Why I prefer attractive football over winning at all costs

[Pogue Mahone]

If your team are incapable of mounting attacks cohesively, consistently and against good opposition.. what are you exactly going to be winning, I just don't get it.

Two trophies last season, for starters.

As well as 3 points against Spurs a week ago.

We've also somehow scored the second highest number of goals in the PL and won every one of our CL (and domestic cup) fixtures, so far this season.

Obviously, the plan going forwards is to improve at both ends of the pitch but I suspect you're over-stating the extent of our problem.

 

[Dir Wangem]

This topic drives me insane.

1. Stop trying to make this topic into an absolute! You can win and play attractive football. In fact, it's impossible to win the league without playing attractive football(in my opinion). I'm not saying that the team that plays the most attractive football always wins, but they will have to play attractive football nonetheless. Every team that has won the PL have been entertaining to watch as a neutral(unless you only like very specific types of football, in which case you can feck off from the discussion).

2. Mourinho's teams, once they click and he has the players he wants/needs, definitely play entertaining and attacking football. Will he park the bus against the 2-3 toughest opponents on their turf? Sure, but what about the remaining 90%(+) of the games? Do they count for nothing?

3. Even in the games where he parks the bus, he will still want his team to counter-attack well. Failure to do so often comes down the players not being good enough or the opponent simply being better. It happenes to every team, and it happened to Fergie as well. Counter-attacking football can be just as beautiful as the football you see with high-defensive lines.

4. Our attacking players are not good enough overall to play Mourinho football. That is why the games against Liverpool and Chelsea were so frustrating. Add a couple of changes and goals to those games, and they suddenly become much more palatable. Even entertaining.

 

[Raees]

Two trophies last season, for starters.

As well as 3 points against Spurs a week ago.

We've also somehow scored the second highest number of goals in the PL and won every one of our CL (and domestic cup) fixtures, so far this season.

Obviously, the plan going forwards is to improve at both ends of the pitch but I suspect you're over-stating the extent of our problem.

Sorry Pogue, my comment was not about whether we are incapable of doing all of that regularly.. we clearly have at stages been able to do it, hence we are still a top 6 side.

My point was that if in theory your team was incapable of attacking i.e. the current malaise we are in was a more sustained issue, then surely you can't win anything of note (CL or Premier League). You need some semblance of a cohesive attack regardless if you are a defensive or counter-attacking outfit.

Even a defensive side like Inter of 2010, had a very cohesive and well-planned attack, with everyone on the same wavelength etc. So I don't understand posters who are not worried an iota if our attack was to continue to misfire.. even if you're not worried about entertainment, to some extent you do need to worry about whether the attack can gel as it is a prerequisite for success.

Hope that opinion is tad more easy to digest than what it seemed..

 

[AshRK]

Yeah, how dare a player roll on the ground after Pepe comes with a knee-high tackle.

Pedro, Busquets, Villa, Fabregas, heck even Messi, under Pep they were the biggest divers. Making something big off nothing, Busquets and Pedro winking, Villa blatantly diving. But ofcourse they can do that as it is Barca and Pep's team.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Sorry Pogue, my comment was about we are incapable of doing all of that regularly.. we clearly have at stages been able to do it, hence we are still a top 6 side.

My point was that if in theory your team was incapable of attacking i.e. the current malaise we are in was a more sustained issue, then surely you can't win anything of note (CL or Premier League). You need some semblance of a cohesive attack regardless if you are a defensive or counter-attacking outfit.

Even a defensive side like Inter of 2010, had a very cohesive and well-planned attack, with everyone on the same wavelength etc. So I don't understand posters who are not worried an iota if our attack was to continue to misfire.. even if you're not worried about entertainment, to some extent you do need to worry about whether the attack can gel as it is a prerequisite for success.

Well neither do I. I’m just not seeing many (any?) posts from people who aren’t hoping our attacking football improves.

 

[Fully Fledged]

If your team are incapable of mounting attacks cohesively, consistently and against good opposition.. what are you exactly going to be winning, I just don't get it.

Apparently you win the league by drawing 0-0 with Liverpool and losing 1-0 to Chelsea. The no goals for us being the important part because you don't win the league by attacking the opposition nowadays.

 

[Raees]

Well neither do I. I’m just not seeing many (any?) posts from people who aren’t hoping our attacking football improves.

Not from any main posters, but I have seen one line comments from quite a few who seem to be of the thought that everything is fine and who cares if our attack isn't fluent, we have a winner in charge and we will grind our way to success because he is a sure bet.

