Di Maria's angel
Captain of Moanchester United
It's truly incredible how quickly the wheels have come off. Excuse after excuse from Jose when quite literally every aspect of our team has been in his control.
Mata - haha.Lingard doesn't stand off teams when he plays. Herrera likewise. Rashford likewise. Hell even Mata tries to defend from the front. The players that stand off are the lazy players that strangely get selected every week.
A spine of Matic, Pogba, Fellaini and Lukaku simply don't cover enough ground. It's not even that they stand off, they simply allow the opposition to waltz past them.
If I were a midfielder I'd love playing against United. I'd receive the ball 5 yards from Lukaku who'd slowly amble towards me whilst I ran into the middle third. In front of me I'd see Pogba, Fellaini and Matic who're all absolute statues, meaning my teammates in front of me would find acres of space. I'd pass the ball and there'd be a clear run at two mediocre centre halves. Even if my teammates lost the ball I'd know I'd easily get back quickly enough to cover, that's if Lukaku's first touch didn't immediately give the ball back to me.
Conversely I'd hate playing against a front 6 that included Herrera, Rashford, Fred, Sanchez, Mata & Lingard; even if they aren't as talented as say Pogba.
Agreed - hence the appalling team selection comment.
Not moving is not a playing style. It's definitely not a playing style when Lingard, Herrera, Mata, Sanchez and Rashford actually do effectively press.Mata - haha.
Seriously, it's a playing style not a lack of movement from players. One of the biggest issues with our forward players pressing is the fact that defence doesn't actually push up and play a high line. We end up having say our front 3/4 pressing high then a huge space between them. We do not squeeze the pitch and leave space in behind. And that can only be through coaching, if someone like Pep/Klopp took over tomorrow, the team would be working in a totally different manner.
Interesting stats. How do Matic, Fellaini and Hererra stack up?Not moving is not a playing style. It's definitely not a playing style when Lingard, Herrera, Mata, Sanchez and Rashford actually do effectively press.
Below are the three players who've ran the most per 90 mins and the three who've ran the least between United, Liverpool & City in the Champions League per team (minimum 20km covered total excluding CB/GK)
Mata 12.9km vs Milner 12.2km vs B.Silva 11.9km
Fred 11.8km vs Henderson 11.7km vs Mahrez 11.5km
Lingard 11.7km vs Firmino 11.5km vs D.Silva 11.3km
Valencia / Young 9.8km vs Mane 10.5km vs Jesus 10km
Lukaku 9.1km vs Salah 10km vs Sane 9.8km
Martial 8.9km vs Arnold - 10km vs Aguero 9.7km
Straight away you can see where the problem lies. The players at the top of the list are very much comparable, however the players at the bottom of the list are either past being able to cover the required distance (Young / Valencia) or too lazy to cover this distance (Lukaku / Martial).
In central midfield the numbers are equally damning. In an area where we should be covering the most ground Pogba at 10.5km is far behind other central midfielders such as Henderson (11.7km), Milner (12.2km) B.Silva (11.9km) & Gundogan (11.3km).
Herrera hasn't played 90 mins but the others are much better than you'd think:Interesting stats. How do Matic, Fellaini and Hererra stack up?
Well there you go. More interesting stats. It certainly seems as though our constant wallowing at the bottom of the distance covered table seems to be more down to a handful of spectacularly lazy and/or over the hill players than any kind of coordinated strategy to conserve energy.Herrera hasn't played 90 mins but the others are much better than you'd think:
Fellaini - 11.6km
Matic - 11.5km
The only thing I'd say about Fellaini is that against Young Boys (A) and Juventus (A) he only played the last 15-25 mins which may contribute positively to distance per min (you'd expect a greater coverage per minute)
Naturally you also have to look in how our team is utilising their distance covered. Matic and Fellaini for instance are not players who will press the opposition.
That's certainly the story that the CL distances suggest and as I say I'd imagine there would be an even greater chasm if we looked at playing the likes of Brighton where players are under less scrutiny than Juventus.Well there you go. More interesting stats. It certainly seems as though our constant wallowing at the bottom of the distance covered table seems to be more down to a handful of spectacularly lazy and/or over the hill players than any kind of coordinated strategy to conserve energy.
