Name the players who were harshly criticised.
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If anything Fellaini is playing as a traditional box to box midfielder and a smart one at that. Knows when to aid in attack and knows when to come back deep enough that he can support a counter whilst still helping out defensively. I wouldn't be automatically starting Herrera over him just because it's Fellaini.
They were all harshly criticised! As an entire team! I think Rooney was the only one who was given credit for 'clearly trying'.
I'd have thought you'd remember this, it was only last season, and it went on throughout all mainstream media for the majority of the season
Regarding the injury situation I'd add that it's obviously a bit of a conundrum - and I'm not saying it should have been easy to deal with: You have three injury prone CBs, potential starters all of them. What do you do? You can't buy three more and keep the crocks PLUS a couple of youngsters on top of that.
So, I suppose simply pointing the finger at LVG, saying "you should have fecking known they're crocks!" is a bit unfair. I don't know, honestly. He did bring in Rojo - who then goes on to join the crock circus. If he had brought in yet another CB, I guess he too would've been on crutches as we speak - the whole thing is beyond a joke at this stage.
So, I suppose simply pointing the finger at LVG, saying "you should have fecking known they're crocks!" is a bit unfair. I don't know, honestly. He did bring in Rojo - who then goes on to join the crock circus. If he had brought in yet another CB, I guess he too would've been on crutches as we speak - the whole thing is beyond a joke at this stage.
Yeah, if he replaced them, people would blame him for giving up on them without giving them a chance under him. He would have no way of knowing that what the reasons for their injuries were before. I'm sure he'll change them now, but he had to give them a chance as they are all pretty good individually.
They were all harshly criticised! As an entire team! I think Rooney was the only one who was given credit for 'clearly trying'.
I'd have thought you'd remember this, it was only last season, and it went on throughout all mainstream media for the majority of the season
Nobody will deny Moyes was largely treated very kindly by the mainstream media. You were talking about the Internet - and, as I took it, this place. That's very different. The idea that Moyes "took over the champions" was touted from the very beginning of his tenure - it was a very common notion on here and many posters were quite unwilling to fault the players to any significant degree. This obviously became more and more extreme as our situation deteriorated - but the tendency was there from day one, I'd say.
Not in the media - on that we agree - but on here and elsewhere on the Internet.
They were all harshly criticised! As an entire team! I think Rooney was the only one who was given credit for 'clearly trying'.
I'd have thought you'd remember this, it was only last season, and it went on throughout all mainstream media for the majority of the season
Harsh implies they were wrongly criticised. I want you to name me the players who were wrongly criticised.
Because the players who were shit last season have continued to be shit this season, even without the evil Moyes around to pin all the blame on. Which should be a hint to anyone but a lunatic that the players last season deserve every drop of criticism for their "performances".
Ahh.. but people will claim that they're still playing poorly because of the Moyes effect... He can't escape that easily.
The players didn't get harsh criticism on here at all.
A few of the usual suspects got a degree of stick (and about a quarter of the abuse/name calling Moyes received) and individual bits and bobs linked to specific performances, but it was largely "That incompetent fool took over Champions...." as you said.
Look !
Yesterday's game was poor to say the least and if Campbell shows a bit more composure then it could have been a hell of a lot worse .
Let's not forget we hit the wood work twice and we had a makeshift defence if you take it that blind , valencia played out of position and McNair is still a novice at this level .
As for van gaal ?
Well , if you look at what he's done at other clubs and in particular his all round cv then he deserves the time to implement what he's saying he's going to do . When he appears in pressers he comes across cool and shows a lot of self belief and doesn't look like he's under pressure .
We have all seen how unlucky we have been with injuries but if we're being honest a few posters on here had us down for winning the league but as for myself I thought 3rd or 4th more realistic . I'm more concerned with the outlay of 161 million shelled out pre season and the progress we have made . While we have played better attacking football this season compared with last i still feel that with the money we have spent and the quality of players we have brought in then we should be doing a lot better points wise . If you look at southamptons start to the season then it shows that bedding players in can be instantaneous and hitting the ground running us not impossible . While im firmly behind van gaal im getting slightly worried hearing him now say its a 3 year process to get us back to were we need to be !!