For me Jose at his best, always had great defensive strategy but his sides were killers in attack. They were ruthless, they knew how to fashion chances at will and put sides away and grab goals on the counter. How many times did we see them tear the likes of Arsenal or Barca apart on counters.. his sides could destroy even the best ball-playing teams because his sides had that ability to put together great passages of play under pressure.

Not saying he's lost it, but haven't seen that since he's been in charge here. I just see alot of hoofball in these big games.

A peak Jose team would destroy a Klopp team which is impotent in possession and shit in defence. Now he's scared to even have a go. That isn't the Jose I admired.

 

[Skills]

But he was never like that when he was managing Madrid, CHelsea or even Inter. Yes there were games he would go ultra defensive but not every game. He is the same Jose who used to set his team to counter attack and win matches at Camp Nou. He won 4-1 at Atheltico, playing an attacking football. He beat Arsenal 6-0, beat Liverpool at Anfield numerous times with Chlesea. Beat spurs 4-0 with a chelsea side having Eto'o leading the line. SO what has suddenly changed. My only answer for that would be the players. It was not a surprise he was after Perisic, as he could turn defense to attack quickly. None of our full backs or Wingers or even number 10's can do that. Martial and Rashford to an extent but that is it and Pogba for sure.

He set up for a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Champions League semi final against Barcelona after losing the first 2-0.

 

[prtk0811]

Apparently you win the league by drawing 0-0 with Liverpool and losing 1-0 to Chelsea. The no goals for us being the important part because you don't win the league by attacking the opposition nowadays.

You can't attack the opposition when you don't have the ball or can't citculate and build an attack in high energetic counter pressing.

Teams did not play like this before in epl. These are european tactics where even fergie has struggled .

Epl really has become a mix of Spanish Italian and English tactics , it so bloody damn difficult on footballing levels and Philosophies.

 

[shaky]

I care very little if our football is attractive or not, as long as it's effective. Attractive is only a bonus. If a supporter doesn't feel bad after watching their team lose while playing "attractive" football, then they are hardly even a fan of their team, more just a football fan in general. The enjoyment from watching a game only lasts for 90 minutes, the crap feeling from a defeat, or the joy of a victory, lasts much longer.

 

[Raees]

He set up for a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Champions League semi final against Barcelona after losing the first 2-0.

Which was understandable. That first leg win was one of the finest european displays in recent years, it was a truly exceptional performance and thrilling to watch from a counter-attacking perspective.

TBF the sending off, made his team ultra park the bus in that second leg.

 

[prtk0811]

Not from any main posters, but I have seen one line comments from quite a few who seem to be of the thought that everything is fine and who cares if our attack isn't fluent, we have a winner in charge and we will grind our way to success because he is a sure bet.

For me Jose at his best, always had great defensive strategy but his sides were killers in attack. They were ruthless, they knew how to fashion chances at will and put sides away and grab goals on the counter. How many times did we see them tear the likes of Arsenal or Barca apart on counters.. his sides could destroy even the best ball-playing teams because his sides had that ability to put together great passages of play under pressure.

Not saying he's lost it, but haven't seen that since he's been in charge here. I just see alot of hoofball in these big games.

A peak Jose team would destroy a Klopp team which is impotent in possession and shit in defence. Now he's scared to even have a go. That isn't the Jose I admired.

In Madrid he had Ronaldo and di Maria running down the wings with modic and Alonso or khedira as picots and ozil as a cam with benzema as striker, attacking full backs like Marcelo and other bloke. That's so much balance and quality on and off the ball.

At chelaea he had robbens on the wing , drogba like striker lampard and makalele essien midfeild Ashley Cole as attacking full backs Terry like warrior defenders , at inter he had zlatan Schneider eto maicon cambiaaso zanetti milito level players.

Chelsea second stint were hazard willian Oscar lampard matic and fabregas Costa quality on the ball although struggled with full backs and CBS. Still won't the league and built a foundation.

What did we have last year or since pogba's injury?

 

[El Zoido]

Not from any main posters, but I have seen one line comments from quite a few who seem to be of the thought that everything is fine and who cares if our attack isn't fluent, we have a winner in charge and we will grind our way to success because he is a sure bet.

For me Jose at his best, always had great defensive strategy but his sides were killers in attack. They were ruthless, they knew how to fashion chances at will and put sides away and grab goals on the counter. How many times did we see them tear the likes of Arsenal or Barca apart on counters.. his sides could destroy even the best ball-playing teams because his sides had that ability to put together great passages of play under pressure.

