What happens when we come up against decent opposition? | Errr

[Joseunited]

One game at a time folks, Huddersfield next where we should be able to enjoy another 90 minutes like we did on Saturday night(I'm not expecting 5, just attacking football at OT again).The first acid test will be home to Bournemouth, but everything will improve, attacking and defending.Let's not forget that none of these players in the previous 5 seasons have played this high pressing game, so that along with the attacking side of the game will only improve.

I watched the post match presser against Cardiff where Ole said they would work on a couple of things in the next few training sessions, the most telling one was because they were so eager to get on the ball the players were almost on top of each other whereas Ole wanted them further apart.I'm sat her watching MUTV now and the Cardiff game is on,once we play a right back in the right back position I don't think we'll have too big an issue with space on the flanks as Ashley Young is thinking like a right winger and not a right full back whereas Luke Shaw is making the same runs but he's doing it all from deeper positions.In the transitions Shaw is quicker to get back as opposed to Young.

I'd expect to see a couple of changes on Wednesday and I wouldn't be surprised to see Dalot in the starting line up.

 

[AkaAkuma]

Spurs are going to try roughing us up, I'd suggest countering it by taking the Barca approach and get them booked.

 

[Sassy Colin]

This

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Maybe our tactics could be different. Need to wait and watch.

The next United opponents are Huddersfield, at OT. I really don't think they are going to cause us any massive problems.

 

[Adam-Utd]

This

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Maybe our tactics could be different. Need to wait and watch.

This tweet (and that guy) is so irrelevant. You can't take a screenshot out of context.

Look at the players positons, we've clearly been attacking and lost the ball, and now they're attempting to counter.

Yes in that SS it looks bad, but we quite quickly snuffed out the attack.

Clearly against better opposition we won't be quite so gungho, but that's fine. Big games are always tighter.

What we needed to do was win the lower table games, and so far it looks much more likely.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Fireworks!

 

[Judas]

Honestly, I don't really care right now. I'm just going to enjoy the next three games. If we can take care of the fodder more consistently, it'll be a massive improvement on the last few seasons.

 

[Minimalist]

We may just hope Rashford, Martial and Lukaku have their shooting boots on to score more goals than them. No more Stoke City shite.

 

[hocane]

I don't know with you guys but i'd rather try to win the game and lose 4-2 than playing not to lose and losing 1-0

 

[simplyared]

Olle realises obviously he has to get our key player performing and expressing himself out on the pitch. If he's happy everyone else is. He's our creator and as long as he is on song we can beat anybody. Simple as that so no worries!

 

[klsv]

We're not going to play the same tactics and the same starting XI against PSG and Cardiff. Matic will have to do more CB work. Lindelöf will have cover for Young or Dalot going forward and doing less of that himself, or start Darmian as RB. Pogba probably not playing as 10 either.

 

[red thru&thru]

I was an avid JM fan but hearing things coming out in the press I have changed my opinion and think his main approach to games was to keep things very tight and hope he had enough quality up top through set plays and counter attacking to get the 1/2 goals needed to win games (hence building a team full of giants). He has always had good teams full Of talent everywhere he has managed he has just aired them up and cut down the goals against column.
We now know full backs were ordered to stay within 15/20 yards of centre backs when the ball was turned over and other things he insisted on. That’s why he was so irate at Luke shaw in certain games.
Looking at it now all OGS has done is unleash the players. In bigger games it will test his prep and how he tactically prepares against an opposition that can hurt us but I also think he will have a go at the bigger teams a lot more especially at home.
The one thing I will say is OGS is a gentleman and comes across so much more humble than his predecessor it’s a joy to see a man who truly loves our club sat in the dugout and I think the outside perception of the club is a lot more positive already.

Good on you. It would have been so easy for you to not comment about Jose, especially after being such a staunch fan of his. I too was backing him, especially after not wanting to hire him in the first place. But this season you could just not defend him.

Going back to the OP, it really is difficult to say. I can't imagine it being too easy for the players have a total mind switch. For the best part of 5 years they're managers have adopted a, "don't lose first and then see if we can win", kind of attitude. Whereas now, hopefully it will be, "let's win first and then make sure we don't lose".

The great thing is, majority of our games against the big boys are at home, bar Spurs and Arsenal. So it will be very interesting to see. But like someone said earlier, let's just enjoy the ride and let's watch the games on the couch, rather than behind it!

 

[Buster15]

Under Jose we would have folded after conceding that penalty.

Good point. Our confidence level was so fragile that almost anything could affect our form.

With the players actually performing for a change and enjoying more freedom, confidence should improve and make us far more resilient.