Was that remark lost in translation or his he now telling us he needs another 5 transfer windows to get us back competetive domestically and in Europe ?
I'm also alarmed with the van persie "love in" that's obviously clear to see as he clearly needs benching and rooney moving up as the 9 with mata / herrera / carrick being brought in . I've read articles about van persies wife and van gaals missus being close and looking at rvp s performances it's only a matter of time before the dutch love in upsets a few players most notably falcao (if/when he gets fit) and rooney/mata .
The form of di Maria as dipped since being moved out wide and a reluctance to give herrera any game time is also a concern for me . We have to be realistic though and until we can sort the back 4 out then we're always going to struggle to dominate games as we did under the fergie years . Up to now it's not been good enough though and we should have more points given the money we've spent . It will be interesting once van gaal as implemented his 3 year philosophy and to who takes over and if they have the same beliefs !
It's a long process to then change it if the new coach taking over thinks differently .
Yesterday's game was poor to say the least and if Campbell shows a bit more composure then it could have been a hell of a lot worse .
Let's not forget we hit the wood work twice and we had a makeshift defence if you take it that blind , valencia played out of position and McNair is still a novice at this level .
As for van gaal ?
Well , if you look at what he's done at other clubs and in particular his all round cv then he deserves the time to implement what he's saying he's going to do . When he appears in pressers he comes across cool and shows a lot of self belief and doesn't look like he's under pressure .
We have all seen how unlucky we have been with injuries but if we're being honest a few posters on here had us down for winning the league but as for myself I thought 3rd or 4th more realistic . I'm more concerned with the outlay of 161 million shelled out pre season and the progress we have made . While we have played better attacking football this season compared with last i still feel that with the money we have spent and the quality of players we have brought in then we should be doing a lot better points wise . If you look at southamptons start to the season then it shows that bedding players in can be instantaneous and hitting the ground running us not impossible . While im firmly behind van gaal im getting slightly worried hearing him now say its a 3 year process to get us back to were we need to be !!
Was that remark lost in translation or his he now telling us he needs another 5 transfer windows to get us back competetive domestically and in Europe ?
I'm also alarmed with the van persie "love in" that's obviously clear to see as he clearly needs benching and rooney moving up as the 9 with mata / herrera / carrick being brought in . I've read articles about van persies wife and van gaals missus being close and looking at rvp s performances it's only a matter of time before the dutch love in upsets a few players most notably falcao (if/when he gets fit) and rooney/mata .
The form of di Maria as dipped since being moved out wide and a reluctance to give herrera any game time is also a concern for me . We have to be realistic though and until we can sort the back 4 out then we're always going to struggle to dominate games as we did under the fergie years . Up to now it's not been good enough though and we should have more points given the money we've spent . It will be interesting once van gaal as implemented his 3 year philosophy and to who takes over and if they have the same beliefs !
It's a long process to then change it if the new coach taking over thinks differently .
Actually in your original point you said:
"But the difference is, Chelsea aren't playing poorly in other games."
And I pointed out QPR as another game since that example was fresh in my mind. Chelsea are playing fantastically well but that was not the point, it was actually that even teams on form have to work hard to break down a parked bus, I didn't for a second think we would easily create clear cut chances against Palace.
I also think you have ridiculously high standards, if you know about Louis van Gaal's style you will know he uses possession as a defensive tactic, against Palace he went in with a ridiculously poor defence and so played the game defensively since attacking would probably end badly. The team didn't take as many risks as he usually does and I think this was wise.
If you told me at the start of the season we would have in our defence Valencia, McNair, Blind and Shaw then I would have happily taken a clean sheet but scored only one goal, to want him to create more chances is to want him to attack and so expose those defenders.