Not saying he's lost it, but haven't seen that since he's been in charge here. I just see alot of hoofball in these big games.

A peak Jose team would destroy a Klopp team which is impotent in possession and shit in defence. Now he's scared to even have a go. That isn't the Jose I admired.

We don't have the players to do this. I think there's some serious overrating of our players on this forum, the teams that Jose used those tactics on were strong in every position, his first Chelsea side had Lampard, Essien, Robben, Drogba etc. Terrifying.

Only Pogba has that status for us, and he's been out injured. Even when not, he can't do it on his own.

 

[walkinhop]

Winning should always be number 1 priority...yes but unless you make several efforts to win a game, you won't win the game.

that's factually untrue. You need minimum 1 effort.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

We don't have the players to do this. I think there's some serious overrating of our players on this forum, the teams that Jose used those tactics on were strong in every position, his first Chelsea side had Lampard, Essien, Robben, Drogba etc. Terrifying.

Only Pogba has that status for us, and he's been out injured. Even when not, he can't do it on his own.

I think people overrate our opposition. Only City have a better side than us and even they have weaknesses(Delph at LB, no one rated Stones and Otamendi last season). We are better than Liverpool at almost every position now but, we still came out defensive against them.

 

[hn4manunited]

In Madrid he had Ronaldo and di Maria running down the wings with modic and Alonso or khedira as picots and ozil as a cam with benzema as striker, attacking full backs like Marcelo and other bloke. That's so much balance and quality on and off the ball.

At chelaea he had robbens on the wing , drogba like striker lampard and makalele essien midfeild Ashley Cole as attacking full backs Terry like warrior defenders , at inter he had zlatan Schneider eto maicon cambiaaso zanetti milito level players.

Chelsea second stint were hazard willian Oscar lampard matic and fabregas Costa quality on the ball although struggled with full backs and CBS. Still won't the league and built a foundation.

What did we have last year or since pogba's injury?

I have read through many of these threads and this sums up where we are fairly well. We just don't have the quality in the team to be on a tear and yet we have done quite well. When you look at Chelsea over the weekend, we were playing against some absolute quality players.

The Jose sides that have won stuff attractively, have great quality players that he could implement his ideas. The Jose sides that have won stuff in an ugly way had decent players who he has had to set up in a pragmatic way to win at all costs. In theory, looking at our team last season we should have had no chance of winning anything if not for Jose. People need to start to understand that this team is a work in progress. Even Zlatan has said he was surprised at how much more patient Jose has been with this team. If us fans pile on the pressure for Jose to win now at all cost instead of allowing him to rebuild this club as a project for longer stay, we will lose him for sure. We will then go back to one of the clubs that won't regain stability and go through managers every couple of years.

EDIT: I guess I meant to say that he is already trying to win at all cost, i.e. win ugly or win pretty. If we want sustained success and consistent performance, we need to get behind the rebuilding. Us fans in this current day/generation are so demanding and are mostly living in the culture of we want something now. There are many fans who I know understand the facts and reasons but will continue to say things like they don't understand why we are where we are just because they don't like it.

 

[prtk0811]

I think people overrate our opposition. Only City have a better side than us and even they have weaknesses(Delph at LB, no one rated Stones and Otamendi last season). We are better than Liverpool at almost every position now but, we still came out defensive against them.

They play total football with counter pressing and a numerical advantage of 3v2 and 4v2 inn second half with wingers cutting inside on switch of play.

They were going to peg our wingers back with their passing so that lukaku gets isolated with mkh . There was no way to win the midfeild battle until you have creative passing and players who can sheild and circulate the ball in high enegetic counter pressing.

 

[Kag]

If football was about winning at all costs then there's no point watching the games.

You can just rock up to Manchester city centre in May and pretend to be happy when United drive by on the team bus.

 

[2 man midfield]

but if your watching boring style of football every week even if your winning it becomes pretty dull and for me winning atrophy doesn't make up for that.

different folks different strokes, but for me watching entertaining football will always be top of my priorities list as i spend so long watching football its very depressing when your team plays in a very pragmatic or defensive way.

Just my opinion.

If you're winning though, you're scoring goals. Goals are exciting in of themselves, it doesn't really matter how they're scored that much. Winning is the ultimate realisation of what we're all in this for, to compete and be better than the other team.