Re Fellaini. His distance stats have always been good. I remember - not long after we signed him - seeing stats about him covering huge distances as a CM. It was mentioned at the time that he used to run 10km races at a fairly elite level.
Crazy thing he could've bought Fabinho. We were linked with him every summer and they both share an agent. And fabinho admitted we never approached him . Jose chose MaticAnyone else find Mourinho’s comments about Robertson really fecking bizarre in the context of this thread?!
If he admires these qualities in the opposition, why on earth can’t/won’t he get the same effort out of his own team?
Exactly. And I’d say it’s fairly fine margins that can make the overall workrate for a team look good vs shit. Just takes 4 or 5 relative passengers and suddenly we’re the laziest team in the league.That's certainly the story that the CL distances suggest and as I say I'd imagine there would be an even greater chasm if we looked at playing the likes of Brighton where players are under less scrutiny than Juventus.
It doesn't sound like a lot but if our full backs should be covering another 0.5km each; plus Martial, Pogba and Lukaku should be covering another 1.5-2km each... If you exclude the GK and CB's that's an extra 2km each (or more than 15%) that the other 3 players on the pitch need to run to make up for it.
Absolutely. This was apparent from Klopp's first game in charge. The first one against Tottenham in White Hart Lane, and here are the stats to prove it:Liverpool don't just magically have speed and intensity.
Klopp has been working on it since day 1. The man is not a coach.
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The team sprints stats can be just as distorted by lazy individuals as the team distance covered stats. We need to see individual sprint stats before we make any conclusions about anything. Otherwise it’s all just conjecture.The more interesting stat is about sprints.
The distance covered one does not tell much about intensity. If you take Sane, for instance, he has covered only 9,8 km per game but I'm sure he's has made many sprints. Same with Salah and Mane. Their stats are not spectacular regarding distance covered but are probably quite good re sprints. That is, how you cover distance is no less important than how much. Jogging around for 90 minutes would make for decent stats about distance covered.
United are 18th in the EPL with respect to sprints. City were 1st last season and I'm sure they and Liverpool are thereabouts this season too.
Might be the case. I think Rashford and Lingard do quite well regarding sprints, Shaw probably too.The team sprints stats can be just as distorted by lazy individuals as the team distance covered stats.
How much is tactics and how much is down to individuals not correctly following tactics is impossible to know. But it’s been a real eye opener to see the likes of Lingard, Matic, Fellaini and Fred cover as much distance in CL matches as the players covering the most ground at Liverpool and City while our team - as a whole - covers less ground than any other PL team.Might be the case. I think Rashford and Lingard do quite well regarding sprints, Shaw probably too.
It seems to me that the problem is mostly tactical though. We don't use enough high press which requires more intensity and speed both in attack (after dispossessing the opposition) and defence (when the opposition plays throught the press).
The big differece between us and Liverpool is not so much about the overall distance covered as about the intensity with which it is covered. Maybe there will appear statistical analyses of the last game but the eye test says that Liverpool made much more sprints and it is not because say Lukaku or Bailly were lazy. Sure, some are lazy but the reason is mostly tactical imo.
That's wrong though, it depends on each players role within each teams. For example Wijnaldum covers 10.8km that's more comparable to Pogba. Lukaku isn't used like the players you compared him to, he isn't switching positions like Firmino and Aguero do, same thing with Martial which means that they don't have the lateral distances to cover and that's tactical.That's certainly the story that the CL distances suggest and as I say I'd imagine there would be an even greater chasm if we looked at playing the likes of Brighton where players are under less scrutiny than Juventus.
It doesn't sound like a lot but if our full backs should be covering another 0.5km each; plus Martial, Pogba and Lukaku should be covering another 1.5-2km each... If you exclude the GK and CB's that's an extra 2km each (or more than 15%) that the other 3 players on the pitch need to run to make up for it.
