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The Manchester United Thread XXII

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Never gonna expect Jose to go all out, especially after that 4-0 but I think he will go quite offensive.

Liverpool's defence is the worst in the top 4. Would be foolish if we didnt capitalise on that.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 661

trapking

Original post by Rk2k14

Dont really recall Spurs having many solid chances when Juve took the lead. Kane one but that was offside.
Last 20 odd minutes from Juve was brilliant defending though. Chiellini especially.

More of the point, Juve actually did look like they had a plan going forward. Especially with the introduction of the wing-backs. Spurs were really struggling out wide and Allegri exploited that.
Thats why I think its a big disservice to Juve to say it was PTB. That was what we did at Anfield this year. We had no intention of attacking from the offset and when we rarely got into their final third it was like uncharted territory.

That awkward moment when people don't actually realise Allegri's style is quite similar in many ways to Mourinho. The problem is Jose always has negative media that clouds peoples judgement so when he does it people/media say Mou "parked the bus".

Juve didn't even outright "attack" Spurs in that first leg (you could argue they did for their second goal tho) however most of their goals in this tie came from opposition mistakes (exactly the same as what Mou tries to set up our team to do i.e. to punish mistakes on deadly counters). In the second leg actually both Juve goals where from Tottenham mistakes which they capitalised on.

I don't blame people for not knowing this though, I didn't know this myself until I properly looked into both their styles as managers and the way they believe football should be played. I've said this many times and I'll say it again our main problem is more to do with a lack of team dynamica/balance because we lack the right personnel in key areas of transition i.e. midfield+fullbacks. Juve have Pjanic, Khedira, Matuidi, Costa and fullbacks like Asamoah and Sandro whereas we only have Matic and Pogba as actual "competent" quality midfielders and the rest is garbage for a team like United.

When we get proper fullbacks and finally complete that midfield our team dynamica should improve a lot and we'll be a much more balanced team than we are currently.

Reply 662

Lúcio

Original post by qasidb

"Never confident"? Lel, seems like you're forgetting your overconfidence before the Juanfield match in 2015.

Lesson was learned in painful fashion :frown:

Original post by Rk2k14

Offensive might take us by surprise - you certainly have the players to hurt us - however attacking and leaving space could be damaging if we get you on the counter. Imagine Salah up against Young with no back up and half a pitch to run...

If you are to attack, you’ll need to be lethal with your chances. Lukaku has really impressed me recently and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s involved in something (his “big game” stats be damned...)

Reply 663

Rk2k14

Original post by trapking

Watch the Anfield game and then tell me Allegri set his team like that vs Spurs.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 664

trapking

Original post by Rk2k14

Watch the Anfield game and then tell me Allegri set his team like that vs Spurs.

Lol, this comment doesn't even make any sense. We played without Pogba and had Herrera and Matic as a 2....

That last sentence should tell you all you need to know, midfield is a major problem for us (surprise surprise we are buying a midfielder this summer). Imagine having a midfield of Herrera and Matic against a dynamic Liverpool team that scores a lot of goals.

Listen to his comments @ 1:37

Reply 665

bj27

Original post by Rk2k14

Watch the Anfield game and then tell me Allegri set his team like that vs Spurs.

Tbf when juve were two goals up(with key injuries/absences to matuidi and dybala) they decided to park the bus(and you can't tell me they didn't). Mourinho did the best he could with the resources he had.

Reply 666

Rk2k14

Original post by bammy jastard 27

Nothing wrong with PTB when you have lead.

Problem is when you go into a game with that tactic. Liverpool's defence is trash and we didnt even test that ffs.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 667

trapking

Original post by Rk2k14

Nothing wrong with PTB when you have lead.

Problem is when you go into a game with that tactic.

would you rather we go offensively with a midfield 2 of Herrera and Matic and get hammered 5-0....

or be defensive and try to salvage something and not lose the game. I know which one I would pick.

Reply 668

bj27

Original post by Rk2k14

Nothing wrong with PTB when you have lead.

Problem is when you go into a game with that tactic.

He didn't have a strong enough side to go toe to toe offensively with Liverpool.

Reply 669

Rk2k14

Original post by trapking

would you rather we go offensively with a midfield 2 of Herrera and Matic and get hammered 5-0....

or be defensive and try to salvage something and not lose the game. I know which one I would pick.

I would rather we at least try to attack a team that has a poor defence and a suspect keeper.

You seem to think its either AOT or PTB.

Reply 670

trapking

Original post by Rk2k14

I would rather we at least try to attack a team that has a poor defence and a suspect keeper.

You seem to think its either AOT or PTB.

We still had our chances that game despite having a poor midfield, we just didn't take them. There has to be a balance of course (something which Poch failed to do yday) although you seem to forget this is Liverpool (at Anfield) we are talking about and this team has scored a crazy amount of goals. Only City and PSG were above them the last time I checked. Besides at that point in the season we were still top of the table too.

They have a better collective team than we do atm and we would be hammered if we tried to open up too much esp with players like Salah and Mane in top form

Reply 671

Zerforax

Original post by Rk2k14

We might have conceded 10 more goals than you but we've also scored 11 more goals than you.

Mourinho won't go offensive since it's better for it to finish a draw than to lose the game. If you lose, we go ahead on points any other result and you stay ahead.

Reply 672

trapking

Original post by Zerforax

We'll win.

Another Lukaku goal incoming. Pogba will turn up also.

Reply 673

bj27

Mourinho with the masterclass this weekend.

Reply 674

Rk2k14

Front 3 of Martial-Lukaku-Mata needed.

Reply 675

SCIENCE :D

-------------------De Gea-------------------
--Valencia--Bailly--Lindelof--Young--
-----------Matic----McTomniay----------
---------Mata----------------Pogba-------
------------Sanchez---Lukaku-----------

Would like to see this team.

Reply 676

S.G.

Original post by SCIENCE :D

Basically turns into a 4-2-3-1 otherwise you’re getting destroyed on the wings.

Reply 677

username1315644

Original post by Rk2k14

Thats what I was meaning, I don't disagree they didn't park the bus. That said I don't think it was a defensive masterclass. A tie in which you needed to score 4 times to go through is short of a masterclass.

Original post by Rk2k14

As has been pointed out, since about Oct time, the only difference between our defence and Liverpool's is DDG. We give up more scoring opportunities than they do, I don't think we can do that with Salah in the form he is. Trying to play through Liverpool is pretty much how their entire game plan is designed to work, even City weren't able to get the better of them by playing to their strengths.

Problem is we'll need to be good on the counter because being quick and direct is how we can break the press and leave our quality players 1v1 against Liverpool's defence, but then against work rate. Players like Mata and Martial win us games, but struggle to get in the side when work rate is Jose's first thought.

Original post by bammy jastard 27

Mourinho with the draw this weekend.

Corrected.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 678

That Bearded Man

Original post by trapking

would you rather we go offensively with a midfield 2 of Herrera and Matic and get hammered 5-0....

or be defensive and try to salvage something and not lose the game. I know which one I would pick.

We're still lacking an effectice counter attack - Lukakus link up has improved so I figured this is where martial and sanchez would come in with pogba passing it. This hasnt really materialised yet.

Have to have a backup plan too in case Liverpool score (likely)