#07
makes new threads with tweets in the OP
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2010
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- 23,651
He played 3 5 2 to give the defenders a moral boost and to send a message to his wide forwards to work better for the defensive duties which has been a real issue for us lately.
Not sure how you could know this but, assuming this is accurate, how would a back five boost confidence if they're expected to play a back four? It could simply make the defence conscious of how hard they find it to keep a clean sheet when we don't have a back five.
Likewise, why do the wide forwards need reminding of their duties? It was Ole himself who said we were playing 424, before Atalanta. It was Ole himself who said before, and after Liverpool, that he felt a Man Utd team had to play on front foot. Hence, why we got the kamikaze, headless chicken chasing from our front four. Which left the midfield isolated. We did something totally different yesterday, with Cavani (and Ronaldo to a lesser extent) deliberately not pressing and dropping back into shape. Our wide forwards don't need reminding to do this. They do this every time we play City, for example, and it usually goes well. You have to assume that they haven't been doing this because they were told to do otherwise.
I am happy blaming the players when we need to. However, it's fairly clear from what Ole has said that we naively moved away from compact, counterattacking football this season. That was an error on the side of the coaching staff. I wouldn't blame the players for failing to carry out tactics that are clearly not suited to this squad e.g., pressing high, requires Lindelof & Maguire to defend from halfway to keep the team compact. Never going to work given their flaws.
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