People are criticising the performance but other managers also would struggle if they had to play two midfielders in defence, a 19 year old who has been forced into the first team due to injuries (+ 1 suspension) to the first four choice centre backs and another 19 year old in Shaw.
I mean losing your first, second, third and fourth choice centre back requires adapting the way you play and to be honest he played against Palace the right way.
And you talk of top four but as far as Arsenal and Liverpool are concerned, we are one point behind the former, and two ahead of the latter, we have every chance to make it into the top four, we do need to convert more chances though and Louis van Gaal is aware of this but also Pellegrini has problems, Wenger and Rodgers too, this is Louis van Gaal's first season, I'm not sure whether he has considerably more problems to solve than those other managers.
Exactly this. Some of the things our apparent supporters said about the players last season was astonishing at times. Questioning their form was understandable, but a relatively large faction of idiots were happy to drag down the reputations and question the work rate of players that had worked their bollocks off to make us all happy over a long period of time. The idea that the players got away without much stick last season is simply laughable, whether that be in the media or on this forum.
I don't want to read Daily Fail anyway, but why are we are a 1-0 team now? We won one game with that score, we won the same amount of games with 4-0 than we won them with 1-0
Lots of people including the Daily Fail are criticizing LVG for yesterday's game and complaining that we are not showing progress. I think exactly the opposite is true. The game against CP shows how much we have improved. CP came with one goal in mind - to park 11 behind the ball and go for 0:0. That's a sign that the fear factor is returning back to OT. Last year the fear factor was gone - most teams came to OT with the expectation that not only they can get a draw, but even the 3 points. Yesterday's game shows how the perception is changing - teams are starting to be afraid of getting battered. We completely controlled the game - bar a fluky miscommunication in our makeshift defense for their only chance, they created nothing. Our attacking players had a bit of an off day, and yet we created a lot of chances - we had 22 shots on goal and some of them were pretty good chances - Shaw, Mata x2, Rooney x2, RVP x2, Fellaini, Januzaj... We hit the post, had a shot cleared off the line - had we not left our shooting boots home, we could've easily scored 3-4 goals. This game was exactly what we needed to show our progress - all the injuries and suspensions have ravaged our defense (we finished the game with only one defender on the pitch!) and yet didn't give them a sniff. LVG had a plan, the players knew what to do and it worked!
At least it sounds like he isn't that happy with this 4-1-4-1 set up either. Because its been horrible to watch.
The players got away with murder last season from a lot of posters. There were plenty of posters on here who said they "forgave" the players for being shit because they had a terrible manager. Well look at how far that attitude gets you. Van Gaal has had to ship out a lot of such crap, and our biggest problem so far is that he simply didn't replace enough of them. He's got a load of poor players ( especially in defence) still to replace.
It's not just that the players are poor, it's our injuries. Smalling, Jones, Evans, Rafael can't make 2 games without getting injured for a month. Last season we had bad injuries, but nothing like this. Our whole defence is practically gone and we play youngsters now. If Smalling, Jones and Rafael could keep themselves fit, we actually have a good defence, not the best, but good.
Thing is - we just can't trust our defence to stay fit and that has an effect on our attacking players.
I think most of us underestimated our defensive injuries and thought that Jones and Rafael will keep fit all season now that Moyes rigid training is gone, but it seems that's not the case - they just have weak bodies and it's costing us badly right now. Let's just hope Van Gaal has enough sense to buy good defenders that are not constantly injured like fecking Ron Vlaar.
I'd happily take players with 75% of the "quality" of the players you named, but with Evra-like strength to stay fit. Decent players are no use to anyone when they're always in the treatment room. As you imply, just having a consistent back 4 wouid improve the whole team.
I love the guy but I'm surprised we haven't seen more of his relentless nature, which he is so famous for. If anything, he looks like he is after calming down a lot since managing us.
I couldn't care less about attractive football right now, just please please please get some results and go on a run. I would happily take a 5 match win streak with all of them being 1-0 wins right now.
These players still look like they have no idea how to kill games off, it nice to see the manager on the touchline bigging them up, I'm sure it would help their confidence as well maybe.
These players still look like they have no idea how to kill games off, it nice to see the manager on the touchline bigging them up, I'm sure it would help their confidence as well maybe.
He's clearly struggling to find the right balance. The diamond was too offensive oriented and the current system is not producing attacking quality. It is a shame we wasted time on that 3-5-2 because we might have had it sorted by now. Hopefully it's put right soon anyway.
Exactly. Probably because he covers so much ground and is seen pretty much all over the pitch.
The funny thing is that people wouldn't be talking negatively about this game if we weren't so wasteful. Look at the number of shots we had.
He is responsible for a lot of that though. He has, or should have a big influence on transfer business, and we failed in that department in the Summer. We did not bring in the right players for our positions of need. We needed a big time defensive midfielder and or, a big CB with authority that would lead the defense.
Aside from the transfers, I agree he has botched the tactics initially with the 3-5-2. It failed comprehensively, and burned a lot of time in the early season, where we lost points that would help us tremendously right now.
I like LvG, I think he has done well in managing the players, they still seem interested in what he has to say, they seem motivated, I think they are working hard. The doom of a manger is when the players no longer care, and I think that is far, far, from reality here. They are playing hard, and LvG has done a great job in his player management, but he needs to get on the ball in terms of tactics, and getting this squad to mesh on the field.
Yeah It's obvious we aren't yet at a place where we would say we've found our best system and the strongest XI to fit it. Some of the changes have been forced though due to injuries all over the pitch. Add to that suspensions to Blackett (probably wouldn't feature that much anyway), Rooney and now Smalling.
To start with we tried out the 3-5-2, which arguably didn't work for us.
Then we tried the diamond in the centre. A formation I've been wanting us to try out for a year or so due to the players we've had available. I still think this could work, but we need Di Maria and Herrera to tuck in more (than they did) both with and without the ball to not make us as open as we seemed to be. I'm not worried about width as our full backs are more than capable of providing this (be it Shaw and Rafael (preferably) or Rojo and Valencia). Still, I'd like to see some runs from Di Maria and Herrera to the wings because they're both very dynamic players, but their starting position would have to be more central to help out Blind/Carrick with the defensive duties. Then Herrera went and got injured too, and this combined with a few tough games coming up I think made us change to the more conservative 4-3-3, 4-1-2-3 (4-1-4-1 even) or whatever you want to call it.
In that formation we've looked reasonably solid defensively, but less likely to create something up the other end. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, van Persie hasn't been playing very well, he looks lethargic and spends too much time on the ball instead of just keeping the moves flowing if nothing is immediately on for himself. Same can be said of Januzaj, only he doesn't look lethargic. Di Maria hasn't performed up to his standards from the diamond days out wide (is he getting crowded out? Trying too much on his own?). So we basically have our three attackers not performing at the same time I feel.
A way to solve this could be to go flip the triangle in the middle around so instead of playing
Blind/Carrick
Fellaini - Rooney
as we did against Palace, we would play
Fellaini - Blind/Carrick
Rooney/Mata
If this is done, however, we would need more discipline from the two deepest of our midfielders and good understanding between the two. Both Carrick and Blind are smart enough to not going bombing forward, which they aren't really suited to anyway, but we would have to tell Fellaini (or Herrera) to also sit back a bit more. In this way we'll relieve Rooney or Mata from defensive responsibility and that way hopefully create something through the middle or between full backs and centre backs. As it is now our wingers seem to have to create most things themselves and with van Persie not being at his clinical best we don't look very threatening. There's a real risk this will expose us a bit again though.
It's obvious we aren't there yet, but I'm encouraged by the fact that van Gaal is aware we aren't balanced enough, but I also feel our defensive injuries have made us set out a bit more negatively than we probably would have if we had a full squad to choose from (Oh what a day that'll be).
Have to say I preferred the diamond. The attacking fluency we showed with Herrera and Di Maria was awesome. We were defensively very open when playing that formation but id rather us make full use of our brilliant attack. With the personnel we've got in defence, it's hard to see putting together a rock solid defence this season. And if we're going to be a bit leaky always then it doesn't make sense to stiffle the attack. Having said that, you never know, maybe this one striker system will start showing better attacking results soon.
Yeah, as I said in my "wall of text"-style post above I think the diamond can be made way more defensively stable than it was if we have Di Maria and Herrera tuck in a bit more (and remind them they're actually CMs and not AMs). That way the opponents will feel inclined to attack over the flanks which I find most teams should be able to deal with. Especially if you get your team to shift from one side to the other as a unit, which really isn't that hard to implement.
EDIT: That obviously means we have to restrict Di Maria and Herrera a bit, but that might be the balance we're looking for. Otherwise you could play Di Maria as the AM in a free role and have someone else partner Herrera.
In the long term I hope he drops 1 striker. A 433 with midfielders in midfield and attackers in attack should work.
We are playing 4-3-3 now. Januzaj and Di Maria are meant to be flanking Van Persie and Rooney is the third midfielder. It looks awful.
Our best football came playing the diamond, which itself is just a variant of 4-3-3 (the front 3 playing closer together in the attacking phase), and we should go back to it.
I am a Manchester United supporter. Such support goes beyond to that of any other individual including Moyes, VG, SAF etc.
Positive contributions made by LVG
a) he improved the relationship between players and management. The players look more happy under LVG then Moyes
b) we brought some good quality players in. Apart from maybe Rojo and Falcao (still too early to judge) all players had settled down fine
c) he's promoting some good talent especially in defense
LVG's faults
a) he completely underestimated the English game. The 3-5-2 formation is a classic case however the team lack pace (selling Welbeck was a mistake) and physicality. To be fair LVG had acknowledged such mistake by converting the system and bringing in Fellaini
b) he completely underestimated how injury prone the defense is. We started the season with just one right back and a defense which is shockingly weak.
c) he needs to be more active at the touch line. Its a body language thing. If he shows passion on the touchline then that will probably rub in on the players
d) RVP has been playing even when he's passing from a bad patch. Favoritism is wrong in football irrespective of who does it
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LVG is still settling down in the EPL. Same thing about his new players. Its wrong to assume that he knew about our problems as the man had been our manager for just few months and was busy leading Holland to glory. The January sales will be very important for him. If he fails to bring some real quality then questions will be asked about his future at the club
Positive contributions made by LVG
a) he improved the relationship between players and management. The players look more happy under LVG then Moyes
b) we brought some good quality players in. Apart from maybe Rojo and Falcao (still too early to judge) all players had settled down fine
c) he's promoting some good talent especially in defense
LVG's faults
a) he completely underestimated the English game. The 3-5-2 formation is a classic case however the team lack pace (selling Welbeck was a mistake) and physicality. To be fair LVG had acknowledged such mistake by converting the system and bringing in Fellaini
b) he completely underestimated how injury prone the defense is. We started the season with just one right back and a defense which is shockingly weak.
c) he needs to be more active at the touch line. Its a body language thing. If he shows passion on the touchline then that will probably rub in on the players
d) RVP has been playing even when he's passing from a bad patch. Favoritism is wrong in football irrespective of who does it
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LVG is still settling down in the EPL. Same thing about his new players. Its wrong to assume that he knew about our problems as the man had been our manager for just few months and was busy leading Holland to glory. The January sales will be very important for him. If he fails to bring some real quality then questions will be asked about his future at the club
I think our best bet, when everybody's fit, is an Atletico Madrid style 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 from last year.
In this formation, Herrera is nominally right-sided, like Koke. Di Maria similarly on the left, like Turan. Carrick-Blind perform the same duties as Gabi-Tiago. Mata, like Mario Suarez, plays as a SS/CAM. And Falcao, of course, like Costa.
Di Maria and Herrera can support the fullbacks, when needed, but are not consigned to the wings. Rather, their position is structured, without being limited, and creative without detriment to the defence. Both are hard working, so that helps. In most games, however, a Carrick-Blind central will provide more than enough defensive cover. Yes, they're a tad slow, but both have excellent positioning and vision to compensate for that.
Mata has complete freedom to roam. He can maybe harry the opposition midfield a little, but his primary role is to feed Falcao, and get into advanced positions himself. For harder games, with strong opposition midfields, maybe put Rooney in there. Or, on current form, Fellaini.
Falcao can do what he does best.
For width, Shaw and Rafael. That shouldn't be a problem - two great attacking fullbacks.
Herrera - Carrick - Blind - Di Maria
Mata
Falcao
Obviously Rooney always plays, but let's ignore that for a second.Mata
Falcao
In this formation, Herrera is nominally right-sided, like Koke. Di Maria similarly on the left, like Turan. Carrick-Blind perform the same duties as Gabi-Tiago. Mata, like Mario Suarez, plays as a SS/CAM. And Falcao, of course, like Costa.
Di Maria and Herrera can support the fullbacks, when needed, but are not consigned to the wings. Rather, their position is structured, without being limited, and creative without detriment to the defence. Both are hard working, so that helps. In most games, however, a Carrick-Blind central will provide more than enough defensive cover. Yes, they're a tad slow, but both have excellent positioning and vision to compensate for that.
Mata has complete freedom to roam. He can maybe harry the opposition midfield a little, but his primary role is to feed Falcao, and get into advanced positions himself. For harder games, with strong opposition midfields, maybe put Rooney in there. Or, on current form, Fellaini.
Falcao can do what he does best.
For width, Shaw and Rafael. That shouldn't be a problem - two great attacking fullbacks.
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Positive
a) I agree with you that the team finally look like a bonded unit compared to Moyes era
b) The purchases we have done is good as it add more quality into the team but I still think he miss out on a solid CB
c) Giving juice is always welcome so kudos to that.
Faults
a) I do agree with you that he has been tinkering too much with the formation which might result some players getting confuse of their role. However, Welbeck case is subjective as we do not know what has gone on behind the scenes, Welbeck has always been talented but never one who fulfill his potential.
b) Nobody can predict injuries unless you are some sort of fortune teller but based on the injury records of our defense, as mentioned earlier, he should have gone for a solid CB
c) Different managers have different style during a game, some like to make their presence felt by walking around the touchline but some stayed on the seat just to make sure he don't miss out anything. I felt LVG is trying to to understand how it works in the EPL in the first season, maybe next season we can see him staring down at the fourth official more often than not.
d) This i would have to agree, RVP has somewhat lost his magic and need to be drop. Game after game he has not been sensational like he was previously. I believe his selection has kept Herrera, Mata or to some extent Falcao out of the lineup.
Mario Suarez is not a SS/CAM. Raul Garcia is though.
I like the idea, but I'm not sure we've got the players to pull it off. Atletico under Simeone have some of the strongest organisation I've seen in recent years - I don't think all of our players have the same discipline, especially Mata is questionable in that regard. Even though Raul Garcia has a free role, he contributes a lot defensively.
That's the one! Thought I'd made a mistake there. That's true about Mata, but like I said, against the weaker teams I think he could manage.
That's what I'm saying, we need to drop a striker.
Positives
b) I agree, in fact, if you check my early Rojo posts, I was one of the first to voice my concerns about the deal. No disrespect to Rojo as the guy seem to be pretty committed and versatile. However we needed more then just a young defender with potential
Negatives
a) You can't really blame him on that. LVG was able to get a very average Holland national team to the WC semis thank to 3-5-2. There was nothing to suggest that he couldn't do the same thing with us. Selling Welbeck was a mistake. The guy had pace something we needed desperately. Also he was a local lad, he could backtrack and he gave us options. Selling him up when LVG is still settling down brought unnecessary criticism on him
b) Well actually there were plenty of clues that the defense was made up of injury prone players.
c) I still think he need to be more assertive. The guy had brought a lot of changes in the squad and the players need to feel that their manager is there. Its really out of LVG's nature to sit passively while watching the game. I disagree with such stance to be honest.
