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LIVE BLOG: Yeovil Town vs Manchester United!

January 4, 2015

Justin DeCouto

Scholes: I’m a United fan so I’m not sad Gerrard didn’t win the league

VIDEO: Herrera and Di Maria goals vs Yeovil

268 Comments

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

Evans was great for a couple of seasons but has really dipped I have to say. I still have hope for him but LVG is ruthless, I'd say he has 6 months to save his Utd career.

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GenomexSoldier January 5, 2015

We definitely did not have any "exciting wing play" last season.

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Dan Young January 5, 2015

yes we fucking did one of our best performers was januzaj .. a WINGER

fucking hell you say a statement simply getting to the point that last year we actually got wide wing play some of it exciting. this season everything is more central which is why we never see januzaj.

how can people not see that. last year we played formations like 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 .. formations that require wingers and do provide exciting wing play due to the fact we had players like januzaj, nani, evra, rafael, valencia and young. within that selection of players you are going to get some exciting wing play .. dosnt mean im praising moyes for fuck sake

this year we have only really seen 3-4-1-2 and 4-3-1-2 .. both are formations with barely any width or wing play therefore a lack of exciting wing play.

its a very simple statement which is clearly the case considering the formations used!

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ashtheking January 5, 2015

Dan

I dont think we will finish 7th.I know we were somewhere in top 4 at this point last season but the truth is we were not looking comfortable. There is no way you can compare last seasons game play to this season. January was worst period for us, losing to Spurs at home then getting knocked out from FA cup and then SUnderland knocking us out from League cup. We were playing football without any confidence. I know last 3-4 away games we have been bad but we still dont look shaky to screw things up. We are looking good at home so comparing to last season is just not correct

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Dan Young January 5, 2015

ash, i was simply saying that to a guy that called me out on something i said. he said that the 'exciting wing play' i was referring to got us 7th in the league last year. i simply said theres no guarantees we wont finish there this year. i clearly dont actually think we will finish 7th

the twat that called me out on it clearly hasnt been a united fan for long as exciting wing play has won us many trophies

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Paschal Agwunobi January 5, 2015

Dan young
Last season was abysmal. Nothing can be compared to it. Yes, januzaj emerged...but, we were shite. lost to many mid-table and bottom-table clubs. Infact we were terrible and miserable. I can't even think of last season.

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bayoRed January 5, 2015

Van Gaal needs to be given his chance and yes his philosophy needs to be given a chance but his 5 defender formations are not working. I'm sure if we can on ROM can see that, many others in a position to advise him can see it too. Just hope there have the balls to engage him. I wonder what RedNev had to say about this performance. I know its FA cup and scrappy games are common but watching that game and hearing the commentary team constantly remind us that the league 1 side is bottom of the table didn't have a nice ring to it. I know we depend on Di Maria to bring creativity and attack defenders but damn all that sideways/backward passing against such shit opposition. Maybe we might need 5-3-2 sometimes(parking bus) but not against such shit opposition.

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bayoRed January 5, 2015

Nice to see Zibbie back, now where is Costas et al?

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

I'm not a huge fan of the 3-5-2 as it puts too much pressure on our centre backs to step forward abs be comfortable on the ball - only Mcnair has done that with any conviction. It also puts a lot of pressure on the wingbacks as they have to cover an entire flank.

BUT I'm also pragmatic enough to realise that without this system we would not be 3rd in the League. Have you not wondered how we have the 3rd best defensive record in the League ( I think) despite the injuries and underperforming defenders? The safety in numbers approach has got us the results. With fit or new defenders I'm hoping we'll see better performances too

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bayoRed January 5, 2015

Still it would have been nice to see our attacking talent being maximised against a bottom of the league 1 side. Being defensive only gives such weak teams confidence to come at us. There were some nervous moments in the first half because the league 1 team was confident enough to press high. Many a time the defenders and even De Gea had to clear into the terraces under pressure. That's not the kind of match I envisaged going into this fixture and I think formation has something to do with it. I'm not for throwing out 5-3-2 altogether. Just not against Yeovil!

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

@Bayored - but in the second half when we switched to a back 4 and played some better football going forward - what happened at the other end? We were far more vulnerable than in the first half and Yeovil had the best chance of the game at 0-0.

Who knows, if we'd started like that we could have been a goal down at half time? As nervy as we looked in the first half when they pressed us, they didn't create any chances until we went 4 at the back in the second half

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Dan Young January 5, 2015

sparkz - in what way did we look more vulnerable in the second half?! yes they had 1 clear cut chance cause the lord of mistakes jonny evans headed a ball into the path of their striker but other then that we were absolutely tight at the back and didnt concede. and even if we did look vulnerable it probably had something to do with the fact we had no fullbacks available and their pace was missed

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

Yep, and the fact that those fullbacks were getting very little protection....due to the narrowness of the diamond formation. Yeovil also had a shot that deflected wide if I remember correctly.

I'm not saying we looked hugely vulnerable but definitely more so than in the first half. First half was just us being pressed and losing the ball, second half was our defenders and keeper having to do some more work.

I personally prefer the diamond like you but I can also see why LVG has gone with an extra defender of late

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Dan Young January 5, 2015

sparkz - okay yeah i see your points

i think part of the vulnerability in the 2nd came through fletcher. its difficut to say cause hes a united lad through and through and has been at the club for decades but he offered very little protection to the back four and i kept an eye on him for alot of the game and he rarely was an option for the back four to pass to .. it was actually quite upsetting to see. all season i kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt cause he was mostly used in a midfield 2 in the 3-4-1-2 formation which isnt easy for most players but even in a midfield 3 he offered nothing atall, and that was against yeovil! .. i said it yesterday it may have been his 'gary neville west brom' moment

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

Yep unfortunately it seems like every game he starts these days is a Gary Neville vs WBA moment. For this season at least I thought he could still be a decent option to bring off the bench late on in games, if we're looking to close a game out. But I guess Blind or Fellaini can do that better if I'm honest.

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RJVRED January 5, 2015

Fletcher playing the midfield holding role in 2nd against Yeovil shows us just how good Blind actually is in this role............ Hope he returns soon!

Feel sorry for Fletcher but I think he knows it's time to bow out at end of season

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United24 January 5, 2015

@ Dan and Sparkz
You are both rigth
It is basically an opportunity cost.
We either concede a few, and score more; or concede less and score a few
I'll rather we win 4-2, than 2-1 or 1-0; but again LVG has the perogative
I think he read too much into our Leicester result, which was frankly a fluke.
Dan did a very good analysis before; 10 games 5 back; 10 games 4 back
The ratio of goals scored/: goals conceded was about the same but the win percentage was higher for the 4 back. Too many draws with the 5 back, not unexpected because we are essentially sacrificing a midfielder for a defender, creating fewer chances, and ending in stalemates
I will rather " risk" a back four for a win, than " guarantee" a draw with a back 5.

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Sparkz January 5, 2015

Yep same here, LVG thinks differently though as you said. The two main reasons for that IMO:

1) He quite simply HAS to get results as we can't afford another season out of the top 4

2) For some reason he actually seems to believe we're in with a shout for the title. And everyone knows it's nigh on impossible to win a title without a good defensive record. By hook or by crook, our defensive record is currently on a par with City and Chelsea. Maybe he wanted to grind out results until Jan/Feb and then cut loose attackingly when the injuries healed up and the team as a whole had more confidence i.e. more adapted to his philosophy