Biggest issue to fix

[acid_fuji]

When I look other teams and our team I think I tend to think our biggest issue is intensity/urgency. Don’t know where does it come from and I don’t get it why but we are so slow.

 

[lex talionis]

Many problems, but two stand above the rest and they come back to coaching.

Lack of awareness of danger defensively.
Lack of ruthlessness on goal when there is opportunity.

Against Brighton Maguire should cleared the ball and we should have had a body on the far side. Two gifted goals, one defeat. Rinse and repeat from last season.

 

[ifightdragons]

Many problems, but two stand above the rest and they come back to coaching.

Lack of awareness of danger defensively.
Lack of ruthlessness on goal when there is opportunity.

Against Brighton Maguire should cleared the ball and we should have had a body on the far side. Two gifted goals, one defeat. Rinse and repeat from last season.

I'm sorry, but this simply isn't true.
These things you mention are just symptoms, and not the actual root of our problems.

We really don't have a major lack of awareness in defense. Not more so than most other teams. Look at goals that Arsenal and City concede, and you can also see examples of poor defending. Every team will have these lapses, no matter how good they are.

The major difference is the amount of chances we let our opponents have, and how unbalanced our team structure is because we are constantly running up and down the pitch, trying to play on the break. So the issue isn't really individual errors, but rather a major tactical flaw that leaves us exposed so often that individual errors are bound to happen at a more frequent rate than with better teams.

The lack of ruthfulness in front of goal is also a busted myth. It's simply not true.
We consistently score very close to our xG, which means that our problem is that we simply don't create enough high value chances. You can't expect a team with an xG of around 60 to score 90 goals. Teams like City and Arsenal also fluff a lot of chances, just like we do. But the difference is that they create so many high value chances that it doesn't matter, they can afford to make the same mistakes that we do and still score 90 goals. No one cares if Haaland misses two big chances in a game, because they still create so much that he can score 2-3 goals. Meanwhile, those 2-3 big chances are often all we manage to create, and it's statistically impossible to have a 100% conversion rate. So yeah, we do fluff our chances, and sometimes very big chances like against Brighton. But so do all other teams. That's not why we don't score enough. Double our chance creation, and you will score a lot more even when including these completely normal misses that every team makes.

Solution: Create more chances. Not complain about us actually hitting our xG. How to create more chances? Have the ball more. As long as you don't control the ball, creating chances is physically impossible.

So the deep lying issues in both defense and offense comes down to control, which we sorely lack. Improve our ball possession, and opponents can't create enough chances to frequently force those individual errors.
And by improving our ball possession our xG will inevitably be higher, meaning we would also score more goals.

I've explained this to you before. You need to actually understand why we score so little and concede so much, and it all comes down to not enough possessional control. We don't really fluff more high value chances or commit more egregious errors in our backline than other teams. We simply don't create enough chances and concede too many, and that will inevitably lead to what you are seeing.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

We don't create enough. We haven't since ETH was brought in. I have no clue what people are watching if they think we just need to be "more ruthless in front of goal".

If you create 2 clear cut chances a game and fail to put one away, that's still a very good conversion rate. Problem is it's only 1 goal because your team couldn't create much more. The best strikers in the world generally convert 25% of their shots.

Biggest issue I find is that our general build up play seems quite structured and "positional" based, yet our chance creation mostly comes from off the cuff patterns. Add on top of that the fact that it seems like our building from the back requires so many things to go right. When it comes together it's montage worthy stuff (seriously, you see a clip about "Ten Hag Ball" once a game where we play 10 passes with one or two touches in a row from back to front), but it's so difficult in practice to do consistently against the very best teams so our in possession play tends to feel disjointed in general where you'll look up and it's already the 40th minute but it feels like we've hardly gotten any good looks in the opposition box.

 

[gerdm07]

Midfield has been our biggest problem for at least 3 or 4 years and it's crazy that we haven't fixed it. There were brief periods when our midfield was above average. Good Casemiro for about 4 months. Good Matic (yes we need to go back far) for about 3 months. Other than that I think most of the PL had a better midfield than we have.