Conclusion
In my opinion its evident that prior to signing with us LVG had little knowledge about the EPL and he's slowly understanding how it works. That's something his critics need to understand. Some people (including in the media) think that the EPL and Manchester United are the center of the football world and all managers are obliged to know the nitty gritty about the club including our weak defense from day 1. Its really not the case especially for someone like LVG who had been out of club football for quite some time.
The 1m question is, why he didn't strengthen the defense? Had the money run out? (we spent 150m so its only fair to think that). Was he given the wrong information by the club about the defense? Had he underestimated the problem? Those are questions to be asked.
The next few months will be crucial for him however the man has already shown that he can learn quickly from his mistakes.
That's not really that hard a question to answer I don't think. Firstly, he did bring in three players capable of playing left back (Shaw, Rojo and Blind) although Blind probably won't get used there. Then Rojo plays centre back as well. So he did strengthen the defence. You could argue that we aren't really strengthened at CB except for depth, which is probably fair. But I just don't think there's a lot of really good CBs around. Who could we have got that would have actually improved us a lot? Benatia moved to Bayern but we weren't really in contention due to lack of CL or something like that.
I think van Gaal might have opted to try and get the current defenders to play really well as a unit (Pretty difficult with the injuries) instead of splashing the cash for someone who aren't that much of an improvement anyway.
This is the one main reason why I'm so relax about the situation. LvG clearly has an vision in mind, and he's willing to quickly experiment and learn. Failing is all part and parcel of experimentation, and LvG clearly shows that he can switch quickly if things ain't working.
And a whole lot of this in the midst of mounting injuries to the back line.
I'm sure that given time he will get things right.
Oh I see what you mean, you don't like Rooney as a midfielder? I suppose it depends on the formation we used.
If we use the diamond, we can play three strikers provided they play the front three roles intelligently. I didn't think the front three was actually the issue when we played the diamond. Falcao and Van Persie adapted very intelligently to pulling wide when we didn't have the ball and occupied full backs in the first phase of the oppositions play. No they didn't track them all the way back but you wouldn't usually expect that from the front the wide players in a front 3, especially as the diamond employs a false #9 or a #10 that drops back into midfield to bolster numbers when defending.
The real issue was the midfield. Di Maria, especially, is very attack minded and while he does help out in defence he takes risks and leaves a lot of responsibility to the left back. Herrera and Rafael have a better working relationship than Di Maria and Shaw, and this is underlined when we play the diamond. Shaw doesn't know when to twist or stick. I think this partly why Di Maria has been marooned on the left flank, to make it easier for Shaw to judge when to go and when to stay and also to make losses of possession less costly. Don't think Di Maria is enjoying playing as an orthodox winger and he looks much less influential when he can be shown down the line.
What many of us (fans but also management) fail to understand is that at this point, talent and potential means very little. I mean, we may as well have the new Irwin, Moore, Rio and Maldini in the defense but that would mean nothing if they cant stay fit. In the past we may have closed an eye to that since we had Evra, Vidic and Rio. However those players are now gone and unless the current defense cant produce the goods on a regular basis then its pretty useless for our cause.
On paper we've got all the defenders we need. We have 6 internationals (Rafael, Rojo, Smalling, Evans, Jones and Shaw) for a 4 men defense backed by quality youths such as Blackett and Mcnair and experienced heads such as Blind and Valencia. So we cant keep on adding defenders to that list. Under such circumstances some questions need to be asked. Are the likes of Rafael, Jones and Evans capable to stay fit enough to actually be useful? Is it worth to keep Valencia (whose playing out of position) or would it be wiser to sell him up and bring in a natural right back? Are there any leaders in that defense?
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