Louis van Gaal's tactics
- Thread starter NL Max
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Why is it so important what the formation is called? Real life football is not like Football Manager or FIFA where you choose from a list of formations. Two managers could put down the same formation on the team sheet but the teams could still look completely diffrent on the field.
The quality of football. Which I've clearly stated throughout.
Again. It's about the quality of football we play. We can't ignore last season.
I know you aren't having a go so don't want to come across as "fighting back" because I agree with you on a lot but I do think you have kind of mixed up my argument a bit. I'm saying attracting players to a club that can't offer European football is a challenge, but one that LvG has managed to achieve, so we actually agree there. LvG has done very well to attract some big names whereas Moyes would have struggled big time.
I also agree with you that we would have been calling for a refreshed back line and that these players were past their prime, but too me it smacks of mis-management to allow 3 of your 4 starting defenders to go past their prime without having lined up replacements. So my point is LvG had to face the challenge of coming into a club who basically needed a whole new defence!
I don't know whether people do genuinely believe we have a "right" to be successful but I do know that most people under-estimate how bad we were post-SAF. I'm just getting a bit annoyed with the constant pessimism (2 out of every 3 posts on here about LvG are negative) when actually I think he has done a very good job so far.
If I were to make a prediction I would say that we will win nothing in the LvG era (If he only manages us for two more seasons as he says) but three years from now when the new boss, whoever it is, comes in, we will be in a fantastic position to challenge. If we had stuck with Moyes (or dare I say it SAF) I think we would have been us battling it out with Spurs and Liverpool every season for 5th
I can assure you that last season wasn't a brandmark of van Gaal preferred football by any means, at times it was more pragmatic and van Gaal said after pretty much every match we took the lead in that he instructed to 'kill the game'. We got the job done with an unbalanced selection and he's gone a long way to fixing the weak spots in our selection.
We should now be able to play his style of football much better, this is the season he has to show it but let's not judge him too harshly on the first match which we've won. Defensive solidity is very important even for the most attacking sides and we already looked much better in this regard imo. The attacking football is the hardest to learn as the team needs to be on the same wavelength, me being an optimist I can't wait for it to happen. I still trust van Gaal to deliver better football, although it won't be to everyones taste.
Netherlands would have been utterly boring in Brazil if it wasn't for Robben. We don't have a player like him, so it's normal that there isn't much life in the team.
Ah gotcha!
Also agree that we will win nothing under LVG, but the team that he leaves us might be put to better use under a different boss. Not very sure who would take over, but these are extremely uncertain and interesting times. I know what you mean by 2/3 posts about LVG are negative, but I think it's more to do with the frustration that we could be doing a lot better if he'd just try a few things differently rather than over-complicate the team. Pretty sure people aren't saying he isn't doing a good job because he's achieved the minimum.
yep. And it was supposed to be DiMaria
It looks to me like @NL Max was spot on with his assessment of LVGs preferred system - effectively a 4-2-3-1. Honestly I am disappointed with the switch to this when our best football last season revolved around a midfield trio consisting of a holding player and two more advanced box to box players.
True. He’s tactic is to minimalize risk, maximize possession and rely on special player to provide the spark. Which isn’t such a bad tactic, I believe Mourinho does similar things, it’s just he has that special player we lack.
I'll write a new LvG tactics thread when the transfers are done, it takes me a long time to explain things in English and I cba to change it everytime we'll make a new signing. I want to make it quality. I'll try to explain the formation a bit more and what I expect to mainly see us improving on and what the potential downfalls can be. As it stands, last season wasn't really what I expected as it was mostly pragmatism and trying to find the right balance after the 3-at the back experiment was dropped but we didn't have the holding mids and too many strikers to play 433.
As for people thinking this formation is more defensive, it is but not by that much. One of the holding mids should join in the attack so the difference between this years formation and last years isn't that big effectively. It's also not another random experiment as he's used this formation alot in carreer whilst the 352 of last year he didn't use that much, I don't think the adapting will take as long this year.
