Di María's position at United

If you read the Mark Ogden article from yesterday he says we will go with a front 6 like this:

----new DM ------ Herrera------
-------------Rooney-------------
Janujaz-------RVP--------Di Maria

Reckons Mata is too slow for how we want to play.

For me this looks great, everyone in positions they are comfortable with.
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
If you read the Mark Ogden article from yesterday he says we will go with a front 6 like this:

----new DM ------ Herrera------
-------------Rooney-------------
Janujaz-------RVP--------Di Maria

Reckons Mata is too slow for how we want to play.

For me this looks great, everyone in positions they are comfortable with.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how I would like to see us play. Rooney a bit deeper to get the ball more, Januzaj and Di Maria on the flanks, RvP to do what he does best as the main striker.

Love Mata, but feel we can only get the best out of this team with him dropped.
 
I wish people would stop suggesting these fecking narrow formations.. IT WON'T WORK. Every team NEEDS width, especially us right now.. The best way to get the most out of RVP/Mata is to have exceptional wide players who will keep the game stretched and defenders always on their toes. We're being humiliated in a 3-5-2 because our wide players are below par, and our central players offer no pace, meaning teams (Even MK Dons) just flood the middle and cancel out everything we throw at them.



1085625_Champions_League_Team.jpg
 
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LawCharltonBest said:
This is exactly how I would like to see us play. Rooney a bit deeper to get the ball more, Januzaj and Di Maria on the flanks, RvP to do what he does best as the main striker.

Love Mata, but feel we can only get the best out of this team with him dropped.
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It would be fantastic to see this given a proper go, if we get the right DM in, and Janujaz trains on, then it could rip the opposition apart.
 
In answer to the OP...

how about

on the pitch playing football like the world class player he is.
 
During the MUTV interview he mentioned that he's very likely to play as a left sided midfielder in a midfield 3 like he was playing at Real Madrid, van Gaal also referred to Di Maria as a midfielder.

abHwOU2alE.png


I think van Gaal will most likely try something out similar to this. At times the formation changes to a front 4 when Ronaldo goes inside the box and joins the striker and Di Maria floats to the left side of the field.
 
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Kill 'em all said:
During the MUTV interview he mentioned that he's very likely to play as a left sided midfielder in a midfield 3 like he was playing at Real Madrid, van Gaal also referred to Di Maria as a midfielder.

abHwOU2alE.png


I think van Gaal will most likely try something out similar to this. At times the formation changes to a front 4 when Ronaldo goes inside the box and joins the striker and Di Maria floats to the left side of the field.
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When WHO goes inside the box?
 
Rooney has had an awful first touch for the past few seasons now. This leads to him slowing the tempo down quite a bit. I'd go with Mata over him any day.
 
Rezyuz said:
A reminder: lvg bought robben to move to a 433 system out of a 442 system at bayern.
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I know that many people claim this on the Caf, but I don't think this is true and I never heard it before. Robben just added individual quality after we struggled to score against weak teams early in the season. We still played a 4231/442 formation with Müller as a 2nd striker and Ribery and Robben on the wings at the end of the season. For large parts of the first few months, Robben was injured anyway and we played with Ribery and Müller on the wings and Gomez and Olic as strikers or Olic and Müller as the strikers and Altintop on the wing. At no point during that season, van Gaal tried to play a 3 man midfield. When Robben missed the first leg against United, we still played a 4231/442, depending on what you want to call Müller, but it was never a 433.

bayern-2-1-man-utd-tactics-1.jpg
man-utd-2-3-bayern-tactics.jpg


Typical Bayern side that year, without Robben in the first leg & with Robben in the 2nd leg and we played similar throughout the season.
 
A good 4-1-3-2 would have a right balance imo.

.............Rooney.................
.................Mata...............
...Di Maria..Herrera...Januzaj...
...............Carrick.................
Shaw....Rojo.....Jones.....Rafael

+ Carrick to sheild defence. Herrera to bridge the midfield with Mata ahead make a good spine.
+ Januzaj and Di Maria who are flexible play inside and outside.
+ Mata in his CL winning role.
+ Rooney as I think he is a better fit with Mata (more in mould of Drogba than a more clinical RvP)
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
If you read the Mark Ogden article from yesterday he says we will go with a front 6 like this:

----new DM ------ Herrera------
-------------Rooney-------------
Janujaz-------RVP--------Di Maria

Reckons Mata is too slow for how we want to play.

For me this looks great, everyone in positions they are comfortable with.
Click to expand...

I love this.
 
Jonno said:
I love this.
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It's very good but Di Maria is a much better midfielder than he is a forward IMO. As a forward/pure attacker he can be frustrating. As a midfielder buzzing about all over the pitch he's brilliant.
 
---------------------Rvp------------------
Di Maria------------Rooney-------
------------------Mata-------------------
---------Herrerra--Carrick---------

This is what I want to see. You do not leave Juan Mata on the bench (unless you're Mourinho!!)
 
amolbhatia100 said:
It's very good but Di Maria is a much better midfielder than he is a forward IMO. As a forward/pure attacker he can be frustrating. As a midfielder buzzing about all over the pitch he's brilliant.
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This.
1. AdM offers so much more from the middle with his speed, flexibility and workrate that would be under utilized as inside forward.
2. For all his 'slowness' Mata scored 20 goals in his good season for Chelsea.
3. Rooney would throw a tantrum asked to play deeper. I want to see him in the box where he has the capacity to score 30+ goals a season.
 
I don't know about all these formations people are drawing up, I'm so frazzled on that stuff right now that it's making me cross eyed. Basically I think he'll be playing as a left sided AM so he can drive at defenses from deep and have the option to pull out left if he wants, he has a tremendous workrate and I think his defensive attributes in midfield will be a huge benefit to Carrick when he returns.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
It's very good but Di Maria is a much better midfielder than he is a forward IMO. As a forward/pure attacker he can be frustrating. As a midfielder buzzing about all over the pitch he's brilliant.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Not just that - but our squad is missing pace, power and directness through our central midfield. If he does play there like he did for Real a few times last season, he will add urgency and directness that we have been missing for a while. Our attack is rich with quality, our final ball is NOT. I can't wait to see him play.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
This.
1. AdM offers so much more from the middle with his speed, flexibility and workrate that would be under utilized as inside forward.
2. For all his 'slowness' Mata scored 20 goals in his good season for Chelsea.
3. Rooney would throw a tantrum asked to play deeper. I want to see him in the box where he has the capacity to score 30+ goals a season.
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Agree. With the exception that my preferred striker would be rvp.

I want to see Di Maria doing what welbeck did against madrid. He's basically similar to that kind of welbeck but obviously miles better. Give him the licence to suffocate attackers into losing possession and then drive forwards in attack.
 
Hope we play him in the central midfield. He is the clubs most expensive, and biggest signing in history so playing him in his best position is a must.

At Real he played with Xabi Alonso as a deep lying playmaker behind him and Modric/Isco next to him. Di Maria is much better defensively in the central midfield role than people give him credit of.

Herrera has played as a deep lying playmaker and can of course play as a more offensively minded central midfielder.

I can't see why we wouldn't be able to get a working central midfield with what we have. The issue is of course that we don't have any wingers of any quality then.
 
Jonno said:
Exactly. Not just that - but our squad is missing pace, power and directness through our central midfield. If he does play there like he did for Real a few times last season, he will add urgency and directness that we have been missing for a while. Our attack is rich with quality, our final ball is NOT. I can't wait to see him play.
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Few times? It was his main position last year.
 
Devil may care said:
I don't know about all these formations people are drawing up, I'm so frazzled on that stuff right now that it's making me cross eyed. Basically I think he'll be playing as a left sided AM so he can drive at defenses from deep and have the option to pull out left if he wants, he has a tremendous workrate and I think his defensive attributes in midfield will be a huge benefit to Carrick when he returns.
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Exactly! When we see the opposition get the ball now from us and counter, we will actually see Di Maria pop up tracking back in the huge gaping areas that we have left open for other teams to score. I think it's a tremendous signing.
 
Annahnomoss said:
Hope we play him in the central midfield. He is the clubs most expensive, and biggest signing in history so playing him in his best position is a must.

At Real he played with Xabi Alonso as a deep lying playmaker behind him and Modric/Isco next to him. Di Maria is much better defensively in the central midfield role than people give him credit of.

Herrera has played as a deep lying playmaker and can of course play as a more offensively minded central midfielder.

I can't see why we wouldn't be able to get a working central midfield with what we have. The issue is of course that we don't have any wingers of any quality then.
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Januzaj.
 
Annahnomoss said:
Hope we play him in the central midfield. He is the clubs most expensive, and biggest signing in history so playing him in his best position is a must.

At Real he played with Xabi Alonso as a deep lying playmaker behind him and Modric/Isco next to him. Di Maria is much better defensively in the central midfield role than people give him credit of.

Herrera has played as a deep lying playmaker and can of course play as a more offensively minded central midfielder.

I can't see why we wouldn't be able to get a working central midfield with what we have. The issue is of course that we don't have any wingers of any quality then.
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The solution to that is to play him on a left in a 4231 with the freedom to drop deep and inside.

Although I think LVG is possibly going to stick with the 352 for a little awhile longer.
 
Bwuk said:
i'd like us to play him pretty much how madrid did last year.

Carrick in the Alonso role, and Herrera in the Modric role. Januzaj and Mata on the wings, with Mata especially drifting inwards. Let di Maria drift outwide from deeper and have Shaw there to overlap.
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That is how I want united set up

Herrera carrick
janazaj mata di maria
rooney
 
amolbhatia100 said:
The solution to that is to play him on a left in a 4231 with the freedom to drop deep and inside.

Although I think LVG is possibly going to stick with the 352 for a little awhile longer.
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which drives me mad why he is sticking to a system that does not work, oh I forgot he said it will take 3 months, yea if we are not 15th in 3 months time
 
Oneunited26 said:
which drives me mad why he is sticking to a system that does not work, oh I forgot he said it will take 3 months, yea if we are not 15th in 3 months time
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It's pointless saying it does not work when we've just played 3 games. It worked beautifully in pre season so it can work.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Where do you think he will play?

I saw his interview on MUTV where he says he thinks he will play at the left-sided CM in a midfield 3. This of course would likely mean a 4-3-3 switch. I can't really see a place for him in 3-5-2.

So what's the thinking?

Di Maria--Herrera
------Carrick

Feel free to go formation's crazy...
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It's either this or winger, right or left, in a 4-3-3, or in a 3-5-2: Left wing-back or Robben role.

Plenty of options. Depends on what we buy in the last few days.
 
Jonno said:
Exactly! When we see the opposition get the ball now from us and counter, we will actually see Di Maria pop up tracking back in the huge gaping areas that we have left open for other teams to score. I think it's a tremendous signing.
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I think some have forgotten about his tremendous defensive contribution to Real last season, for way too long teams have ran on us through the middle with ease and it leaves our defense exposed, with Di Maria there harrassing runners there will be a lot less free runs against us.
 
And we're not going to drop Mata six months after breaking our transfer record for him, unless we can recoup all the money by selling him, which won't happen.
 
I think we'll see him play in a few positions (LvG highlighted his flexibility as one of the key reasons we signed him).

I also think we're likely to see him start off in midfield though. I'm basing this on Di Maria saying that's where he expects to play and the fact that LvG has used both Kagawa and Januzaj in there already. Surely that's a sign of the sort of qualities he wants in that position?

I don't believe we're going to change from a 3-5-2 yet. If the solution to our formation problem was simply to buy a top winger then I don't think we'd have bothered going through the effort of adopting this formation in the first place. Lack of wingers wasn't the only reason this set up made sense, after all.

Finally, I don't buy this idea that Di Maria's arrival spells trouble for Mata. This is partly because I suspect Di Maria will be playing deeper but also because of LvG's quotes saying that the 3-5-2 allows him to play both Rooney and Van Persie. Mata wasn't mentioned. I suspect one of the two strikers would be more likely to miss out than Juan.

So, yeah. I think we'll stick with the 3-5-2 and just play Di Maria in midfield.
 
Carrick - Herrera as a defensive combo will not be that effective. Neither are archetypal DM's. Carrick is a CM with more defensive qualities and Herrera is a CM who can play attack too. Neither will be as effective there as say, Blind or De Jong.
 
whatever the formation ends up being, i have a hard time seeing all three of rooney, mata and rvp featuring at the same time.
 
Just had another moment of "OMG we have actually signed Di Maria". Don't think it's sunk it yet at all.
 
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