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LIVE BLOG: United vs PSV Eindhoven

November 25, 2015

Richard Cann

CONFIRMED LINE-UP: United vs PSV

Wilson joins Brighton on loan

149 Comments

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midfield-man November 26, 2015

I've watched proper attacking football and at certain stage of the attack I visualize it Pausing killing all momentum, excitement, and opportunity. Aka current United.
Sad.

Mark Reid says:
The way we sprint out of the back then just stop dead in midfield boggles the mind

Indeed.

I really fear a drubbing a really bad result at Leicester.

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Mirainashe November 26, 2015

Benitez suffered a similar fate last weekend rushing three unfit players into the Clasico starting line up. This idea that Rooney is on the level of Messi or Ronaldo is flawed. He isn't. He shouldn't start. I'm now kind of resigned to the reality United faces. It's really hard to take when you see it coming from a million miles away. Van Gaal for me is the not good for this club. I have felt this for a long time and have been frustrated for longer. But the advantage of time is adjustment. I am gradually adjusting to the reality of it all. Manchester United is not going to be a premier European football club for a very long time if ever. The identity of Manchester United, expressed stylistically on the pitch is now one of the most irrelevant and insignificant relic. No one cares anymore about such things. It has been my mistake and error to argue about it because things have changed. Results are all that matter nowadays. I'm just numb to it all these days. You just watch the match dutifully waiting for the final whistle and checking how many points we have accumulated thus far.

With that in mind I have to be honest. Van Gaal is the right man for this new Manchester United. He will get results eventually. He is too experienced to fail to win a few major trophies or progress further in major competitions like the CL. I do feel we simply don't have the capacity, Van Gaal or not, to win the CL in the next 5-10 years and possibly more. It's simply a quality issue. You can't buy a winning mentality. It is grown over time. It took Real Madrid 12 years to get into another CL final even though each year they had the best players in the world. So I'm not too concerned there. It takes time. When I said things like United is the new Chelsea it was all borne out of frustration but what that meant was: We no longer have that identity and posterity of old. It's all now economics and success. No soul or color as far as the football itself. But we will win the league soon regardless. It really pains me to be honest because I was attracted to United, not by trophies or financial statements or accumulation of points every weekend. It was the sight of Ryan Giggs tearing that left channel as if all that mattered in the universe was getting the next goal. It's hard to describe or put in words because it's not as tangible or as "important" as 3 points or a shiny trophy parade after a football season. But that was all I wanted. The excitement of waiting for the weekend kick off knowing fully well that at the end of 90 minutes your heart would still be racing. Win. Lose. Draw. That is history now. Guess if you can't beat em join em

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samuel_WE_stand November 26, 2015

Goodness. Louis van gal gas drained the soul out of Manchester United. No creativity no desire, no pace , no wining mentality. The funny thing is, Louis van gawk still has the audacity to highlight the fact the team didn't concede many chances. Clearly he has deliberately turned into a lifeless organism with no purpose other than to defend.

Bastian shweinsteiger, a player who embodies the vision of how Louis sees the game is evidence of that. Bayern would never have sold him if he wasn't past his peak. Too slow, tedious and lacking in urgency. SchneiderLin is also a symbol of the drab Manchester united. Sideways and back passes galore but barely any stray forward. Average players litters everywhere. Young, the headless chicken. A player who has been at united for almost 5 years now. Spent half of it hacking crosses into spectators than he does winning games yet he remains a key figure in a rejuvenating united. 250 million spent and the team looks dreadful. Van gal still relies heavily on hitting long ball to fellain when it all goes awry. He bangs on and on about philosophy but there is zero evidence of progress.

I tell you now, united have blown it. This smells of Basel all over again. They will be lucky if they get anything other than a draw at wolfsburg. They are one of the best teams in Bundesliga. They pretty much matched united at old trafford. SmalLing had to rescue the shoddy performance that day.

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Mark Reid November 26, 2015

Read Scholes comments yea he's right Martial not ready no harm in it he's only 19 he will improve,delay too (I hope)Didnnt look to me today that this bunch were hungry enough,they looked bollixed and lack luster,gonna be tough not impossible let's see if they have the fire in their bellies.
Also if they were tired today doesn't bode well for Saturday's game.

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ashtheking November 26, 2015

I have a feeing appointing van gal after the World Cup is proving a bit costly had we appointed van goal after he got a. Cull from bayern it may have worked by now. I feel managing Dutch has taken him back to 90s, boring style , working with small squad and going for victories. Van gal in World Cup was playing result oriented game and he thought same methods he adopted for his national team can be adopted here.

He selects the same set of players and even while using his subs he brings on same set of players. Like he won't go outside the box and start the game with McNair as one of CBs and play blind in cm there by resting schweinsteiger. This is how most of national team coach also like to manage. I feel he is still too awe struck with his achievement at the World Cup that he is not ready to move on.

I will never say van gaal is a bad coach but I refused to dwell on this point of appointing him after the World Cup back in 2014 but now that point is seriously coming back. He is playing for those 1-0's or 2-0's , he becomes very cautious and defensive after crucial defeat aka Leicester last year , Chelsea last year and arsenal this year. We were doing fine prior to all these defeats but after the defeat he ask his players to play a risk free game. Well honestly it has worked to som extent but at he cost of entertainment which is not what a fan like me want.

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United24 November 26, 2015

We've spent all year trying to figure out what a number 10 should look like in our system .
Look no further than our previous two games
Herrera in only ten minutes and 20minutes with defense splitting passes leading to goals

We need like for like
Rooney and Felling will do well the odd game, but will not cut it consistently in that position.

Midfield balance is key. Two deep midfielder and a striker/forward behind our "dream pace forwards" just won't do..

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United24 November 26, 2015

Having said that, we'll beat Leicester and Wolfsburg, 1-0 and it will be all dandy here
We have to look at the forest, not the trees
Eventually your results catch up with the set up , style and performances

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ashtheking November 26, 2015

United24
"Eventually your results catch up with the set up , style and performances"

Yes I also think the same but then for how long should we have to wait, these inconsistent results is a problem, let alone the performance. Thing is this is what our performance is now looking like, we are going to play this brand of football with no clear cut chances as lvg feels this is doing his job. We are second in tje league and if we beat leicester we will be number one, same in europe, we beat wolfsbug we go through. So unless the situation drastically changes I fear lvg is now comfortable with the present display. Atleast few months ago I thought our performance will also improve but now it seems lvg is not even trying to say yes let us play risk free football. Yes as a manage the has a right to play whatever he wants and result wise we are not doing bad so far but I am not impressed with the performance.

Mike smalling coming and saying fans shouldnt shout attack, attack and then lvg saying fans are influenced by scholes all these indicates he wont change his style. Only some drastic circumstance can force him to do so.

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United24 November 26, 2015

Ash,
I actually meant our set up currently lends itself to a lot of 0-0 and 1-0,
those few games we scored three goals were the exception

I read somewhere we have scored 5 goals our past 5 games
And we have four 0-0 results in our past seven games

So we are there already

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ashtheking November 26, 2015

United24

It is a growing concern mate, we will surely be in top 4 , even top 3 but we wont win anything. Teams know how to defend against us, just keep the line and be organised. Teams will park the bus or fireld 5 defedners like PSV did yesterday. Eevn the most attacking teams will set up like that against us as that is more sensible . There are more 0-0 to come, it was shocking how we played in second half, we had no intent to score with the way we were playing. Players refusing to leave the position is ne big reason. Schendierlin had a fixed role and he didnt move that much forward, same with our full backs and defenders. Van gaal could say this is it now we have to change and take more risks or he could say this was oone off and we should have finished those chance so let it be what it is.

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United24 November 26, 2015

The most interesting part of our season is we are always tethering on the edge
One narrow win away from top of the league and top of the group.
One narrow loss away from 4th and Europa league

We are literally on edge
An exciting season for all the wrong reasons

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Marq November 26, 2015

My biggest anger at this result is this. Had we lost this, the table would look like this

Wolfsburg 9pts
PSV 9pts
United 7pts
CSKA 4pts

Which gives us the exact same scenario as what we have now, needing to win at Wolfsburg to qualify. So why the fuck didn't they go all out to secure a win? A draw is exactly the same as a defeat. There was absolutely nothing to hold on to, it was kindergarten math. This game already was the do or die, not the next one

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Mancdub November 26, 2015

If we lost last night it would mean that whatever result we get in Germany, PSV would only need a point against CSKA and we'd be out. So hows that the same? At least this way it's in our own hands. Beat Wolfsburg and we win the group.

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Mancdub November 26, 2015

Sorry mate I get what you mean now. My head doesn't work well at 6 in the morning.

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iamMatty November 26, 2015

So many questionable decisions by lvg. Seems to be the one hindering his own team to be honest.
How can the best passer of the ball in our squad currently be in central defense. Look the the balls daley blind plays over the top regularly, now imagine him doing it further. I also thought scholes was a tool and yes his criticism of young martial seems harsh but he's been spot on most times. Lvg's brand is uninspiring, we have looked devoid of ideas in the attacking, and bastian has disappointed in getting the ball quickly to the forwards.