 

[AshRK]

He set up for a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Champions League semi final against Barcelona after losing the first 2-0.

Like I said he would setup defensively in some games but not every game.

 

[reddevil702]

The real issue only arises when we're losing. Let's be honest if we played this way and won the PL or CL then would we really complain? When we play the way we did against Liverpool and Chelsea it's just downright depressing. We never really had a chance to win either because we're just so negative. Maybe a lot does have to do with injuries and the players available, but it should not be acceptable game plan every time we face a top team away from home. If we lost both those games 4-3 or even 4-2 but fought hard and played attacking football then I think most would be able to accept we just weren't the better team that night and moved on. But when we give these teams so much respect and play as if we were a mid table club just looking for a point it leaves you wanting more because we expect more from United.

 

[Aniefiok]

Pochettino has spent 2 quid tho. Let's have a bit of perspective.

Holding on to your best players is just as good as spending money on new and expensive ones... There's perspective for you sire

 

[prtk0811]

I have read through many of these threads and this sums up where we are fairly well. We just don't have the quality in the team to be on a tear and yet we have done quite well. When you look at Chelsea over the weekend, we were playing against some absolute quality players.

The Jose sides that have won stuff attractively, have great quality players that he could implement his ideas. The Jose sides that have won stuff in an ugly way had decent players who he has had to set up in a pragmatic way to win at all costs. In theory, looking at our team last season we should have had no chance of winning anything if not for Jose. People need to start to understand that this team is a work in progress. Even Zlatan has said he was surprised at how much more patient Jose has been with this team. If us fans pile on the pressure for Jose to win now at all cost instead of allowing him to rebuild this club as a project for longer stay, we will lose him for sure. We will then go back to one of the clubs that won't regain stability and go through managers every couple of years.

Yeah exactly.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

It's fun to see the team win but it's not why we support United. But I prefer winning a final with defensive style than losing 4-3 of course.

This season, we've been creating enough chances comparable to Fergie's last successful years. If you mean parking the bus for big games, I can agree. But overall we are playing attacking football.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

If you're winning though, you're scoring goals. Goals are exciting in of themselves, it doesn't really matter how they're scored that much. Winning is the ultimate realisation of what we're all in this for, to compete and be better than the other team.

i totally disagree, you watch the way a goals are genrally scored in say a tony Pulis side compared to say how goals are genreally scored by a Pep side and you cant honestly tell me that they are both as exciting to watch.

or it is as exciting to watch a your team grab a 1.0 win through a few long balls and parking the bus, as it is watching your team play free flowing attacking football for 90 mins

for me the journey matters, not just the end result.

but i totally respect your opnion, the idea of football is to win and for many the excitement is in the result, but i love watching top quality attacking exciting football and to me that is important.

 

[2 man midfield]

i totally disagree, you watch the way a goals are genrally scored in say a tony Pulis side compared to say how goals are genreally scored by a Pep side and you cant honestly tell me that they are both as exciting to watch.

or it is as exciting to watch a your team grab a 1.0 win through a few long balls and parking the bus, as it is watching your team play free flowing attacking football for 90 mins

for me the journey matters, not just the end result.

but i totally respect your opnion, the idea of football is to win and for many the excitement is in the result, but i love watching top quality attacking exciting football and to me that is important.

Don't get me wrong, I love it too. Watching City tear Arsenal apart yesterday, as painful as it was, was also a joy to watch. Attractive football is exactly that. But if forced to choose between that and winning, it's the latter every time.

 

[Markmark99]

This topic drives me insane.

1. Stop trying to make this topic into an absolute! You can win and play attractive football. In fact, it's impossible to win the league without playing attractive football(in my opinion). I'm not saying that the team that plays the most attractive football always wins, but they will have to play attractive football nonetheless. Every team that has won the PL have been entertaining to watch as a neutral(unless you only like very specific types of football, in which case you can feck off from the discussion).

2. Mourinho's teams, once they click and he has the players he wants/needs, definitely play entertaining and attacking football. Will he park the bus against the 2-3 toughest opponents on their turf? Sure, but what about the remaining 90%(+) of the games? Do they count for nothing?

3. Even in the games where he parks the bus, he will still want his team to counter-attack well. Failure to do so often comes down the players not being good enough or the opponent simply being better. It happenes to every team, and it happened to Fergie as well. Counter-attacking football can be just as beautiful as the football you see with high-defensive lines.

