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The old Man Utd Thread

ThePixelbarks

By ThePixelbarks
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ckny

ckny

Posted
Posted

I'll hold my hands up - I was volunteering to pack Young's and Fellaini's bags for them last season. What a turnaround. Spurs, Liverpool and City all comprehensively defeated in recent weeks. Feels good to be a United fan again.

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AlwaysBeClosing

AlwaysBeClosing

Posted
Posted

The fact the lad has pushed on and on and really made an effort has done him wonders. He's working well and doesn't put a foot wrong very often, and cut that diving shit out. Worried for the worst when City scored but damn, we were so comfortable for the most part after they scored. Only towards the end was there a very minor worry about them getting a third, but obviously that was short lived! Great stuff, even if its just the difference between fourth and a position that doesn't require us to qualify for the Champion's League.

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Liamness

Liamness

Posted
Posted

We have a pretty awful list of injuries at the worst possible time going into this game. Blind and Carrick are out, leaving us with no recognised defensive midfielder, and we're pretty ravaged defensively too, with Jones and Rojo out and Evans also still serving his ban. Evidence if it was needed at all that the squad is very thin in some regards. Think we might see a return to 3-5-2 for this game, possibly. Van Gaal may prefer to keep the shape we have and drop Rooney in front of the defence though, as he seems to consider him the next best option after Carrick and Blind. Don't know how well he'd do for 90 minutes against Chelsea though.

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AlwaysBeClosing

AlwaysBeClosing

Posted
Posted

Can't see anything other than us getting a smashing. The defence we put out will be short on match fitness and no real cover. Herrera alone can't cope so I guess Rooney will back him up.

De Gea

Valencia Blackett McNair Shaw

Young Rooney Herrera Fellaini

Van Persie Falcao

Or switch Falcao for.. Januzaj? That would be interesting if nothing else.

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Liamness

Liamness

Posted
Posted

Chelsea were unusually cautious against us playing at OT, when they were blowing everyone away and we were playing terribly. Also if ever there were a game when both teams would be happy with a draw, this is it. Don't think a smashing is on the cards.

Smalling is fit ABC, and besides Rojo he's probably been our most consistent central defender, so there's that. Van Persie isn't though, and I'm not sure Wilson or Falcao are capable of replicating Rooney's recent performances. The 4-3-3 system needs someone occupying the centrebacks to give the midfield runners space, but Wilson isn't enough of a handful physically, and Falcao doesn't offer enough pace to force them to push up. So I think Van Gaal may be tempted to have three at the back (with Blackett / McNair flanking Smalling) as we won't necessarily need a dedicated defensive midfielder then. If he doesn't mind picking a new formation at this late stage is the season, I'd like to see a 3-4-3 as we could basically just line up the same way we have been doing in attack, just with the midfield sitting slightly deeper probably.

Young Rooney Mata

Shaw Felli Herrera Valencia

Blackett Smalling McNair

De Gea

Would be exciting. Probably won't happen though.

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spork

spork

Posted
Posted

De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, McNair, Shaw, Mata, Rooney, Herrera, Young, Fellaini, Falcao

Presumably lining up like

De Gea,

Valencia, Smalling, McNair, Shaw,

Mata, Rooney, Herrera, Fellaini, Young

Falcao

Hmmm.

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Liamness

Liamness

Posted
Posted

@spork

Nah it'll be Rooney deepest. Van Gaal has already said he was thinking about starting him as a holding midfielder given the injuries. He is probably more suited to the role than either Herrera or Fellaini. I think they could work quite well just as a pairing, but that would require a change in system and this one seems to be working for us.

Of course he could bring Blackett on for Falcao at any point if he suddenly realises the tactical brilliance of my XI above.

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Bleeders

Bleeders

Posted
Posted

Had all the ball, but haven't created much. Chelsea score on the counter with their only chance. Move Rooney up top and get Di Maria on.

Falcao fouled in the build up to their goal as well. Don't tend to get much at Stamford Bridge regardless.

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LiMuBai

LiMuBai

Posted
Posted

We've totally controlled the possession so far but with nothing to show for it. Falcao isn't able to hold the ball up, and at first watch I thought that was a foul on him leading to Chelsea's goal. But after having seen the replay, the ref got it spot on

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Liamness

Liamness

Posted
Posted

The life is dribbling out of this game, even with Di Maria and Januzaj on. Chelsea haven't really had to get going; I expect this is how most of their matches will go for the rest of the season, essentially playing for a draw but nicking a win if they must.

Shaw is off, presumably to protect him. Has shown exactly what we've been missing, despite Blind dovetailing very well with Young the past few months, in his surging runs and boundless energy. Had a very good game and been involved in most of our best attacking moves.

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Majora

Majora

Posted
Posted

Don't think we can be too disappointed with that given the injuries. Chelsea did what they had to do and just made it impossible to create much in the last third. Its kind of incredible that we had 75% of the possession in the second half at Stamford Bridge though.

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feltmonkey

feltmonkey

Posted
Posted

it's such a shame that Carrick was injured. as a result we didn't get to quite show the champions elect how good we are at the moment. Rooney did ok, but the midfield wasn't quite as good as in recent weeks, and Falcao was a poor substitute for Rooney up front.

as Liamness mentioned, it was good to see Shaw back. he was excellent. i seem to remember several games where he's looked like our best attacking player this season. i do wonder if he'll be straight back out when Blind is back though. it might be that he's one of those eyecatching players that actually disrupt a team overall. he plays very differently to Blind, and tended to dominate that left side, getting to the line himself rather than just feeding Young and Fellaini. it might have contributed to why those two weren't quite as effective. or perhaps they were stifled so he ended up with the space to attack. i'd have to watch the game again, and to be honest there's no way i'd want to. it wasn't a classic.

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Willow

Willow

Posted
Posted

I think without injuries you'd probably have edged this game. Rooney up top, Herrera more advanced and Carrick as DM. You got mourinhoed to an extent but you could quite easily have scored a few goals (Rooney chance, Falcao hits post, Rooney free header) and won comfortably.

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Marlowe

Marlowe

Posted
Posted

I was happy with that, bodes well for next season. Very assured performance by the back four, Shaw excellent going forward, and total domination of midfield even in the absence of Carrick. Obviously disappointing we couldn't finish one of those 4 clear chances, but on another day we'd be looking at another convincing win.

The game also highlighted why Mourinho would never have been a good fit at United - 29% possession at home, barely scraping a few passes together before giving it back, defence sitting deep. Much prefer Van Gaal's approach. Mourinho got his result, but it was hardly a resounding vindication of his timid tactics (could so easily have gone the way of the PSG game for them).

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