No. That an opponent feels they have stopped us by stopping one player.
9
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Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal admits he doesn't know what Anthony Martial's best position is yet.
The 19-year-old French international has scored five times for the Reds, but has found himself playing out left in recent games with Wayne Rooney up front, something that has frustrated the club's supporters.
The Dutchman said: "He played always in Monaco as a left winger and I have to see what is the best balance in the team. We have played him in the striker's position, but in Monaco he played more or less at the left-wing."
sooooo the no9 is no longer really considered a no9?
EDIT: Does this guy ever know anyones best position?
Rooney, ADM, Herrera, Mata, Januzaj, etc etc etc
Balance seems to be code for, wherever I can switch people around to play Rooney. 'Balance' was the excuse for playing Rooney in midfield last season. 'Balance' is the excuse for playing Martial wide left. Its garbage. Increasingly it seems Van Gaal isn't big enough to manage Rooney.
Opponents can see where the threat is coming from. Why can't our manager?
No different to acknowledging that the best way to stop City is to shut down Silva, or Coutinho at Liverpool. Every side has a player that makes them tick. I always assume Mata would be that player for us but it looks like Martial is perceived as more of a threat right now.
Difference is for example with city that might be the best way but clearly not enough. Aguero or Toure can just as easily do the damage.
With us they only need to take care of martial and that's all they need to. He is our only threat and IMO some of the blame for that falls on LVG for his system.
No all
Sorry but cannot agree. He is mainly responsible but not the only one. He is not telling Memphis to dribble into defenders, he is not telling Rooney to take 3 touches to control before passing to the opposition, he is not telling Mata to hit the first defender with his set pieces, he is not telling Valencia to hit the cross against the defenders legs. So on and so forth.
We need to start playing him as a number nine, he should be the focal point of the team because he's our best player at the moment. Put Rooney out on the left.
Is there any chance at all van Gaal will play him up front in place of Rooney tomorrow or is it just wishful thinking? If he's given the chance to play there it's pretty clear to everyone that he will do a better job.
We can't afford to slip up again in Europe and need someone to be clinical for us up front, Martial is obviously the answer right now. He is being limited out wide and the bottom line is we can't rely on Rooney right now in the form he is in, surely van Gaal and Giggs have to be aware of that by now and go with Martial as our main striker.
We can't afford to slip up again in Europe and need someone to be clinical for us up front, Martial is obviously the answer right now. He is being limited out wide and the bottom line is we can't rely on Rooney right now in the form he is in, surely van Gaal and Giggs have to be aware of that by now and go with Martial as our main striker.
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If they haven't been made aware this far into the season, unfortunately I don't see them ever realising.
He is telling most of them not to play their natural game. He is also the one who chose to let players go without suitable replacements. He is also the one who insists on Rooney up top.
What is that you think the likes of Memphis Rooney and Mata want to do but are asked not to?
Mata def wants to play through the middle, I think the world and his dog know that.
Rooney is not a back to goal, hold up the ball striker, especially not this Rooney (TBH the main issue here is his insistence in playing Rooney)
Memphis has just been poor, however its not easy being asked to hug the touchline when double teamed and having to produce magic because the rest fo the team is so rigid (still doesn't excuse his poor performances). Memphis has more license to roam inside last season at PSV.
Martial is doing a very good job out on the left, but even with him, you can see that basically we get the ball out there, he has to stay there and then he has to produce magic. Put the lad upfront, and allow the rest of the team not to be so rigid positionally, especially the left winger.
I'm hoping he's asking Rooney to not be any good at Football, otherwise I'm out of ideas
Mata has the license to drift anywhere he wants as you can see in games. Let's not pretend he's been asked to hug the touchline and stay there.
Memphis starts out wide to keep our width Hut again, he can go as he pleases, infield or out wide. I don't see his poor performances having anything to do with a lack of freedom and everything to do with him not being able to do what wingers are supposed to.
Rooney played the #10 role and was as poor.
Van Gaal isn't blind. Nor is he stupid. Unless he had his eyes closed, he would have watched those games just like we did, seen what Martial is capable of in a centre forward position and taken note.
So why persevere with Rooney at centre forward? Well the easiest explanation is that Van Gaal has been working on this system for over a year now with the players. Some players have more experience of playing in this system than others, Rooney being one of them (as he was pretty much undisputed first choice striker before Martial arrived). He's had over a year to absorb Van Gaal's ideas, so it's natural that Van Gaal trusts him to implement his ideas on the pitch, whether you agree with them or not.
Watch Rooney's movement on and off the ball and you can see there is a purpose to what he does within the scheme of our play. Not a lot is coming off for him at the moment but then again, he's not the player he once was. Privately, even he must know that. But in Van Gaal's eyes, Rooney's experience of playing that role in this system means he gets the nod ahead of Martial, whose versatility means he can still affect games from the left wing. Which leads me to conclude that until Martial gains more experience, or we sign another forward, Van Gaal will likely persevere with Rooney at centre forward, because he believes the system works, and the results will improve with time.
And maybe, just maybe, the style of play might improve too.
So why persevere with Rooney at centre forward? Well the easiest explanation is that Van Gaal has been working on this system for over a year now with the players. Some players have more experience of playing in this system than others, Rooney being one of them (as he was pretty much undisputed first choice striker before Martial arrived). He's had over a year to absorb Van Gaal's ideas, so it's natural that Van Gaal trusts him to implement his ideas on the pitch, whether you agree with them or not.
