Back comes Rooney and back comes the mind numbing going nowhere football. That's a touch unfair I suppose, he didn't have a particularly poor game but he never really did anything that was going to hurt the opposition either. This was a really bad night, the result and the precarious nature of our grip on a qualification spot says it all.
After seeing Memphis and Lingard give a performance of movement and threat as a front two on Saturday Van Gaal started with both player out wide and Rooney behind Martial. I think it's fair to say it didn't work as planned. Lingard had a decent first half, though he was as guilty as others in going into his shell a bit in the second half. Once again he missed a glorious chance, leading to people who have hardly seen him to claim finishing is a weak part of his game. It is actually one of his strengths, but I suppose when you create so few chances the pressure to put them away becomes even greater.
Memphis had another stinker, it's obvious he hasn't got the pace to be an out an out wide man. He never takes a man on the outside and can't even hold his own in a one to one when he comes inside. Once he knows it's not happening for him, it all starts to go latter day Nani, with him making bad decision after bad decision. I really do not know what to make of him.
After a very bright start, even Martial seems to have been brought down a level. He did some good things last night, but I think it would be fair to say he ain't hitting the form he showed in those first few games.
I wasn't that impressed with either of our two midfield men last night, Schweinsteiger laboured, whilst Schneiderlin had a night to forget that got steadily worse to the point where he was giving it away as often as he was finding a red shirt.
The substitutions were as baffling as ever, he takes Schweinsteiger off, which was fair enough, but brings on Fellaini as a straight swap meaning we had nobody with any guile in the middle of the park. If he was going to bring Fellaini on it had to be as the number ten, which of course is where he ended up when things got desperate at the end.
The first half wasn't that bad without being anything to write home about. We had chances but not really stand out ones. The first five minutes of the second half saw us create three pretty good chances with maybe Schneiderlin's header the best of the three. When we didn't put any of those away, I have to admit I started to wonder whether it might be one of those nights. We hardly created another three chances for the rest of the match. Though the Lingard chance was probably the best opening of the night, if anything he possibly hit it too well.
As the game went on they started to come into it and if anything looked the more likely to score during those last ten minutes or so. And I'm afraid there is no bigger indictment of our current woes than that, because PSV are a nothing team really. If they qualify above us, we really will know we are absolutely miles away from the top echelons of European football as if we didn't know that already. Van Gaal will be desperate to make sure we land up in the top four if that happens, otherwise he will surely be out of a job come the summer. Which to my mind will just mean more of the same boring horrible safety first crap we've seen during his tenure so far. And if Liverpool and Tottenham continue to improve, top four is no certainty as far I'm concerned whatever our position now.
And if that did happen, all this talk of galactico signings in the summer, will be just that, talk.
After seeing Memphis and Lingard give a performance of movement and threat as a front two on Saturday Van Gaal started with both player out wide and Rooney behind Martial. I think it's fair to say it didn't work as planned. Lingard had a decent first half, though he was as guilty as others in going into his shell a bit in the second half. Once again he missed a glorious chance, leading to people who have hardly seen him to claim finishing is a weak part of his game. It is actually one of his strengths, but I suppose when you create so few chances the pressure to put them away becomes even greater.
Memphis had another stinker, it's obvious he hasn't got the pace to be an out an out wide man. He never takes a man on the outside and can't even hold his own in a one to one when he comes inside. Once he knows it's not happening for him, it all starts to go latter day Nani, with him making bad decision after bad decision. I really do not know what to make of him.
After a very bright start, even Martial seems to have been brought down a level. He did some good things last night, but I think it would be fair to say he ain't hitting the form he showed in those first few games.
I wasn't that impressed with either of our two midfield men last night, Schweinsteiger laboured, whilst Schneiderlin had a night to forget that got steadily worse to the point where he was giving it away as often as he was finding a red shirt.
The substitutions were as baffling as ever, he takes Schweinsteiger off, which was fair enough, but brings on Fellaini as a straight swap meaning we had nobody with any guile in the middle of the park. If he was going to bring Fellaini on it had to be as the number ten, which of course is where he ended up when things got desperate at the end.
The first half wasn't that bad without being anything to write home about. We had chances but not really stand out ones. The first five minutes of the second half saw us create three pretty good chances with maybe Schneiderlin's header the best of the three. When we didn't put any of those away, I have to admit I started to wonder whether it might be one of those nights. We hardly created another three chances for the rest of the match. Though the Lingard chance was probably the best opening of the night, if anything he possibly hit it too well.
As the game went on they started to come into it and if anything looked the more likely to score during those last ten minutes or so. And I'm afraid there is no bigger indictment of our current woes than that, because PSV are a nothing team really. If they qualify above us, we really will know we are absolutely miles away from the top echelons of European football as if we didn't know that already. Van Gaal will be desperate to make sure we land up in the top four if that happens, otherwise he will surely be out of a job come the summer. Which to my mind will just mean more of the same boring horrible safety first crap we've seen during his tenure so far. And if Liverpool and Tottenham continue to improve, top four is no certainty as far I'm concerned whatever our position now.
And if that did happen, all this talk of galactico signings in the summer, will be just that, talk.
No comments:
Post a Comment