 

[Patrick08]

We will try to score more than opponents.

 

[HisDudeness]

The next United opponents are Huddersfield, at OT. I really don't think they are going to cause us any massive problems.

merely implying that united should park the bus and thump long balls. you know... play like gillingham or something.

 

[Foxbatt]

Actually he has a point. I noticed it a lot too during the game. Young was getting caught out of position too many times. He is going to suffer for it. Jesse Lingaard was not playing as a right winger and did not offer much support to Young unlike on the left where Martial and Shaw are getting a good partnership going.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Do people really think we would have 100% beaten Cardiff with that miserable prick in charge? I certainly don’t. I had it down as a 1-1.

 

[Skills]

This tweet (and that guy) is so irrelevant. You can't take a screenshot out of context.

Look at the players positons, we've clearly been attacking and lost the ball, and now they're attempting to counter.

Yes in that SS it looks bad, but we quite quickly snuffed out the attack.

Clearly against better opposition we won't be quite so gungho, but that's fine. Big games are always tighter.

What we needed to do was win the lower table games, and so far it looks much more likely.

Once teams begin to respect our attack I'm willing to bet they're not going to be leaving a man free up there.

Marcelo, Carvajal, Mendy, Walker, Robertson etc are constantly at the opposition by-line and it's rarely ever exposed.

 

[Reiver]

Do people really think we would have 100% beaten Cardiff with that miserable prick in charge? I certainly don’t. I had it down as a 1-1.

Might have won. No way we score 5 though.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Might have won. No way we score 5 though.

I had it down for a draw but we could have won alright. No doubt it would have been an absolutely tumescent affair though.

 

[ash_86]

This tweet (and that guy) is so irrelevant. You can't take a screenshot out of context.

Look at the players positons, we've clearly been attacking and lost the ball, and now they're attempting to counter.

Yes in that SS it looks bad, but we quite quickly snuffed out the attack.

Clearly against better opposition we won't be quite so gungho, but that's fine. Big games are always tighter.

What we needed to do was win the lower table games, and so far it looks much more likely.

Screenshot may not quote the whole picture but looks like Ole does like to push the FB's and get them involved as much as possible. I'm not against it as Pool has been doing it and they're also able to get back and help out on defense. Standards needs to be set if we're to improve the quality.

 

[johanovic]

We will play the "better" teams in the United way in being positive, pass the ball and attack. See where that leads us and at least the former plan of boring football has been thrown out the window. OGS will never start behaving like Grinch like Mourinho did. With Ole we have a manager that wants to be here and cares deeply about United as we do. That is perhaps more important than many experts realise. Happy Christmas and Glory, Glory Man Utd

 

[Adam-Utd]

Screenshot may not quote the whole picture but looks like Ole does like to push the FB's and get them involved as much as possible. I'm not against it as Pool has been doing it and they're also able to get back and help out on defense. Standards needs to be set if we're to improve the quality.

That’ll be helped by the high press.

we won’t give them time to play out and pick an easy pass. If they do manage to break
The press that’s where tactical fouls like city use will be important.

I’d much rather play this way with an element of risk, than sit back and get outplayed by weak opposition.

 

[bond19821982]

This

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Maybe our tactics could be different. Need to wait and watch.

Says nothing. Our own 2 players are missing in that screenshot whose job will be to press the ball carrier. And its not like the long ball can be brought down , controlled and dribbled forward in one shot. We will have enough time to cover that winger unless we are playing Hazard every week.

 

[peridigm]

Good point. Our confidence level was so fragile that almost anything could affect our form.

With the players actually performing for a change and enjoying more freedom, confidence should improve and make us far more resilient.

We get a couple of really good results in the next few matches and teams will start to fear playing against United again.

 

[el3mel]

This

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Maybe our tactics could be different. Need to wait and watch.

The screenshot is definitely a solid point to make but I think Ole won't get past it easily and will probably till his fullbacks to not be over the top offensively against the big guns, not defensive either but more balanced.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Is this going to work against the rest of the top 6?

It has been pointed out that even Jose's United would have beaten Cardiff. Albeit we would probably have had to come back from behind. However, we couldn't beat Southampton.

Anyway, once we come up against a proper team, and Ole gets to see that this managing United lark is a bit tricky dicky, how will we fair?

He will do alright. Its only our defence that will give us problems vs a top 6 side. Our midfield and attack shouldn't

 

[Untd55]

Why shouldn't we play in a similar way against the big teams? Our best results against the big teams have mostly come when we play a more aggressive attack and press.

