width.
 
He needs to find a way to get the team attacking a lot more aggressively. We are simply not creating a lot of clear cut chances. When we do create them we often do not find the target. This has nothing to do with bad luck. Liverpool create a ton load of chances and by the law of averages eventually score. We need to adopt this "scattergun" approach as well because when you do create a lot of chances one of them is likely to lead to a score.
 
Patience and have faith. We have absolutely deserved to win against Stoke, Burnley and West Ham. Arsenal was a closer game, but I don't think anyone would have considered it an unjust result had we finished the job against Arsenal. Having faith in the correct methods and not knee jerking

In future transfer windows, I would look at the wide areas. LB is a real problem. Shaw's positioning and movement is awful right now. He doesn't seem to appreciate that his role in getting forward and playing the overlap is vital when all of our left-sided attackers want to cut inside. Darmian at least seems to appreciate this, but he is not particularly good at doing something incisive with the ball when he gets up there. He was also caught out of position several times during the second half, but I suspect he had little support due to people bombing forward.

It's a problem when you feel as if Valencia is one of your best players because he's pretty average with the ball and going past his man. When playing with Zlatan, drilling a cross into a defender's shins should be a big no-no. He also had ample opportunity to kick the ball beyond his opposing defender yesterday and beat him for pace, but consistently backed out of it, even when he had cover in behind preventing the counterattack.

I think a couple of top full backs would take us from being a consistently good side to being a great side. I'd kill for Neville and Evra right now.

What we don't need is more pace. It's cliche at this point.
 
Wingers wingers wingers. Our wide players range from being a bit average to outwide not being their best position. The only one we have that seems to be any good there is Mkhy but he can't play In the league for whatever reason.
We're still missing that right winger that can beat his man and put a worthy ball in, whilst also being a decent goal threat.
It's a hard position to play well, but Manchester United should always have top quality wide players.
Beyond that we're not too bad, Herrera isn't the best holding midfielder but in general we're alright.
We could do with a better left back as well, but that's more fine tuning than a huge problem imo, although I like Blind there whilst a lot of people don't.
 
I think we need an experienced winger who's been at the top, been there and done that.

I wonder if we have one of those in our squad?
 
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