 

[Sandikan]

Scoring goals
Creatin chances
Stopping the opposition creating chances
Conceding goals

Sort those 4 things out and I'm confident we'll be better

 

[Ole'sgunnarwin]

There are no standards. And when you call it out you're seeing as negative. Ten Hag shouldn't have stayed on after having -1 goal difference and his inability to control any game

Maguire makes too many mistakes yet he keeps being played despite this.

Rashford should be nowhere near the team. He's not contributing and has lost his love for the game.

I'd like to see a United team that has the majority of chances/control in a game. Every match seems like a lottery, we're as likely to concede as to score.

Having said that, I see some positives, I think the signings were decent. I like Diallo, Hojlund, Mainoo and Garnacho. I just don't trust Ten Hag to take us closer to the top.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Hopefully best XI after signing Ugarte and offloading Scott, Sancho and Mejbri

Not the worst in the league but significant weaknesses at LB, CM and attack. The signing of Zirkzee doesn't make sense to me, should've been a definitive starter, not somebody who maybe is better than Hojlund.

Onana
Bayindir

Mazraoui --------------------- De Ligt ------------------- Martinez ------------------------ Shaw
Dalot ---------------------------- Maguire --------------------Yoro ----------------------------- Amass

Ugarte
Casemiro

Mainoo -------------------------- Fernandes
Eriksen ------------------------------ Mount

Garnacho ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rashford
Antony ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amad

Hojlund
Zirkzee​

Agree with this formation being our best, apart from Rashford starting over Amad. Is there a reason for that, apart from hope that Rashford will wake up tomorrow thinking that its 2022?

 

[Sea-Cow]

I'm sorry, but this simply isn't true.
These things you mention are just symptoms, and not the actual root of our problems.

We really don't have a major lack of awareness in defense. Not more so than most other teams. Look at goals that Arsenal and City concede, and you can also see examples of poor defending. Every team will have these lapses, no matter how good they are.

The major difference is the amount of chances we let our opponents have, and how unbalanced our team structure is because we are constantly running up and down the pitch, trying to play on the break. So the issue isn't really individual errors, but rather a major tactical flaw that leaves us exposed so often that individual errors are bound to happen at a more frequent rate than with better teams.

The lack of ruthfulness in front of goal is also a busted myth. It's simply not true.
We consistently score very close to our xG, which means that our problem is that we simply don't create enough high value chances. You can't expect a team with an xG of around 60 to score 90 goals. Teams like City and Arsenal also fluff a lot of chances, just like we do. But the difference is that they create so many high value chances that it doesn't matter, they can afford to make the same mistakes that we do and still score 90 goals. No one cares if Haaland misses two big chances in a game, because they still create so much that he can score 2-3 goals. Meanwhile, those 2-3 big chances are often all we manage to create, and it's statistically impossible to have a 100% conversion rate. So yeah, we do fluff our chances, and sometimes very big chances like against Brighton. But so do all other teams. That's not why we don't score enough. Double our chance creation, and you will score a lot more even when including these completely normal misses that every team makes.

Solution: Create more chances. Not complain about us actually hitting our xG. How to create more chances? Have the ball more. As long as you don't control the ball, creating chances is physically impossible.

So the deep lying issues in both defense and offense comes down to control, which we sorely lack. Improve our ball possession, and opponents can't create enough chances to frequently force those individual errors.
And by improving our ball possession our xG will inevitably be higher, meaning we would also score more goals.

I've explained this to you before. You need to actually understand why we score so little and concede so much, and it all comes down to not enough possessional control. We don't really fluff more high value chances or commit more egregious errors in our backline than other teams. We simply don't create enough chances and concede too many, and that will inevitably lead to what you are seeing.

Good post.

 

[Sea-Cow]

The biggest issue for me is that it appears that we are built to be this counterattacking transition team, trying to break at pace and be really dangerous when we have space to run into. And everyone knows it.