No! All 4-5 debutants must gel together in their first competitive game together (4 of them in a new league) and produce an attacking masterclass!!
I think the key thing is its much more defensive than the 4-3-3 he used at Ajax and Barcelona, at Ajax many would say he used 3-4-3 with Rijkaard floating between defence and midfield.
What a lot of United fans expected, myself included, was that when he went 4-3-3 with the point backwards last year we would stick with that. We assumed, as at Ajax and Barcelona, Van Gaal would be content to have a single holding player supported by two box-to-box midfielders. Instead, Van Gaal has gone for the security of a double pivot.
That would work fine if we had a player like Thomas Muller, a #10 capable of covering the distance required to link midfield and attack. We do not have such a player however. Only Herrera comes close to being able to do everything Van Gaal would want his #10 to do, and Van Gaal doesn't trust him. Memphis, good as he is, is more of a #10 in the traditional sense: an attacker with limited defensive ability. That may not be what Van Gaal wants him to be, but the reality is that's what he is. Hence, why he's getting caught so far ahead of the ball so often and why our midfield looks so disjointed.
Its impenetrable to most United fans that, despite not having a player like Muller, we have chosen to abandon the backward pointing 4-3-3 that looked so good last season for the forward pointing 4-3-3 that looks frankly terrible. Has done ever since the start of pre-season. The very first game United played the backward pointing 4-3-3 against Spurs, after losing in the F.A. Cup to Arsenal, our performance level went up hugely. Can anyone seriously say the same of the games in which we've used the forward pointing version, the first of which was the loss to Arsenal I just mentioned?
Yeah, what you say is roughly what I mean and expected - that LVGs preferred system uses two holding midfielders and a #10 as I understand it.
For me though, we still lack the personnel to play that midfield setup, and it does not suit several of our players (Carrick, Herrera, Fellaini, Memphis). None of our currently holding mids are really ones who specialise in joining the attack, and none of them are creative playmakers like a Fabregas. Again, our best football I feel came last year from having a single holding mid and two more advanced CMs in front without a #10, we have the players to play that system and play it well for me, so I am honestly going to be disappointed if we persist with the current setup (and based on what you have said about LVG, it looks like that will be the case).
Basically what I am saying is that I am not surprised to see us using this system, and I don't think it is just a random experiment. BUT I just think it is not the best system for us based on the players we have. If we could line up as;
---------------Schneiderlin
-----Herrera ------------- Fellaini
Mata ----------------------------Memphis
-----------------Rooney
That to me looks like a system and formation that is well balanced in both attack and defence, has players playing in their best positions (in my opinion) and looked good when we played it last year. It allows Memphis and Mata to play as proper inside forwards which suits both of them and should benefit Rooney, and allows Fellaini and Herrera to contribute in both attack and defence, and does not put any pressure on the holding player to have to try to create anything or press forward.
The difference between that and LVGs system (two holding mids and a #10) seems small on paper, but completely changes the dynamic of the team in practice I think. It puts pressure on the holding mids to get forward and contribute, which for Carrick and Schneiderlin is not really their natural game. It forces us to play with a #10, which none of Memphis, Fellaini or Herrera are suited for, and because of that added #10 it creates extra defensive responsibility on the wide players.
I am not saying LVGs system is bad, but simply that for me, it does not suit our players at all.
@#07 sums it up pretty well also. It is simply a question of the backward pointing or forward pointing triangle in the midfield, which changes the entire dynamic of the way we play.
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This Van Gaal thing is going nowhere atm. Never been impressed by his tactics in all honesty and because of that I don't think he's the right man for the job. Remember him going 2 v 3 vs inter in midfield in the '10 final and knowing immediately when the line ups came up that the match wasn't gonna go well, and it didn't.
His teams lack balance in midfield. This equals to some slow tumescent football that pretty much takes us nowhere. What's strange about all of this is that he believe so much in his methods and doesn't see where things are going wrong. So since we're clearly on a downhill slope nothing tells me that we'll be improving anytime soon.