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Nemesis November 26, 2015

I've been critising Rooney alot since the start of the season, but cmon guys... Rooney wasn't that bad last night.

His passing, decision making and through balls were surprisingly good... Atleast until fellaini came on.

He was shit after that, but so was the majority of the team.

It's time we praise him when it's due and criticise him when it's due. He was absolute shite at the start of the season but over the last month he's been improving and putting put some decent results.

Still he's no way near worth £300k a week but oh well..atleast we can look forward to 12 more goals and then off to the MLS.

I agree with Michael Owen for once.. Rooney is at an age where he's not going to get better like a youngster. All he can do is maintain a certain level and use his "experience".

As for last night's performance.. I remember Rooney providing a couple of killer balls for Lingard and Co.
It's a shame they didn't take the chance and score, but atleast this game didn't get overlooked as a Lucky-Van-Gaal-esque 1-0 win and people realise just how pathetic our gameplay is in terms of - fluidity, risk taking, support/runners from midfield, composure, etc.

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Marq November 26, 2015

Whats the scenario now? The statement below applies for either case.

Beat Wolfsburg and we win the group

Anything less than a win against Wolfsburg, and we are at the mercy of CSKA, not PSV

PSV is at home and CSKA is not going to finish 3rd with their terrible GD. CSKA have lost their last 4 games. PSV have won all their home games this season bar one draw, a run that includes beating us and Wolfsburg. Its CSKA's last game before their winter break in a league that they have a comfortable lead, which in most likelihood they will focus to maintain since their next 2 league games are against lowly opposition.

Even the most hardcore supporter will cringe at the thought of us needing CSKA beating or at least holding PSV for a draw for us to go through, lets not kid ourselves.

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Marq November 26, 2015

Just me ranting, apologies if anyone feels different. Its just that this is one game we can afford to be adventurous and the rewards very very far outweighs anything less than a win. But our players seems scared to do anything. It wasn't that they were totally outplayed, they simply didn't dare to, and it defied logic, at least my logic

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Marq.

" adventurous" ? this is LVG we're talking about .

He could turn Freddie Mercury into Chris Martin !

He could suck the colour out of a rainbow.

Our dire football really does not deserve any better .

Our lack of ambition will be our downfall .

This must be the least inspiring United side since the days of Dave Sexton.

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Mirainashe November 26, 2015

I think a lot of you guys don't get it yet. Positive results WILL come. Very soon as well. I'm confident Van Gaal will gear the team up to grind out the win we need to progress by hook or crook. I don't know why people are so angry about the prospect of not progressing to the knock out stages this season. This is the problem we have here. People change opinions every fucking week. Every result. New opinion. There's no principle. No foundation. We win. "Haha see all you LVG critics are cunts. GGMU". We lose or draw. "Fuck this shit. It's been going on for too long." That's why I never argue about results. I don't like being opportunistic and predatory and going wherever the wind goes. My debate is always performance based. Win. Lose. Draw. That's the only constant to debate. Performance. Results are always variable. You can play well and lose. Play bad and win.

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Nemesis November 26, 2015

In all honesty lvg has done 9/10 things right since his arrival. ..pity the 10th is playin good football.

If we don't get the required result.. Then I guess it'll be "bye bye Van Gaal soon".

Can't help but think what's going through SAF's head now. He must be banging his head against the wall.

Oh well.. Luckily Ancelotti is still a "dear friend " just in case.

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Mirainashe November 26, 2015

From a technical point of view WE ARE NOT PLAYING BAD. Under Moyes we were. There was no organization or structure. No formidable plan. Now it's very clearly there. You can see exactly what the plan is and what the agenda is and technically it's going near excellent. This is what United has been built to be and everything in my opinion is going according to that plan. I personally hate the plan. I hate the structure. I hate the philosophy. But I can't pretending it's not going according to plan. We will eventually become more efficient at this plan. Become increasingly difficult to break down over time. But attack wise the issue is the same. The plan is not to score as many goals possible. It's to tire the opposition and wait for that one or two moments per game to strike. That's why our minutes per shot on goal is about twice that of teams like Tottenham. It's because they are looking to strike as frequently as possible in order to increase their chances of scoring. But at United it's very methodical. If there's no clear opening don't strike. That's why with exception of Lingard, United actually have the most clinical attackers in the league. Mata is more clinical than the likes of Harry Kane. Even Rooney minus lack of confidence. Martial check his stats on efficiency in front of goal. The only thing that will have to improve is circulation of the ball in midfield because both Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin have been very bad at this. When this improves expect even more clean sheets and higher possession figures.

