I was wondering for a long time especially during this summer why most of the people here or among my United mates have problem with certain players and have totally different view than me on many topics:which players are better, who should play, who is terrible etc.
And after last few days especially in Antony thread i think i know the answer.
Unfortunatelly for a long time we were a team that has absolutely no idea how to play, we did not have any system whatsoever and our good matches or goals were complety
based on some individual brillance rather then some team play.
Especially under Ole we were defending with 7 players and Bruno plus 3 forward were suppose to make sth happen.
if Rashford get the ball 30-40 metres away from goal he 90% of the time would be shooting the ball.
That is why people expect our wingers to be fast with great dribbling to go past players and have good stats providing lots of goals and assist, and that’s it, nothing more is expected from them.
When you see that we had a big hole in central midfield without any DM and other teams were just walking past McFred and our central defenders were challanged 3-4 times as much as they should and Maguire was forced to run after fast forwards 10-12 times a match, everyone expect our defender to be fast to be able to cope with that kind of defensive play that we have seen for a long time.
But to be successful team we will not play like we used to and players that would help us get better should have different skills then the ones you need when you are a team with a bunch of individuals…
When people here prefer Rashford or Elanga to Sancho is just so unbelievable, I am speachless.
When you are a great team like City you do not need great dribblers because you know that everything It takes to score a goal is movement and a good pass.
Gundogan and Foden goals against Bournemouth, or Foden chance when he should pass to Haaland
It is so simple yet so difficult because you need to be on the same page with others and they need to know what and when to expect.
The goal Rashford score from VDB assist in preseason. Sancho did that kind of pass to Martial. Its so rare in our play to spot a movement and find that player with perfect pass but It is vital to score against low blocks that we had problems since i can remember.
But for that to became a standard we need a system and we need right players and we need time to implement…
Players like Sancho, Antony know that kind of play and are like chess players thinking few steps a head but they need a movement around.
When Sancho has a ball close to the penalty area he makes a pass to someone in the centre and moves forward,at the same second RB knows that play and runs forward expecting a pass from that player in the centre when he gets the ball he pass It to Sancho who is free in the box and he can either score or Pass to another free player. That is why he was so effective in Bundesliga because Reus, Haaland, Hakimi, Brandt were moving all the time. He never was a player to go past 2-3 players with his dribbling and score. He rather use his technique to move away from player and spot a runner. The difference is we are not having any runners around to pass to and he needs to do sth on his own but its not that kind of player and he losses the ball.
First of all whoever has the ball needs to be able to pass the ball to 3-4 or more players, when he choose that player and pass to him other players around that player needs to adjust their positions that he can easily pass to them, every second is different and you need to be in a movement all the time.
our standard play in previous seasons is that when someone gets the ball he thinks to whom he should pass and all the other players are just standing there the only movement is from the ball and not players.
it feels like everyone is in their position and they just try to pass to each other without any changes and It is not Effective and especially so predictable and what is worse at the moment of that pass our own players knows that they gonna get a pass at the same time opponents do.
Do you remember that football game from the 80’s that you had small plastic pitch and players attached to It with a springs and you were using that spring to move metal ball around ? Watching United for me is like that.
When you see how Antony plays he is always on the move and finds other players with his passing and take good positions to recieve the ball also gives lot of perfect passes between defenders to player who is running to the box and then that player can pass It to other player. It does not count for Antony stats but without him lot of goals would not happen, just like that Sancho pass to Martial for Rashford goal. You won’t see that on goals and assist stats. We need players with that kind of skills, great movement, passing and understanding the system.
What is more Antony is a beast in pressing and defending which you also do not see in goals and assist table.
Being a good player is much more than stats and Antony is good in a lot of things that we currently do not have in our team.
So forget what we used to play and what kind of players were good to that kind of play, Gakpo would be perfect for Ole to have a player that is only focusing on scoring goals or assisting but having players who are part of a bigger system and few additional passes to make us less predictable is much more important, we just need time.
It does not matter how much player costs when you get the one you want the most, the one who works the way you want.
it does not matter if he plays in Eredivisie or is proven here or there, we could Pay 150 mil for any other proven player and still did not have confidence if It gonna work. All we know is what kind of player Antony is and that he is proven in Ten Hag system and for me that is the biggest proven we need.
if we could make some ranking of what kind of proven you are looking for, being proven playing the same system under the same Manager that you were great would be Tier 1.
We could buy some player that was great in La Liga and at international level for his country or Champions League (which Antony was good at, not La Liga part*) and still did not have assurance its gonna work, at least having player who knows the manager, knows the system and especially manager knows him should give us the biggest chance to work here.
Do you remeber how Athletic Bilbao destroyed us ? They were just moving and passing and we were hopeless. Team effort did that to us not individual brillance.
So let’s just sit and enjoy what we are suppose make some changes and start being a football team that would be destroying other with our brillant plat, shall we ?
