Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 311

Another day of fantastic results for us. Shame we’re gonna get spanked by Liverpool tomorrow.

 

When it happens over and over as planned, it's not luck. Also, Chelsea did very little with all their possession. Our strategy is ugly and when it goes wrong it goes badly wrong, but when our back 5 and keeper are playing decently, we make it horribly difficult for the opposition to make good chances.

 

I just want to say I hate Mike Dean and we should have had a penalty.

Despite that, this season is basically a write off for us, so we might as well just keep experimenting and working on Arteta's tactics.

 

It's your finishing that's lucky. Freakish even.

 

Not sure where you're getting that idea from.

 

Almost all your underlying attacking numbers are the worst in the league - shots, shots on target, shots in the box, xG, attacking touches etc. In fact, as the excellent Andrew Beasley points out, on at least one model of xG you haven't won a single match this season.

You defend pretty well, with good compactness and organisation and you have a good keeper. But you're horrific going forward. Most seasons you'd be right in the relegation fight now.

 

Vardy has his penalty saved, annoying millions of fantasy league players.

 

Shite team.

 

Shaw at LCB in a back five for you? Looks like it to me.

 

Yeah this is trash

 

Well fuck this ref

 

De Gea’s yellow should be revoked too. Ref is blind as a bat.

 

To give Solskjaer his credit, it's not a bad plan tactically - disrupt our build up centrally, then press our full backs when we switch it out to them, with three centre backs covering behind.

The problem is that it demands United to keep their block high and not arrive late to press. They couldn't keep it up second half at Old Trafford and fell deeper and deeper. They couldn't get up for the middle of this first half either. And then they're also reliant on attacking centrally and beating Gomez or Van Dijk in a foot race or Allison coming off his line.

 

Why are United playing out from the back like this? They just lose the ball and can't get up to press. Defeats the whole system.

 

how did united end up with such a shite selection of players? is the scouting THAT bad? are some of these kids really better than Mata (assuming he even made the bench) these days?

 

Kids? I assume you mean Periera and James? Yeah both have been miles miles better than Mata this season. I’d rather have an actual kid in Gomes playing ahead of all of them.

scouting is fine, most of the blame goes to Jose and Ed to be quite honest. Players are expensive and Jose didn’t want to sign any technically decent players.

 

Williams?

 

Doesn’t play in the same position as Mata. Williams is a full back who has been fantastic since coming into the team, although he struggles a bit defensively.

mata is just too slow and lax on the ball. Gives it away a lot and generally doesn’t get involved defensively at all.

 

tbf this seems to describe everyone but wan-bisakka in the games i've watched of united this season

 

Pretty much yeah. Lindelof has been tragic this season. Maguire looks hungover a lot of the time and the midfield don’t exist. For some bizarre reason Ole decided to never play Matic until McTominay got injured and he’s been our best midfielder since because he can put a defensive shift in. Basically any team can just walk through us if we’re not parking the bus.

fwiw Pereira and James have both been shit too this season and the past few months respectively. Mata’s legs have just gone. Games pass him by. Periera and James get involved but they aren’t very good.

 

Mata on is a good sub. The game has gotten to the point where he could be useful.

 

Absolutely pathetic from the manager and the physio department.

 

Salah. I put you in my fantasy team because I knew you would score. Why'd you have to go and reduce it with a yellow, my dude.

 

Thank goodness.

Brilliant from Allison. Majority of keepers just dive on the ball to waste time. He sees the opportunity and gets the ball spot on.

 

Second goal shouldn’t have stood. Ref gave offside and let Allison take it out of his hands? Bollocks to that.

thought we were good value to get a draw there but you can’t complain. Liverpool weren’t very good but still the better team.