This year (in the 2017/18 season) we beat Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea. Aside from the Liverpool game, the other victories came about due to us being more attacking. It is best shown by the Man City game where we saw both the pragmatic and more aggressive approaches - rubbish first half where we were pragmatic; great second half when we pressed their team and were more aggressive.

This was even shown in the FA Cup final against Chelsea. We sat back and didn't press, resulting in less possession and conceding a goal. After their goal we started to dominate the possession as we became more aggressive in response. We still lost but had we started more aggressive they may never have scored that goal in the first place, which would mean Chelsea would have been more open to attack.

Even this season our better results against the bigger teams have come from attacking performances. Chelsea and Arsenal were both attacking performances and resulted in draws, even though they may have been disjointed. The Man City and Liverpool games were defensive resulting in boring games and losses.

Not only is it more attractive, but this team has far more chance of winning playing on the front foot, with a high press and aggressive attack, than it does any other way. That for me concludes that we should just play our own attacking style of football no matter what. It is the best solution by far as it is entertaining for fans and suited to the players.

 

[BAMSOLA]

If Ole has learnt anything from SAF - and the little I've seen and heard this week tells me he has - then these matches will be played with a tighter more compact and combative style and setup but the same counter attacking emphasis that SAF would use to such great effect will remain without the need to surrender possession and ground as Mourinho would.

 

[Foxbatt]

I would prefer Darmian to Young in that case. He is more defense savy and he can cross the ball too.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Is this going to work against the rest of the top 6?

It has been pointed out that even Jose's United would have beaten Cardiff. Albeit we would probably have had to come back from behind. However, we couldn't beat Southampton.

Anyway, once we come up against a proper team, and Ole gets to see that this managing United lark is a bit tricky dicky, how will we fair?

We might have beaten Cardiff with Jose...But our football would most certainly have not been so brilliant.The supporters were more excited about the football than the result...

 

[Moriarty]

We are decent opposition. I hope that other teams are now worrying about how they will cope with us, and not the other way round.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

I think our attack has the potential to dismantle most defences in this league. I know we ended up losing 0-3, but the game against Tottenham, for half an hour, illustrated this teams potential when they play in a positive manner.

But more worryingly our defence has the potential to blow up in flames against the top teams....

 

[redDNA]

Big teams have obvious weaknesses ,but the difference is that you have a lot to worry about their strengths that you hardly have time to exploit their weaknesses.

The great Barça side of circa 2009/2011 had an obvious weakness in defense and goalkeeper but few teams had the ball and opportunities to exploit them.

Mourinho made us a small team by worrying about our weaknesses and not maximizing our strengths.

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

We find it difficult but we don't do any worse than we would've under the utter fraud who was managing us a week ago.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Fullbacks will need to play a lot less high - other than that, I'd say play our own game.

Pass forward, press the ball, run more than them, take our chances.

We're a fecking good team. Let's build up steam and beat PsG.

 

[Heymrtangerineman]

We could easily lose to the teams above us... but it's daft to say 'if you attack like you did at Cardiff you'll leave yourselves open and be beaten'

Maybe so but if we attack like we did against Cardiff then we'll give other teams problems as well - and maybe win.

Unlike under Jose where we set up to defend, didn't do it well and very often didn't have a chance of winning (well season 3 at least)

 

[Unitedssss]

The opposition was not very good but we still played very entertaining football. I watched a video about the match and our fullbacks Shaw and Young where playing really high, almost to the point where they became wingers in attack. It was very effective against Cardiff but when we play sides with the likes of Salah, Sane and Sterling we will struggle against the counter.

I would suggest that we still play with attacking fullbacks but not as forthcoming as they were against Cardiff. This would help decrease the chance of conceding from the counter attack and we will still play very effective and attacking football.

 

[Sterling Archer]

OP sounds like a Jose Mourinho problem.
I've had enough of that. Let's get back to the days of Manchester United always score and make opponents change the way they play when they face us instead of the other way around.

 

[pocco]

Everyone keeps mentioning Youngs position,saying he's thinking like a winger, too far forward etc. That's part of Oles tactics. He did it at Molde. Read through the threads and followers of that league all said that he plays with one full back almost further forward than his strikers, with the winger tucked in. I'm guessing somebody in the midfield is supposed to cover.

 

[HisDudeness]

Moyes wasn't flexible enough, LVG and Jose M obsessed with weaknesses in their own teams.

Remember the dire performance in that defeat against Norwich City. I mean Norwich City, despite having much less of the ball, just looked comfortable. Even the Norwich manager looked comfortable.... "No worries guys we'll get a draw if we don't sneak a win"

When teams go to City and Liverpool (and spurs), they fear a thrashing. The oposition managers have a defeatist attitude.