Watch Rooney's movement on and off the ball and you can see there is a purpose to what he does within the scheme of our play. Not a lot is coming off for him at the moment but then again, he's not the player he once was. Privately, even he must know that. But in Van Gaal's eyes, Rooney's experience of playing that role in this system means he gets the nod ahead of Martial, whose versatility means he can still affect games from the left wing. Which leads me to conclude that until Martial gains more experience, or we sign another forward, Van Gaal will likely persevere with Rooney at centre forward, because he believes the system works, and the results will improve with time.
And maybe, just maybe, the style of play might improve too.
OK, I get you.
I'm not too concerned by a point away at Palace, nor the fact that they tried to shut Martial down. October was always going to be difficult - the worrying result/performance was 3-0 to the Arse, I honestly thought we could compete better than that.
Funny,in think its the exact opposite. Arsenal was a freak result. The points dropped against teams like Swansea and especially Palace give me the most concern. We don't create enough against the teams lower down the table.
The Swansea result & performance was poor. A draw away to Palace is par for the course.
Getting beaten 3-0 by one of our major rivals, and failing to beat City at home when they were missing their 2 best players is a better barometer of where we are IMO.
Getting beaten 3-0 by one of our major rivals, and failing to beat City at home when they were missing their 2 best players is a better barometer of where we are IMO.
Yeah, I'm not worried about Arsenal. We got sliced and diced for 20 minutes and the game was done. And besides Arsenal are competing for the title.
We do have an issue in the first 20-odd minutes of every game, where our players look like they have been drugged.
As the game progresses, we wake up.
I think our players should take some caffeine pills before starting each match.
Against Crystal Palace and Middlesborough - these teams should've got spanked. But as is now the norm, we can't score a goal.
By the time we were missing penalties (we scored 1 out of 4), I was laughing too hard to care. It's as if our players lose their senses when they are in front of goal.
1 goal scored in the last 4 games.
We do have an issue in the first 20-odd minutes of every game, where our players look like they have been drugged.
As the game progresses, we wake up.
I think our players should take some caffeine pills before starting each match.
Against Crystal Palace and Middlesborough - these teams should've got spanked. But as is now the norm, we can't score a goal.
By the time we were missing penalties (we scored 1 out of 4), I was laughing too hard to care. It's as if our players lose their senses when they are in front of goal.
1 goal scored in the last 4 games.
You missed out the game against Middlesborough. We lost that one on penalties and couldnt score in 120 minutes.
Where have I done so? He spends most of the game in a position where he is largely ineffective. He comes alive usually when he drifts, but fact is he has to go back to his position more often than not. It is not ideal.
Memphis has been poor as I said, but if you look at Martial when he has played LW even when he has played well, he has been more or less always stuck on the left. Crosses come into the box and Rooney isn't even in there, and there is no one on the end of them.
What is that about Rooney @10. Rooney has been poor as I said, he is still in the team, that is down to the manager. On top of that Rooney shouldn't be anywhere near a team who requires the forward to hold the ball up and play with his back to goal.
In terms of our attacking play, the manager is not utilising the players to the best of their strengths, instead he is attempting to put square pegs into round holes to suit his idea of a system
At this point, I'd even shift Herrera out to the left to accommodate Rooney as #10 and ultimately Martial as #9.
Man Utd 1:0 Moscow
Can't seem to get him the ball in good spots. Whenever he gets it, he's surrounded by players.
Created 2 chances from 8 passes. If Rooney could find a through ball to him any time soon he could have scored too. Receiving the ball absolutely everywhere along the top line as well. Absolute menace of a player.
It's insane that we can't capitalize on it. He's surrounded by three guys, manages to move the ball around and instead of quick, swift action, we resort to slowing the game down, allowing them to get in place again. Lingard was the main beneficiary but couldn't do anything of notice.
Good to see him in the strikers position.
Thought it was his worst performance for us till now. Though they were doubling up on him every time.
Yeah he wasn't up to his usual high standards.
His worst outing so far tonight
I didn't want to see him come off but I can understand why
I think he needs a rest. Played loads for us and for France in a short space
If only we had strikers to rotate him with
I didn't want to see him come off but I can understand why
I think he needs a rest. Played loads for us and for France in a short space
If only we had strikers to rotate him with
The other players seem incapable of using Martial's smart runs. There were situations today when the other attackers kept making the wrong decisions with their final passes instead of passing it to Martial, who was all alone in the box a couple of times.
It's always tough playing against a team that has parked 3 buses and Martial was always surrounded by 3-4 players, which is insane. Yes, he lost the ball more than usual today, but still made things happen.
It's always tough playing against a team that has parked 3 buses and Martial was always surrounded by 3-4 players, which is insane. Yes, he lost the ball more than usual today, but still made things happen.
I thought it was the correct decision to bring him off.
Poor game from him today and taking him off was the right decisions, he has played a lot in the last couple of weeks so he might have been a little jaded.
Shame we decided to attack (or were rather forced by the fans) only after he come off.
He looked gassed in the second half. He should probably sit the game against West Brom at the weekend. The kid needs a break.
I thought his first half was decent, but what are you gonna do if you're constantly surrounded by three people? We have to learn to capitalize on it more than anything.
He needs a bloody rest, he's a 19 year old lad with the weight of the world's biggest football club on his shoulders.
Why on earth Van Gaal decided to sell all of our strikers and not replace them is anyone's guess, the bigger mystery is why he won't give James Wilson a bloody shot from the bench.
Why on earth Van Gaal decided to sell all of our strikers and not replace them is anyone's guess, the bigger mystery is why he won't give James Wilson a bloody shot from the bench.
His poorest outing for us which Michael Owen highlighted at every chance while lubing up Rooney.
Not a great outing, but the lad was surrounded like the popemobile at all times.
Agreed. It's obvious that he's tired.
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