That was a thoroughly miserable afternoon's football. After last weeks performance at Everton, i can't pretend I was expecting the kind of football we saw at home to Tottenham. But I certainly wasn't expecting to see us drop any points, never mind all three.
All the problems that have affected United, and more especially Van Gaal's philosophy before that recent run of results and performances seem to have returned in spades. Against a team that parks the bus and just allows us to dominate possession we still sem to be clueless. The play is too slow, there's no creativity, the philosophy doesn't seem to allow for individuals to try things off the cuff and we're still far too reliant on Carrick. We bought two central midfielders in the summer, Herrera and Blind and neither of them are anywhere near filling his boots. In fact Herrera seems to only work when he plays further up and Blind seems better at left back. I've said it before, both are decent squad players, but nothing more.
Then we have the issue of Fellaini, just what is the point of playing him in games like this. During the first half he wasn't getting into the box enough, which really was pointless. But Van Gaal's answer was to push him up top and bring Van Persie into an attacking central midfield role. Van Gaal has taken stick for playing two centre forwards in midfield, but I actualy thought Van Persie gave a pretty good account of himself, he tried to be creative and played the ball forward when he had the chance. Rooney on the other hand had yet another forgettable afternoon in the middle of the park. Where i would go along with the stick Van Gaal has received on the message boards et al, is putting Fellaini up front. It just encouraged us to pump high balls forward. Admittedly Falcao isn't the answer either, where is Wilson?
That's not to say we deserved to lose, we didn't, but even there it was another soft if unfortunate goal to give away. But we had looked vulnerable on the rare occasions West Brom managed to get in our half. I don't like to give youngsters stick, but it's patently obvious to me that McNair is not up to it. We all know he's only playing because he "fits the profile" but really, does he? He can't defend and isn't really all that, on the ball, is he. It was pretty headles chicken defending that saw him bring Fletcher down just outside the box in a dangerous area.
That fourth spot isn't nailed on is it, the way we are playing you wouldn't put money on us at Palace. Just when we'd started to looking forward to games again as well!
All the problems that have affected United, and more especially Van Gaal's philosophy before that recent run of results and performances seem to have returned in spades. Against a team that parks the bus and just allows us to dominate possession we still sem to be clueless. The play is too slow, there's no creativity, the philosophy doesn't seem to allow for individuals to try things off the cuff and we're still far too reliant on Carrick. We bought two central midfielders in the summer, Herrera and Blind and neither of them are anywhere near filling his boots. In fact Herrera seems to only work when he plays further up and Blind seems better at left back. I've said it before, both are decent squad players, but nothing more.
Then we have the issue of Fellaini, just what is the point of playing him in games like this. During the first half he wasn't getting into the box enough, which really was pointless. But Van Gaal's answer was to push him up top and bring Van Persie into an attacking central midfield role. Van Gaal has taken stick for playing two centre forwards in midfield, but I actualy thought Van Persie gave a pretty good account of himself, he tried to be creative and played the ball forward when he had the chance. Rooney on the other hand had yet another forgettable afternoon in the middle of the park. Where i would go along with the stick Van Gaal has received on the message boards et al, is putting Fellaini up front. It just encouraged us to pump high balls forward. Admittedly Falcao isn't the answer either, where is Wilson?
That's not to say we deserved to lose, we didn't, but even there it was another soft if unfortunate goal to give away. But we had looked vulnerable on the rare occasions West Brom managed to get in our half. I don't like to give youngsters stick, but it's patently obvious to me that McNair is not up to it. We all know he's only playing because he "fits the profile" but really, does he? He can't defend and isn't really all that, on the ball, is he. It was pretty headles chicken defending that saw him bring Fletcher down just outside the box in a dangerous area.
That fourth spot isn't nailed on is it, the way we are playing you wouldn't put money on us at Palace. Just when we'd started to looking forward to games again as well!
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