Defenders might obey instructions related to their zones or something. If the midifelders, Rashford, Lingard and Mata cover so much distance, then the defenders + Lukaku and Martial/Sanchez must be responsible for the bad stats regarding distance covered. The latter are roughly 1,5 km combined off the stats of their counterparts at City. So, the defenders are responsible too. I guess high pressing would leave free spaces and thus defenders would have to run more.How much is tactics and how much is down to individuals not correctly following tactics is impossible to know. But it’s been a real eye opener to see the likes of Lingard, Matic, Fellaini and Fred cover as much distance in CL matches as the players covering the most ground at Liverpool and City while our team - as a whole - covers less ground than any other PL team.
That certainly seems to be to indicate that the widely accepted explanation for us collectively working so much less hard than other PL teams is because Mourinho prefers his players to stay compact and not cover much ground might not hold much water.
The thing is, Mata plays as if he is Messi in our team. He has complete freedom to move all over the pitch. I'm not surprised his is so high.Not moving is not a playing style. It's definitely not a playing style when Lingard, Herrera, Mata, Sanchez and Rashford actually do effectively press.
Below are the three players who've ran the most per 90 mins and the three who've ran the least between United, Liverpool & City in the Champions League per team (minimum 20km covered total excluding CB/GK)
Mata 12.9km vs Milner 12.2km vs B.Silva 11.9km
Fred 11.8km vs Henderson 11.7km vs Mahrez 11.5km
Lingard 11.7km vs Firmino 11.5km vs D.Silva 11.3km
Valencia / Young 9.8km vs Mane 10.5km vs Jesus 10km
Lukaku 9.1km vs Salah 10km vs Sane 9.8km
Martial 8.9km vs Arnold - 10km vs Aguero 9.7km
Straight away you can see where the problem lies. The players at the top of the list are very much comparable, however the players at the bottom of the list are either past being able to cover the required distance (Young / Valencia) or too lazy to cover this distance (Lukaku / Martial).
In central midfield the numbers are equally damning. In an area where we should be covering the most ground Pogba at 10.5km is far behind other central midfielders such as Henderson (11.7km), Milner (12.2km) B.Silva (11.9km) & Gundogan (11.3km).
We did. i just saw a tweet.Must have managed it today right? About 10km up at half time.
Wow. That's weird.Tweet
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Music to my ears.Solskjaer: 'A Manchester United team should never be outworked, you should run more than them.'
It sounds so simple but somehow we didnt do it enough under Jose.
Honestly it was very easy to understand. When you use attacking fullbacks, you ask them to play a 100m game, they will pile kilometers simply because it's their role as attacking fullbacks and players love that, they are not going to refuse it. For our attackers, the difference is lateral, today their area was superior to half of the width when under Mourinho it was at best a third, that's a bigger distance and same thing as for defenders, attackers love that freedom and will use it.Solskjaer: 'A Manchester United team should never be outworked, you should run more than them.'
It sounds so simple but somehow we didnt do it enough under Jose.
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Great post.Honestly it was very easy to understand. When you use attacking fullbacks, you ask them to play a 100m game, they will pile kilometers simply because it's their role as attacking fullbacks and players love that, they are not going to refuse it. For our attackers, the difference is lateral, today their area was superior to half of the width when under Mourinho it was at best a third, that's a bigger distance and same thing as for defenders, attackers love that freedom and will use it.
Then you have the pressing, anyone that has played football as a kid will remember how we played, hunting every balls and trying to touch it as much as possible, again players love that and will do it without thinking about it twice.
I mentioned in an other thread, under Mourinho our players played in a way that is not natural, it was clearly based on instructions. No team instinctively retreat and ignore the ball carrier and no team instinctively divide the field in small areas.
Ye I think it is important in this day and age for english teams to do that. I we are to lure some of the south american, spanish players etc to our club and compete with the italian and spanish leagues we need to do these kind of things a couple of times a yearI read he's sending them warm weather training, after the Reading game, in Dubai too. He must feel there is room for improvement there, so it's good to see there is a move towards a more buccaneering style, if not only in fitness levels.