What's also shocking is just how rigid the offensive positioning of players is in his teams. There's very little freedom going around and you can clearly see its because of coaching instructions.
Also he doesn't look like he knows what he's trying to do. Instead he looks like a mad scientist mixing things together and hoping something sticks. What sort of coach with an unwavering belief in what he's doing tries so many different tactics and formations? I hope he succeeds but since being I've seen absolutely no signs of him being the right man to take us forward.
His teams lack balance in midfield. This equals to some slow tumescent football that pretty much takes us nowhere. What's strange about all of this is that he believe so much in his methods and doesn't see where things are going wrong. So since we're clearly on a downhill slope nothing tells me that we'll be improving anytime soon.
What's also shocking is just how rigid the offensive positioning of players is in his teams. There's very little freedom going around and you can clearly see its because of coaching instructions.
Also he doesn't look like he knows what he's trying to do. Instead he looks like a mad scientist mixing things together and hoping something sticks. What sort of coach with an unwavering belief in what he's doing tries so many different tactics and formations? I hope he succeeds but since being I've seen absolutely no signs of him being the right man to take us forward.
Some light at the end of the tunnel?
Hopefully it's very very near.
So as I thought, Memphis to #10 is partly because he wants to keep Young on the left.
I'm even more confident that if/when we sign Pedro, we'll see Memphis and Pedro on the wings
I'm not sure whether van Gaal isn't too focused on the individual rather than the team with the Memphis/Young situation. He doesn't want to replace Young because he's performed well but also wants Memphis in there for his goalscoring. The problem is, our overall play suffers too much from it and could greatly benefit from Mata or, even better, Herrera being in Memphis' position.
As hard as it may be on Young, but Memphis is simply more dangerous as a goal scorer on the wing and we need that quality badly. If Memphis doesn't perform, he can obviously always be replaced by Young.
One thing I also don't understand is why he doesn't rotate Mata, Memphis and Young around altogether. Put Young in Mata's position, Mata's in Memphis' and Memphis in Young's position respectively. I think for now, that could help us a lot. Why is he so intent on forcing the number 10 role on Memphis when his skill set is more suited to being a winger?
As hard as it may be on Young, but Memphis is simply more dangerous as a goal scorer on the wing and we need that quality badly. If Memphis doesn't perform, he can obviously always be replaced by Young.
One thing I also don't understand is why he doesn't rotate Mata, Memphis and Young around altogether. Put Young in Mata's position, Mata's in Memphis' and Memphis in Young's position respectively. I think for now, that could help us a lot. Why is he so intent on forcing the number 10 role on Memphis when his skill set is more suited to being a winger?
Or Pedro as the 10, for all we know. He's got the pace to break past the striker that Van Gaal spoke about.
Agreed. It might be helping us defensively, but it's shackling the front players a fair bit, I think.
God, I hope so. It's similar to Klinsi with the USMNT - trying to shoehorn players in positions they think they can handle, but isn't their best position. With Klinsmann, its putting Diskerud as a holding mid while having Bradley playing #10, when it's obvious it should be the other way around, along with other boneheaded choices that exasperate the fans. With LVG, it's having Memphis as a #10 when he probably should be a winger, instead of using Herrera or Mata as a #10. He's looking for balance, but I don't see his choices aiding that balance. If he doesn't rate Memphis as a winger, then he shouldn't have bought him, as it seems that's where he should use him, not #10 when he complained he had too many #10's last season.
But you can't ignore the average of 7 injuries a week or whatever that we had. We had that amazing run because we finally had most players fit (rvp and shaw were the only injuries and Evans suspended). Then we had Carrick blind Rojo Jones injured together taking us back to square one. because we didn't have a replacement to the brilliance of Carrick when he was injured, or Herrera when he was injured etc. We even had to bring in an u-19 defender as we had no defenders available at one point of time. You can't expect him to play attacking football, win games handsomely with all this.