So any half-decent manager sets his team up to prevent that from happening. When the defense is set up and organized in their half, we have no clue how to create chances. So its a lot of pointless possession, usually amongst the defenders, until someone tries to dribble their man (Rashford) or someone tries a cute flick (Amad) or outlandish pass or something (Bruno) which all inevitably fail, then its off to the races with the other team streaming towards our goal.

 

[golden_blunder]

All problems lead to a sub par, badly thought out, midfield

 

[ifightdragons]

The biggest issue for me is that it appears that we are built to be this counterattacking transition team, trying to break at pace and be really dangerous when we have space to run into. And everyone knows it.

So any half-decent manager sets his team up to prevent that from happening. When the defense is set up and organized in their half, we have no clue how to create chances. So its a lot of pointless possession, usually amongst the defenders, until someone tries to dribble their man (Rashford) or someone tries a cute flick (Amad) or outlandish pass or something (Bruno) which all inevitably fail, then its off to the races with the other team streaming towards our goal.

Pretty much nailed it.

It looks like this will continue until we get a manager who values possession and dictating control and tempo of a match instead of just constantly counterattacking.
And that new manager will definitely need players who are suited to possession and control. That means players like Rashford and Bruno can not be key players, it simply won't work. Especially not Rashford, but Bruno as well. He is way too reckless in possession, and he doesn't stay in midfield when we actually need bodies there to stop people running through us.

 

[croadyman]

Midfield has been our biggest problem for at least 3 or 4 years and it's crazy that we haven't fixed it. There were brief periods when our midfield was above average. Good Casemiro for about 4 months. Good Matic (yes we need to go back far) for about 3 months. Other than that I think most of the PL had a better midfield than we have.

The frustrating thing was we had to prioritise either a defensive rebuild or midfield rebuild this summer

 

[Red in STL]

The frustrating thing was we had to prioritise either a defensive rebuild or midfield rebuild this summer

It had to be the defense given that 2 of our defenders left and 3 of them are pretty injury prone

 

[Jacob]

Agree with this formation being our best, apart from Rashford starting over Amad. Is there a reason for that, apart from hope that Rashford will wake up tomorrow thinking that its 2022?

Honestly, no. I agree what Rashford isn't good enough, force of habit. Amad is good going forward but he doesn't offer much in defense.

 

[swooshboy]

Both. We need to fecking create more chances for players like Højlund (when he comes back), the lack of service he receives is unacceptable.

Hoijlund struggled getting any service with Denmark too, because his positioning is shite.

It was criminal that we never created that many chances when we had Cavani and Ronaldo. Say what you want about Ronaldo's second spell here, but surely if you are playing him, then the aim should be to get the ball into the box and then let him try and score. Both of these players had fantastic positioning yet we never created enough chances for them. So I don't believe it is down to Hoijlund.

1. We're slow in everything we do, especially coming out from the back

2. We have a forward pass and 80% of the time our players are inclined to hold it, slow it down and then pass back

Without pace in our movements, we're not creating any overlap nor opportunities to beat a man and create a man advantage on a defence running backwards

We're just so slow

This is spot on– we just have zero idea what to do.

Bruno tries his high-risk passes and often fails – but I actually don't mind that. It is how often he surrenders possession with a misplaced 5-yard pass that annoys me. Also how often he is passed the ball from a midfielder/defender, and then instantly pings it straight back to a defender. He does this so often.

I feel as though our defenders are the only ones who are trying to get the ball forward!

Where do you start really?
I think most of the time we still don't look like a well coached team.
It's amazing, when I watch teams like Brighton play out from the press, it feels like the system provides solutions, players can make decisions quickly and confidently. With us on the other hand, it feels like the players have to create the solutions, thinking their way through it, which makes them slow, nothing is automated.

I think athleticism in midfield is still a problem, especially past the 60 min mark. There was a point there in the second half where someone nicked it off Casemiro while he was carrying it like the slowest man on the earth.

