Cherry pick this, Man U's games this year:Originally Posted by Letters
Won 3 (one against Sunderland in the cup which they ended up getting knocked out of at the end of that match), drawn 1, lost 5.
But by all means don't let that stop you, carry on WUMming
It's not really the scoreline that I'm interested in - but the manner in which a team that on the season's results so far should have had real title aspirations performed. Saturday felt like a sea change in the title race for good reason. It highlighted our vulnerability to superior tacticians; our inability to maintain focus and team work rate; and the flaws in our match preparation. It highlighted also the basic imbalance of our team when put under real pressure (and by this I mean a team prepared to come at us at pace and expose our full backs' high line - which most teams are too scared to do). This would have been the case had the match stayed at 2-0).
Liverpool have been a force at home - but we beat them at the Emirates and we should have been on the front foot here - an Arsenal team lauded for its attacking play exposing their dodgy defence. Instead, we started sluggishly and without focus - like we did against Southampton - and paid for it. Zim's right when he points out that we have been putting in mediocre performances for a while now. We have been winning games by playing for 10 to 15 minutes - in a way doing the minimum to get the result. Thisis fine against teams that we can control (ie those nervous about committing to attack) - but won't cut it against the better teams.
The other factor of our recent run of games is that our wins have tended to rely heavily on one particular player having a purple patch - rather than an outstanding team performance like we saw from Liverpool yesterday, or Chelsea against Citeh. This has been fine - because different players have stepped up - but relying on individual brilliance worries me - because it leaves us vulnerable. Let's not kid ourselves - we have better players than all but the other 4 top teams in the country and therefore should be beating most. But how effective have we been when taking on our 'equals'. For all the psychological issues we have with Manure - player wise they are not at present our equals, and this is why a home game against Moyes' flounderers will tell me less than Saturday did.
As for Ozil - I think people are being blinded by his reputation rather than what they are seeing on the pitch. He gave us a lift when he came for sure, and we saw some flashes of brilliance, but he has looked disinterested for a while now, and anyone who thinks he is playing to his massive potential is in la la land. Sure, people will point out that he doesn't have the runners for his passing skills, or that he's not a game changer in the mould of a Rooney a Suarez or a (Ya Ya) Toure. But whether he's the wrong fit for our team, or whether he is not up for the challenge - he simply isn't justifying his rep or his price tag at present. Look to a certain attacking MF in South West London to see what we should be entitled to expect from Ozil.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Ozil gave us a lift, but in reality, the main reason why we are in a position to even think about maybe challenging was the first 3 months performance of Ramsey. If this season's Ramsey had been the turgid player of last season, we would be 10 points behind Chelsea, fighting it out with the Spuds like we usually do. I doubt we will see a purple patch from a player like that for ages again.
I'd agree with you there. I am not on an anti Ozil crusade, but it a fair question to ask whether, with Rosicky and Cazorla both players in his position, he was the best way to spend 42M. If he was pulling up trees like Hazard the question would not be asked. But he's not. As Blink points out on the other thread - the Ozil signing does question what the manager's big plan is - or whether there really is one?
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Well there might have been a plan initially with Higuain or Suarez (players for a position we badly needed) but after they failed it was a case of just doing something, anything, to appease the fans who were at their wits end. A lot of our recent signings have been opportunistic and born out of circumstance - Ozil hinging on the Bale deal, punt on Flamini who just happened to be training with us, Cazorla and Monreal from cash strapped Malaga, you could even include Henry in 2012, and of course going further back the deadline day rush in 2011 after the squad was decimated.
Wenger is a great manager at working with what he's got but I'm not convinced he has a grip on things in the transfer market.
They could have appeased the fans for a lot less than 42mill quid. Most would have settled for pretty much anything at such a late stage in the window. It doesn't make any sense at all for a club notorious for hanging onto the cash to suddenly splash 42mill on one player just to keep the fans happy. A decade of pissing us off in the transfer window and we still come back for more. Besides, if Ozil thought he was some sort of token signing why would he come her at all? Ozil's the first of a few big names or else his signing is a complete waste of the money.
Für eure Sicherheit
It does when there's little time left in the transfer window and barely anyone available, he was high profile and he became available. I rate him very highly, however looking at it from a purely logical perspective, we didn't particularly need a player in his position.
Great signing, but not in a position you would have considered us weak in.
Hazard has been terrific though, but it has taken him a bit of time to get that good and I don't think we'll see the best of Ozil until next season. Still think we need to adapt our style of play to suit him, it wouldn't be a bad thing though, I think our slow paced football is dull as dishwater at times and an injection of pace would ramp up the excitement considerably.
Dont worry pal, people want to close their eyes when its certain players. I remember getting stuck into that Arshavin early, but unluckily for me he was still in one of the fan favourite untouchable types so of course it was because I was blind, didnt understand him etc
Tbf I was glad when we signed Ozil but all that nonsense about him being the best player in the league or best player to arrive in the league is dead. Hes about 2 months of more shytness away from being our Fernando Torres.
We learnt against liverpool that speed kills in this league. In England, a rookie like Sterling is a better and more dangerous player than seasoned internationals like Podolski, Giroud and even Ozil. Sooner we get away with this feeble tiki-taka rubbish and get some athletes in the better.
We also learnt Wilshere cant cut it in CM (and maybe even anywhere). Experiment over.
I was under the impression he'd improve the other players around him but now it's looking like we'll need a lot more to get the best of him. Or maybe he just needs time to adjust. Our style of play keeps changing and it's hard to pin down what exactly it is we're doing. We've stopped pressing defensively, it looked like we played a higher line against Liverpool and the passing and movement has become more labored. We're not breaking quickly enough for counters and it's an old Wenger cliche but we lack sharpness.
I knew the fluidity of our play had taken a knock since losing Cesc and I'd say the quick and efficient play was a result of us not being able to string together endless passes like we used to. I wouldn't say it was a tactic to sit deep and then break. Not intentionally. When Ozil, Rosicky, Ramsey and Cazorla were on there game, that fluency came back and the players kept interchanging. It was more like the total football we used to play. But since the Christmas break that has gone out the window and we're struggling to string passes together and open teams up. We may need to go back to basics and focus on defence because I think that period of playing champagne football may have gone to the players heads and they're trying to replicate it all the time.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote