How can we sort out the problem of lack of energy, intensity, concentration?

[UpWithRivers]

I watch my 10 year olds team and its all energy and intensity and concentration. No actual skill or ability but they go all out nuts! The parents, the coaches will let them know if they even dare do any of that sht. I saw one mum charge out the stand and shout like a mental person at her son 'What the fk are you doing? Sleeping? Are you tired? Need a holiday? What? Whats the fks wrong with you?' Its bat sht crazy out there! And that happens at every level from youth to 50 year olds with beer bellies. So its beyond me how United players somehow manage to get away with it. Maybe they need to get the mums and dads into training to set them straight.

 

[Fanta Stick]

I watch my 10 year olds team and its all energy and intensity and concentration. No actual skill or ability but they go all out nuts! The parents, the coaches will let them know if they even dare do any of that sht. I saw one mum charge out the stand and shout like a mental person at her son 'What the fk are you doing? Sleeping? Are you tired? Need a holiday? What? Whats the fks wrong with you?' Its bat sht crazy out there! And that happens at every level from youth to 50 year olds with beer bellies. So its beyond me how United players somehow manage to get away with it. Maybe they need to get the mums and dads into training to set them straight.

We should find a place on our bench for that mum. Eric Ramsay our set piece 'specialist' can make room.

 

[tenpoless]

 

[croadyman]

This is my major concern. Obviously EtH has to get his own players in and it will take time, but it seems that rather than the current players adapting and responding to the methods ten Hag wants to implement, he is having to adapt to the shit counter attacking style of play that our players feel comfortable with. Can't keep allowing the tail to wag the dog.

Yeah this is exactly why it was the right decision to have Erik in charge of recruitment so he could get his own players in who would know how he worked

 

[Buster15]

Spot on!
You see lots of examples of our players losing concentration, of being seemingly 'back on their heels' when opposition players have already started to move. I know it's a bit unfair to compare with Haaland, but if you watch the video coverage, from the derby game, he is half a yard quicker in his movements, however, this was all around the pitch. Also, what is the top speed of some of our players? Rashford at his best can motor, but there are few others. Antony appears to be able to 'duck and dive' at speed, but in a flat out race he is not that fast out of the blocks!
Yes of course nutrition etc. helps, but Conditioning comes from the head/heart and we sadly lack these at times. Sometimes you would swear that someone, off the pitch, has 'thrown a switch' and United players collective get the jitters!

Yes indeed.
Another thing I am critical of is that of speed of thought.
You mentioned about Haaland and he gets so many of his many goals due to (amongst other things) his speed of thought. This allows him to anticipate where the ball is going to be.
And of course to be able to do that, you need to concentrate fully.

Fitness has always been a passion of mine, despite my age.
And I find it so incredibly annoying to see so many of our players walking for so long during a game.
Or standing still when they should be moving into space, or creating space.
The movement off the ball is almost non existent.

 

[ROFLUTION]

The only way to match the intensity and energy of City or Liverpool (when not cycling off) is to accept that PEDs are a big factor, and start following suit. Not that I would advocate this, but that's how we would compete on that front. Otherwise, we can improve what we see from our team massively by getting rid of a lot of players who spend most of their time jogging aimlessly around and expecting the game to just somehow happen around them.

I dont like the idea, but yeah you can’t possibly ever get in front of skilfull teams who uses PEDs without taking them yourself (long term). To me the sprints in the end of Liverpool’s games every single match last season tells me they cant be all clean. You just can’t have that much natural energy with the same 11 week in week out.

City’s a bit different as they just kill the games by possession.

 

[JeffFromHK]

Yes indeed.
Another thing I am critical of is that of speed of thought.
You mentioned about Haaland and he gets so many of his many goals due to (amongst other things) his speed of thought. This allows him to anticipate where the ball is going to be.
And of course to be able to do that, you need to concentrate fully.

Fitness has always been a passion of mine, despite my age.
And I find it so incredibly annoying to see so many of our players walking for so long during a game.
Or standing still when they should be moving into space, or creating space.
The movement off the ball is almost non existent.

Same problem again tonight.
Players standing as statutes
players refusing to take duels to win the ball
Some of our players apparently are mercenary who just treat it as a job and not something worth fighting and dying for.

 

[bosnian_red]

Same problem again tonight.
Players standing as statutes
players refusing to take duels to win the ball
Some of our players apparently are mercenary who just treat it as a job and not something worth fighting and dying for.

Problem today was lack of composure in the final third, that's it. Good work rate, good control, got in dangerous positions but bad final balls.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Problem today was lack of composure in the final third, that's it. Good work rate, good control, got in dangerous positions but bad final balls.

Yeah, I was going to say. Think our work rate was fine today. We normally drop off in the second half but we finished stronger. Just, as you said, the final balls.

I feel Martial and Eriksen helps that but certainly something we need to improve on.

 

[bosnian_red]

Yeah, I was going to say. Think our work rate was fine today. We normally drop off in the second half but we finished stronger. Just, as you said, the final balls.

I feel Martial and Eriksen helps that but certainly something we need to improve on.

Oh hugely. Eriksen especially in the first half where we struggled to build up well. 2nd half we made adjustments and ringed them in, which we are getting quite good at and used to suck at since sir Alex left. Very encouraging. Just need a striker who can actually do something...

 

[Member 109996]

Rotation. Can’t keep playing the same set of players every 3 days and expect high energy levels in every game, especially against opposition that plays once every week. We need a better bench.

 

[NZT-One]

Yeah, I was going to say. Think our work rate was fine today. We normally drop off in the second half but we finished stronger. Just, as you said, the final balls.

I feel Martial and Eriksen helps that but certainly something we need to improve on.

When you see, how much defending even the wide players for Liverpool and City are doing, it puts our "workrate" in perspective I guess. Definitely think, we lack in this regard quite a lot, might be a confidence thing or inexperience but this will be an issue going forward.

 

[Member 125352]

We have many players that play with intensity. We cannot fault Fred, Antony, Dalot, Casemiro, Martinez, Varane, Bruno or Malacia for a lack of intensity.

Has it never occured anyone that the audience plays a huge part? Old Trafford is practically silent for an entire game, you cannot create intensity with a passionless crowd.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

We have many players that play with intensity. We cannot fault Fred, Antony, Dalot, Casemiro, Martinez, Varane, Bruno or Malacia for a lack of intensity.

Has it never occured anyone that the audience plays a huge part? Old Trafford is practically silent for an entire game, you cannot create intensity with a passionless crowd.

We played some of our best football in a long time under Ole without a crowd when it was lockdown, so I don't think that's the problem.

Crowds normally find intensity from what they see on a pitch. Unfortunately, we don't always give them anything to shout about.

 

[Member 125352]

We played some of our best football in a long time under Ole without a crowd when it was lockdown, so I don't think that's the problem.

Crowds normally find intensity from what they see on a pitch. Unfortunately, we don't always give them anything to shout about.

yeah it goes both ways but coming from the stale atmosphere of Old Trafford to Anfield on tv it felt night and day.
The lockdown matches were imo glorified friendlies. You can’t play the same football game without a crowd, it is vital. I was not entirely surprised to see us perform decent because the pressure was off.

 

[Buster15]

Same problem again tonight.
Players standing as statutes
players refusing to take duels to win the ball
Some of our players apparently are mercenary who just treat it as a job and not something worth fighting and dying for.

Understood. It is so infuriating and something EtH has got to stamp out.

 

[Ludens the Red]

We have many players that play with intensity. We cannot fault Fred, Antony, Dalot, Casemiro, Martinez, Varane, Bruno or Malacia for a lack of intensity.

Has it never occured anyone that the audience plays a huge part? Old Trafford is practically silent for an entire game, you cannot create intensity with a passionless crowd.

You say this as if the etihad and Anfield are caldrons of noise every week. Anfield was loud today but in most games it’s meh. Etihad is very rarely loud or intimidating even in bigger games. It’s the players jobs to lift fans and give them something for the most part. In turn the fans react and give things back to the players.

 

[croadyman]

We have many players that play with intensity. We cannot fault Fred, Antony, Dalot, Casemiro, Martinez, Varane, Bruno or Malacia for a lack of intensity.

Has it never occured anyone that the audience plays a huge part? Old Trafford is practically silent for an entire game, you cannot create intensity with a passionless crowd.

Maybe give the crowd a reason to get more involved,only happens in those "top six" games

 

[KikiDaKats]

People love Martinez not just for his ball playing but his intensity and that’s infectious too. Malacia likewise brings that same intensity to the left side.
Love Shaw and anyone that knows me, knows I believe he is a better footballer that Malacia but deducts from the team as a whole in comparison to a lesser Malacia.
As a manager Ten Hag will have to figure out which one benefits the team more because the intensity in Malacia, Anthony and Martinez is their personality, you don’t train or teach people traits.
With this I say take Fred out of that side yesterday, the left side would have been more casual. Pointing finger here but De Gea, Shaw, Sancho and Dalot each drop our intensity a notch in their own way.