We really should have gone for Olise, our wingers just aren't good enough.
Amad was wasteful, in both execution and decision making. Also gave away fouls in very dangerous areas.
Rashford is playing like a player who had a lobotomy to remove his offensive brain.
People crying for Garnacho to start are ignoring how often he gives the ball away, in dangerous areas, leading to counters.

Amad and Garnacho are exactly what you'd expect them to be, inexperienced, inconsistent and frustrating. If we go into the season expecting starter level output from them, then our fault.

We remain a team devoid of a particular style. We continue to look like a team of players who have never played a game together. I have no idea how we play against teams with far few resources, yet they have a style of play that is easy to identify and looks familiar to their players.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Honestly, no. I agree what Rashford isn't good enough, force of habit. Amad is good going forward but he doesn't offer much in defense.

Haha fair enough. And I didn't mean it to sound accusatory! My Amad love sometimes gets the best of me.

 

[Hughie77]

Concentration in games for full 90 plus .. and take the chances.. Premier league doesn't offer up much in a game now so chances need to be taken ie Rashford 2 seasons ago , finished most of his off ...

 

[croadyman]

It had to be the defense given that 2 of our defenders left and 3 of them are pretty injury prone

Yeah you are absolutely right, just leaves me worried about a lack of CM options for this season

 

[Hughie77]

Scoring goals has been a big issue for 2 seasons. Rashford scored over 30, first time since RVP, that stat says it all it took that long to have a player to score that amount in one season.
I'd love a striker to come in and get 12 -15 goal at least a season on top of a double figure player as well. Let's see still few days of the window to go.

 

[SouthernRedDev]

The Formation seems an big issue, it asks to much of the midfield, perhaps with the new additions ten hag could be a bit more adaptable, maybe even a 343 would suit now.

 

[M Bison]

I think a major issue is team structure/formation and the impact that has both defensively and in the final third.

Every game we get overrun in midfield, even Fulham had more control in midfield on the opening game of the season and their CM was Pereira and Lukic (tbf never saw him play before), vs Casemiro and Mainoo. On paper you'd take our CM any day of the week so it cant be a midfield issue and must be the shape of the team.

I dont know what that is, do the defence sit too deep, wide players too wide, Bruyno too far forward? I cant work it out but something is making the space in the middle to big for the midfield to cover. Its been an issue for years, I cant remember the last time we dictated and were able to play through the midfield. I know Casemiro is looking like his best days are behind him but i'd bet if you put him in City's side in place of Rodri he wouldnt look out of place, whereas Rodri in our midfield i think would still get overrun.

As i say, i dont know what the answer is but it feels tactical/structural rather than a personnel issue!

 

[M Bison]

The Formation seems an big issue, it asks to much of the midfield, perhaps with the new additions ten hag could be a bit more adaptable, maybe even a 343 would suit now.

Beat me to it by 1 min!

 

[Adamsk7]

We’re just not dynamic enough in attack. We seem to play the slowest football in the entire league

 

[diarm]

Our wingers don’t play like wingers - at least they aren’t effective at creating from wide areas. They are all quite selfish and at their best, will break the lines or hit sides on the break and look to finish themselves.

I’d like to see us tweak the formation to make better use of what we have. Why stick to a formation that relies on important positions doing what the guys filling them can’t or won’t do?

Get a quick guy by a striker playing narrower and more direct. Look to the fullbacks for your width and to help control the midfield. Give them the licence to play further forward by having 3 good ball playing centre backs behind them:

1st team:

Garnacho Hojlund
Bruno
Shaw Ugarte Mainoo Dalot
Martinez De Ligt Yoro
Onana
​

2nd team:

Rashford Zirkzee
Amad
Malacia Casemiro Mount Mazraoui
Maguire Evans Lindelof
Bayindir​

 

[JJ12]

Need to see if the new signings solidify us. If they work as wish then goals is what we need to add.