4. Our attacking players are not good enough overall to play Mourinho football. That is why the games against Liverpool and Chelsea were so frustrating. Add a couple of changes and goals to those games, and they suddenly become much more palatable. Even entertaining.

OK so where is the blueprint we are going to play once we get these "better players"? Because right now all i see is defend and hit long balls up to Lukaku. Frankly. it's a disgrace. If we actually see great attacking moves from time to time i might agree.

He bought and continues to play MIki/Mata,Herrera...ok we have no-one better. But he has about 20 months left. How will he fix this huge problem? BUy 6 players between now and next season? Young/Valencia...as full backs, Poor standard players all over...Mata/Miki/Herrera/Blind/Darmian/Shaw/Smalling. Saying this for years but not fixed.

He's not got the money nor the time to fix it

 

[Ashley R1+O]

"Attractive football" is in the eye of the beholder, as a fan we have no control over how good or bad the football is, only what we perceive in the 90 minutes that our team is on the park.

Which is why winning at all costs is the hallmark of a great team at the end of a 50+ game season.

 

[Dir Wangem]

OK so where is the blueprint we are going to play once we get these "better players"? Because right now all i see is defend and hit long balls up to Lukaku. Frankly. it's a disgrace. If we actually see great attacking moves from time to time i might agree.

He bought and continues to play MIki/Mata,Herrera...ok we have no-one better. But he has about 20 months left. How will he fix this huge problem? BUy 6 players between now and next season? Young/Valencia...as full backs, Poor standard players all over...Mata/Miki/Herrera/Blind/Darmian/Shaw/Smalling. Saying this for years but not fixed.

He's not got the money nor the time to fix it

Here's an idea: watch ALL the games! Not just the games vs Liverpool and Chelsea, at their turf, without Pogba(our most important player). Only City have scored more goals than us. That doesn't happen with mindless hoofball.

As far as signings go, I reckon we are 1 or 2 top signings away from being the best team in the league. Griezmann was 100% going to be that difference-maker, but we'll unfortunately have to wait..

 

[Nytram Shakes]

Don't get me wrong, I love it too. Watching City tear Arsenal apart yesterday, as painful as it was, was also a joy to watch. Attractive football is exactly that. But if forced to choose between that and winning, it's the latter every time.

thats fair enough, i fall on the opposite side of the coin

i think everyone would prefer winning and attractive football hopefully one day we will get it.

 

[Aza Boy]

Dont care. Silverware is everything. Even if we have to resurrect Catenaccio of Italy 1982 or Wallstone of Greece 2004, let it be.

We dont have the talents to play like Barca, PSG, and City, but we are not inferior to attacking teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs.

Even with Chelsea, last 20 minutes we attacked them all out.

 

[Aza Boy]

Apologize if double posted.

 

[redIndianDevil]

This season, we've been creating enough chances comparable to Fergie's last successful years. If you mean parking the bus for big games, I can agree. But overall we are playing attacking football.

This is the problem if you take stats blindly, I mean what qualifies as a "Big Chance"? Is a cross across the opposition box a big chance? If yes then obviously that would boost the number of big chances as our primary attack is crosses.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Dont care. Silverware is everything. Even if we have to resurrect Catenaccio of Italy 1982 or Wallstone of Greece 2004, let it be.

We dont have the talents to play like Barca, PSG, and City, but we are not inferior to attacking teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs.

Even with Chelsea, last 20 minutes we attacked them all out.

So a fluky title win is all you are after? Oh and BTW we didn't "all out attack" the last 20 minutes, they just stopped pressing and shored up the defence to control the match. They knew we would create jack shite other than crosses and long balls.

 

[prtk0811]

So a fluky title win is all you are after? Oh and BTW we didn't "all out attack" the last 20 minutes, they just stopped pressing and shored up the defence to control the match. They knew we would create jack shite other than crosses and long balls.

May be if the board wasnt sleeping and clueless in understanding the balance and quality problems and in United squad and recruited better you wouldn't have seen the dire stuff in possession.

 

[Turnip]

I agree with OP. I watch football as a form of entertainment. Looking at a screen of stats listing what we've won is nice, but it's not entertaining. I got interested in football because Man United were a fun team to watch when I was a kid, not necessarily because they won a lot, I doubt I even understood what winning the league meant when I was 5. I'm not going to stop supporting United because our football isn't great, but I'd rather us finish in 2nd and have loved watching every match than watch us win the league playing LvG football.

