Carrick deffo has a better range of passing than Blind even if Blind's is good too. I think the fact Carrick is comfortable on both feet is a huge advantage for deep lying midfield distributor. I can see the thinking in having Fellaini alongside Herrera, the only thing is it means Di Maria would have to play on the wing and most people want him CM.
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Carrick deffo has a better range of passing than Blind even if Blind's is good too. I think the fact Carrick is comfortable on both feet is a huge advantage for deep lying midfield distributor. I can see the thinking in having Fellaini alongside Herrera, the only thing is it means Di Maria would have to play on the wing and most people want him CM.
Oh look.....A player who tries to make things happen......
Bench for you ye little rascal!
Bench for you ye little rascal!
The only midfielder we have with any speed, dynamism or ability to find a decent pass can barely get a look in. I don't get it.
Di Maria did his prospects as a CM no good last night. Looked as though Van Gaal took him out of the engine room at half-time. He was decent further forwards but kind of crap as a CM.
To be fair to Van Gaal he has tended to reward subs who play well with a start. So Hererra has a good chance of making our next XI. Just needs to make more of the opportunity this time.
Now we are praising him but I remember many times when he started and could not even get on the ball and was subbed off after 60 min.
Yeah? Many times? Name them.
Yeah I don't really have an issue with Di Maria playing on the wing. Him and Herrera in midfield with only Carrick or Blind for cover is potentially a bit of a risk given those two aren't particularly mobile. Its still my preferred formation at the moment but I'd have no problem moving AdM to the wing if it didn't work. Herrera defends very well I'd just rather he didn't have to worry too much about it.
Hererra's great at tackling but a bit naive when it comes to his positioning and tracking runs. Still learning a deeper midfield role. Not really "great at defending". Feck it, though, we should always reward someone who has that impact off the bench with a start and pick a team that will work with him in it.
It's not like Fellaini is great at tracking runs either and Herrera hasn't had a good run of starts to bed in, just cameos for the last 3 months. I don't know why LvG won't just play Carrick and Blind behind him as a midfield 3 with Rooney up top. It's at least worth a try IMO.
Correct, usually he has had to come on, quite often to change games. The only games that come to mind are Swansea for Fellaini, after which LvG acknowledged he shouldn't have done it as we were getting on top. The WBA with that damn corset.
If Ander is naive, which he possibly is, god knows what our defenders are with regards to tracking runners and positioning.
Makes things happen, has a good engine on him. A willingness to always receive the ball and plays it direct sometimes or quick passing. Good movement off the ball too (a bit too much at times) but a definite starter for me. We are lacking in ideas, lacking in people being willing to play the final ball. Something tells me he's still not going to feature as a starter and the odd sub appearance is what he'll be restricted to due to some nonsense about balance. Hope that's not the case. Herrera's not been perfect but when he's on song he improves us significantly. With our struggle for attacking form, he has to be given a run as a starting player.
Fellaini is actually quite good at tracking runs. This season anyway. Looked clueless at times last season but has been really good, defensively, under Van Gaal (not something you can say about many of our squad!)
Then as someone said, get a good strong midfielder to play alongside him to cover for his deficiencies. His upside is far too good to not use.
West Brom come to mind as well. In the Leicester debacle he looked hopeless in midfield in the second half and even in the following games against West Ham and Everton, although we won, we looked to vulnerable with him in midfield. I am not blaming him for that he was a big part of it.
Yet against West Ham, it was him putting a tackle in a winning the ball that led to the 2nd goal. He broke his rib in that game remember. He was definitely invisible against Everton as he was out with aforementioned broken rib.
Add to that against West Brom he clearly wasn't fit. And was rushed back from his broken ribs.
I enjoyed this one.
Until one of them becomes undroppable i'd start Mata for the Home games and Herrera for the Away games.
Having more than 1 striker is pointless if the team is not creating any chances for them.
Having more than 1 striker is pointless if the team is not creating any chances for them.
I agree with that. It is just a waste of a team place.
The only reason I can think of for LVG not to play him is the fact he gives the ball away quite a bit. Apart from that, I can't think of any other faults.
I really feel we need to start using Herrera in a 3 man midfield. I think that LVG sees him as too attacking minded to play as a CM in a 2 man midfield, hence why Herrera has got games at #10 for us.
I would love to see a proper 4-3-3 with Herrera and Fellaini in front of Carrick or Blint. We are just short on wingers but Januzaj and Di Maria are capable.
I had Herrera as MotM yesterday, we looked a different side after he came on though it could be argued that Cambridge were probably tiring at that point
I would love to see a proper 4-3-3 with Herrera and Fellaini in front of Carrick or Blint. We are just short on wingers but Januzaj and Di Maria are capable.
I had Herrera as MotM yesterday, we looked a different side after he came on though it could be argued that Cambridge were probably tiring at that point
This is the best point made so far.
He doesn't though. I don't know why people are thinking that. I would much rather have a risk taker than boring pragmatism. Manchester United is built on attacking risk taking football. His bloody Assistant Manager should know that.
Thus leaving RVP,Falcao and Mata on the bench.
(I actually think we can only play two of RVP,Falcao,Mata and Rooney so I am pretty close to agreeing with you).
I said in an earlier post that the team is afraid to take risks where as Herrera's game is mainly based on that. It's the only reason I can think of as to why he's not playing from the start.
So what, RVP and Falcao haven't done much anyway. Mata can play behind Rooney with Di Maria
Yep, we really should play with one striker. It's not like they have all been so good it'd be unfair to bench them, truth is none of our forwards deserve to start aside from Rooney.
I've been a critic of his but I thought he was good in his cameo and deserves a start.
Fellaini is even worse for this and offers less than Herrera so not sure if that is the reason.
Right, but like thegregster said the only reason, is that Falcao, Mata and RVP are bigger names and LVG don't want drop them for Herrera.
I'd agree, but it seems like Hoofball is actually one of our favoured tactics this season, especially in the second half of games so I can see why Fellaini gets played.
He actually has the same pass completion as Fellaini with 87% and better than Rooney with 84% and Di Maria with 80%
Exactly. It's just a criticism that must be made if it happened once to negate praise, e.g, Rafael's rashness, Smalling's ability on the ball (no worse than Evans or Jones) etc... His pass completion and accuracy rate is no worse than our other central midfielders.
Here's a set of gifs from yesterday about Herrera and what he did, there are too many so i will just copy this reddit link:
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/2tgfbk/gifs_of_all_the_brilliant_work_done_by_herrera/
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/2tgfbk/gifs_of_all_the_brilliant_work_done_by_herrera/
I think Ander has most people on his side. I think the problem with LvG he sees the little negative Ander brings, taking risks, which aren't actually that bigger risks,yet will not see the positives in someone and how he can use them. Our defenders are far more risky than Ander Herrera will ever be.
He will have to at some stage. If we keep the diamond in the long run we could play Di Maria and Herrera in midfield with Carrick or Blind behind them. Then play Rooney in behind Falcao and RVP or else Mata behind Rooney and RVP. Mata or Falcao are the most likely to lose out. Some of the interplay from our midfield against the likes of QPR and Leicester (not big teams but much better than Cambridge) with Di Maria and Herrera in midfield was just
!Decent midfield play? Why would we want that in our side, eh..? Back on the bench with you Ander!
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