It's foolish to expect United to simply waltz through the CL. We are very very far from that level and it's doubtful we will ever get there. It's way too early. It took four or five years of consistent improvement for Juventus to get to a final. And they still lost. They are still not on the same level as the Top Four premier clubs in Europe. And you find people getting angry about "we may fail to progress this season". Get with the program. We are behind Arsenal,City and dare I say even Chelsea, and all those teams are probably years away from a CL final. They are nowhere near the required level. We can't leap frog progress and time. Our arrogance levels as United fans are simply hilarious. We don't deserve to win shit. You work for it until you get to the required level. Like fucking everyone else. Let's first get to the levels of Arsenal or City and then surpass that. Imagine if we had been placed in the Arsenal and City group. We would have been done and dusted by now. Even if we progress to the next stage you're not going to beat the PSGs or Madrids or Munichs or Juventus of this world. Not yet. So as far as I'm concerned all these complaints are incredibly misplaced

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Nemesis November 26, 2015

*result against Wolfsburg

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Nemesis November 26, 2015

I disagree with that view.

No one here is expecting us to win the damn Champions League.

We expect atleast to qualify for the knockout stages atleast. That's fair. Nothing too arrogant or demanding in that.

To be not concerned if we don't qualify for the round of 32 is being daft at a very unique level.

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Marq November 26, 2015

Regardless of style or "philosophy" there are invariably games which you have to attack and take slightly more risk, not because of entertainment sake, but because we need to. Would we have complained if we had been more gungho and lost on a sucker punch? Probably, but at least there was an objective. What transpired was that we were neither attacking nor holding on to something. It was confusing watching the second half, like the players didn't know what to do. If I hid the scoreline and the table position, you wouldn't know what is going on. LVG's fault or our Captain's fault? I say everyone must share the blame.

As it is, we are like driving a car on a highway, going at 4th gear with no objective in mind, except just don't crash the car. We will road hog and hold some other cars back by getting results, but as soon as a speedster comes along to overtake us, we get left in the dust.

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Marq,

Never mind, perhaps we can beat the might Leicester at the weekend .

The one thing I dread is the total waste of time, uninteresting Europa League

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

"mighty"

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RohitChat2611 November 26, 2015

That was the most boring 2nd half I have ever seen in my life. We were reluctant to go ahead. No urgency. I simply dozed off at a point in the match around 70 minutes. Thats worst start to my birthday ever. Supporting your team at 2.30 am at night and get to see that dull football. Fuck me!!

Btw Owen said our CMs and fullbacks made zero contribution!! And I agree with him. There was always a huge gap in the middle. For fuck sake LVG needs to do something about his tactics. That was too easy for PSV.

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Rohit,

Well I hope you had a good birthday !

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Marq November 26, 2015

trevor

Leicester has the mighty Vardigoal, we should be very afraid, after all, we were the first PL team to suffer from his abilities since they got promoted, lol

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Xyth X November 26, 2015

Glad that I am not the only one that wanlt LcG out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0395mzy

LOUIS VAN GAL OUT!

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Marq,

Let's not make any mistake about this, if they attack us from the start with the belief they will win, then they will .

Unfortunately we have become easy to defend against, as we are so slow.

Also, if we go behind, it is unlikely that we will respond, as we haven't the firepower .

I read earlier that we have scored five goals in our last five matches, and have had four 0-0's in our last seven .

We have the players, but I think we should stop being so cautious, and put teams on the back foot from the off !

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RohitChat2611 November 26, 2015

Thanks Trevor, its still noon here in India and I hope I have some good memories to cherish at the end of the day!! :)

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Marq November 26, 2015

trevor

The irony is that the first half against West Brom, when Rooney and Martial was out, was the first time in a long while our front line looked mobile and hence dangerous. Other times it was just laboured.

Leicester presses high, and you don't need to be a Mourinho or Guardiola to know that Vardy will be right on the heels of Schweni and Blind the whole match. Which will cripple our ability to move the ball forward, as little as it is already, and especially so after Schneiderlin's nightmare last night. Carrick would have given us an outlet chance, but as it is, it is going to be as clear as daylight DDG will likely play the ball long all game, to Martial and only Martial, unless the unthinkable of Fellaini starting

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Marq November 26, 2015

I meant against Watford

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Rohit,

India? I thought you were Welsh !

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RohitChat2611 November 26, 2015

Trevor
haha well I m a big Giggsy fan though. :)

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Dwayne O Linn November 26, 2015

Lads

C'mon now, It's Leicester city not fucking barca. They are shocking in defence and have been getting away with murder in some games. We will be top of the league Saturday night, I have no doubt

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Dwayne,

The same Leicester who put five past us ?

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

But i hope you're right young man !

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dannysoya LOVES USAIN BOLT November 26, 2015

I'm amongst the biggest critics of Rooney on here because he has been very poor this season but yesterday he was decent (at least in the first half.) He, just like pretty much everyone else, went to shit in the second half as soon as Fellaini came on.

Last night's 0-0 draw wasn't down to any player, it was 150% on the manager. Our failure to win yesterday was purely down to tactical decisions. How on earth do you continue to persist with two defensive midfielders in a home game against fucking PSV? Two midfielders who see the vast lion share of the ball but don't do anything with it but pass sideways and backwards ad nauseum? Only one DM should be on the pitch in a home game particularly against a team like PSV. Then we come to the subs. Van Gaal has been consistently shocking with his substitutions since he got here. He gets them wrong almost every time and yesterday was no different. The decision to bring Young on for Memphis was the right one and the substitution should have ended but noooo Van Gaal just had to fuck it up by bringing on Fellaini with 30 minutes left in the game. Just absolutely shocking. Once he came on, all attempts to play football stopped and it became a hoofing party (as you would expect when Fellaini is on the field as that is the only way he can be useful.) Martial became invisible as all attempts to play the ball into him stopped, Lingard became invisible too. That Herrera injury at Watford is just a backbreaker. I hope he's not out for too long or else this is how we will keep playing for the foreseeable future.

As far as I am concerned, our starting line-up going forward should at least involve the following players: Young, Martial, Lingard up top, Schneiderlin and Herrera in midfield, Smalling at the back. Those players in my mind are undroppable at this point in time. Without them, we're fucked.

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Yusuf November 26, 2015

Ashtheking,

I'm glad you're finally seeing the light my friend. Hopefully Yusuf_Israel and Holytrinity are right behind you.

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gra mar November 26, 2015

I spent 5 hours in A&E last night. By the sounds of it I had more fun there than I would have watching United.

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Umeweni Ifeanyi November 26, 2015

What I saw last night is United playing well early to try and get an early goal. Psv like a lot of teams this season came and setup to counter attack. Games we have played well in this season involve teams who come to play barring arsenal where the match ended in 10 mins. We then tried to reverse the trend against Palace by being the counter attacking team instead and it turned out bad. I mean it took Cska one counter attacking chance to get 1 on 1 with DDG. Truth is if fans cheer us if we play well and loose Lvg would probably continue playing well but he knows if we go all out attack and loose fans would still call for his head. Maybe if we had Shaw who could chase down players when the opposition counter attack we would take more risks. When Jones plays we take more risks as he's a lot faster than Blind at tracking runners. Iv said it before going all out attack against a counter attacking team is stupid.

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Umeweni Ifeanyi November 26, 2015

Regarding the subs, Depay was not performing on the left so it was either push him up or sub him. The game also made it obvious that we needed to change from 2 DMs to 1 that's why fellaini came on. He was initially used in the midfield where Psv started to take advantage of his lack of mobility which made Lvg push him forward. On another note I don't see Shneiderlin as the DM we need I think he would be better off doing the job Fellaini did last season playing as the midfield enforcer playing from the position Fellaini played last season in a 433. I think our DM should be a very calm player in possession I'd rather have Shweinsteiger deeper with Shneiderlin playing box to box.

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Marq November 26, 2015

Nobody is asking all out attack. A tiny but more running behind defenders, a tiny bit more pace in the passing is all it takes. If there is a through ball available to play, play it, if the attacker fails to read it once or twice, fine, but if he fails to read it 10 times in a row, he should be shot. Thats how good teams are, the passer and receiver are on the same wavelength, not by telepathy, but by consistency

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Dwayne O Linn November 26, 2015

Trevor

Don't be silly mate, there's no chance we are conceding five, or for that matter scoring three

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trevor knightsmith November 26, 2015

Dwayne,

Just the odd goal would seem like a novelty.

They must fancy their chances against us though .

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Dwayne O Linn November 26, 2015

They probably do, but I think the pressure will get to them and they will crumble. They are like me when I when I pulled a drunk stunner, I know it's not going to last and i shouldn't even have had a chance in the first place.

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gra mar November 26, 2015

@trevor...they'll definitely fancy it...they're no mugs, at home and a game away from gettting to the second round. We were fortunate to beat them at home and we haven't improved much if at all.
I ain't a betting man but I wouldn't be putting a cent on us winning.

The games keep going by and we're not getting better and we hardly show any signs of doing so.