I also understand there will always be matches that you can't attack gung ho. But to actually have some sort of attacking plan or look like you have a chance of scoring should really be a necessity at a club of this size, even in the tougher games where you don't expect a win like Chelsea away.

 

[finneh]

A bit of a strange thread in my view given the fact that save for the two games that as a club we've almost always played cautiously, we have tried to attack regularly. This is clearly reflected in the fact that we've scored 35 goals in 16 games excluding the Burton game (whilst only conceding 6).

The problem isn't with our attacking play it's with the fact that hindsight corrupts opinions in combination with how City are playing. For example 07/08 is held up as a bastion of attacking football under Fergie, but people forget about how we started that season - at the start we were impotent in an attacking sense - scoring 10 goals in our opening 12 games, winning 6 of them 1-0.

Throughout any season teams go through leaner periods whether it be through injuries, through form or tactically by design. This season the last few games we've been hit by a myriad of injuries, had two of the most difficult fixtures in the season and stuttered in terms of form. In terms of the Chelsea game I actually think we were too attacking up until their goal; they had several chances as we were allowing Fabregas, Hazard & Morata far too much room. We should have set up to keep things tight and hit them on the counter, taking a 0-0 if they weren't ambitious enough to commit men forward.

It's also worth mentioning that people shouldn't conflate an all round poor performance with not trying to play attacking football. The Huddersfield result is an obvious example of this.

 

[Blue always red]

Realistically, what does supporting a successful club who win trophies give the viewer? Football, for me at least, is purely a spectacle. Winning doesn't validate my choice or anything, I simply want to watch my team play beautiful football, even if it results in defeat .

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Been thinking about this over the last few days.

Dunno if anyone remembers but there was a blog posted by a Liverpool fan towards the end of the season under Brendan Rodgers about what an amazing experience it had been. The buzz amongst Liverpool fans before during and after games where they regularly ripped apart top teams, as well as absolutely annihilating the cannon fodder. Now they ended up winning feck all but I remember at the time feeling kind of jealous, despite United eventually grinding them into submission. When you think about it, there's different ways that football gives you joy. There's that moment when you win a major trophy. That's brilliant. You get pissed that night, gorge yourself on newspapers/podcasts and season reviews for another week or two after that. All good stuff. Then there's the course of that season up until that point. How much of a buzz your team gives you on any given weekend, over the 8 or 9 months of the league campaign. The excitement of watching them play well for 90 minutes, as well as the anticipation of watching them do it all again the next weekend and the hoovering up of all the stuff in the media about the incredible stuff your team is playing. If that buzz is much higher for the team playing like Liverpool (which was IMO the case in that particular season) then hasn't their team given them more net pleasure than the United team, despite falling short at the end?

Not sure any of this has anything to do with our current predicament but I guess I'm coming out and saying that even if we do win more trophies under Mourinho, he won't have given us as much joy as a manager who has his team playing football that is more swash-buckling and easier on the eye. I'm just going to have to hope that a club who gives him the backing he's never had before (in terms of patience and finances) will allow him to break the mold and eventually get us consistently playing the type of football his teams have only intermittently produced before. I don't think there's any immediate solution but yeah, the approach he's taking while he's trying to get us back into a force again can only be seen as a short to medium term fix. In the long term it's not ideal at all.

 

[londonredmaniac]

Exactly, I'd be interested to know who all these teams are who play attractive football and never win anything.

After all, when United used to play attractive football all the time, we were rubbish.

I'd say Newcastle United in the 90s and Spurs the last 4 or so years come to mind mate.

Granted what you say is usually the case, but one doesn't guarantee the other in any respect.

I'll be honest, I don't enjoy watching us at all. Is say there was a period under LVG I enjoyed, before it all went wrong at Leicester and he shut up shop...and I enjoyed watching us the beginning of last season where Mourinho seemed to embrace the attacking football...but our finishing let us down. Obviously the start to this season was good...other than that watching United has been a bit of a case of getting through it.

It's monumentally frustrating to watch. I hope Pogba coming back helps bridge that gap between defence and attack...because Jesus. Lumping 50 yard balls up to Lukaku isn't really my idea of watching football. It certainly shouldn't be given the amount that's been spent on this side in recent times.

I'd have no problems being built around a slightly more defensive style of play if, when we attacked, we did so with pace, movement, dynamism and craft. We look static of late. None of our centre backs look comfortable on the ball currently and our midfield lacks any sort of direction.

All in all, after a semi promising start, we look like we are floundering.