The way van Gaal is playing his 4-2-3-1 is pretty much how I expected it: it is very reliant on the #10 that is playing. With Memphis playing as a #10, our attacks were disjointed, and we didn't look fluid going forward. Quite often, when our deeper players would get the ball, Memphis would be quite high up the pitch. When one of the wide players got the ball, Memphis would remain in the middle rather than drift out to overload the channel. When Memphis came out for Herrera, we looked better as Herrera was taking up better positions and knew when to remain high up and when to drop back.
Also, the performance against Spurs is not an indication of how van Gaal wants us to play. There were barely any passing triangles. The players were very slow and sluggish, and they were very poor in taking up positions going forward, mostly just walking around rather than making themselves available. With Carrick and Schneiderlin, we had a square in the middle, which allowed Spurs to easily contain us and leave us disjointed. When Schweinsteiger came in for Carrick, however, there were more triangles, which allowed to play passes through Spurs' lines more often and open them up. Schweinsteiger took up more advanced positions than Carrick, whilst Herrera took up better positions as a #10, and overall, we looked better going forward.
As the lone forward, Rooney did his best in supporting the others as he should. His movement was quite good, and he took up some nice positions. His loose touches, however, caused us a few issues as it slowed down/broke our attacks.
The second half showed promise in how the 4-2-3-1 would be. Schweinsteiger was the one pushing forward, whilst in the first half, both Carrick and Schneiderlin stayed back. This allowed for Spurs to focus more on him, thus leaving more spaces for our wide players and creating more 1-on-1 situations (too bad Young was poor yesterday). With Herrera also roaming around as well as Rooney, Spurs faced more problems defending against us.
It's quite clear that, if we are to play a 4-2-3-1, we cannot play both Carrick and Schneiderlin together. Both prefer to sit back when we have the ball, and that leaves us disjointed. It reminds me of van Bommel and Tymoshchuk/Schweinsteiger (when he was adapting to the role) in midfield, which left Bayern quite disjointed under van Gaal. At least, with Schweinsteiger/Herrera in midfield partnering a deeper player, we'd be more balanced and better off against our opponents.
However, the reason van Gaal plays Schneiderlin with Carrick is because Schneiderlin is quite aggressive off the ball. We've seen quite often how he'd push up to close down Spurs. For this reason, I think he plays Carrick beside him. Schweinsteiger is similar to Schneiderlin in that he prefers to push up and win the ball (hence why Javi Martinez/Lahm worked well with Schweinsteiger in Bayern's midfield) though with less energy and aggression due to how much he physically declined. If Carrick has to play, he has to be a central defender for us or have Herrera beside him. Carrick and Schweinsteiger means that we lose bite in the midfield, and we've seen how disjointed we are with Carrick and Schneiderlin, though I think that partnership can improve as Schneiderlin grows into his role.
Ultimately, in a 4-2-3-1, van Gaal prefers a #6 and #8 in the team. With Carrick and Schneiderlin, we have Schneiderlin as a #8 though Schneiderlin still seems to be adjusting to this role. He's currently playing like he did under Koeman (sit deep and stay back) when he should be more proactive like Schweinsteiger was in the second half. Memphis as a #10 won't work at all as it'd be difficult for him to curb his instincts as a winger. We'd be better off with either Januzaj or Herrera there. Mata's too physically weak to play as a #10, so he's better off out wide with an attacking full back supporting him. In terms of wingers, we need wingers who will cause problems in 1-on-1 situations and put in good deliveries from out wide as well as score goals. Young doesn't have the quality to start for us, whilst Memphis is perfect for us. We have no right winger at the moment with di Maria gone, and whilst Januzaj could work there, he's often been deployed on the left under van Gaal. This is where Pedro could go, and he'd be well-suited to play on the right with van Gaal.
Also, the performance against Spurs is not an indication of how van Gaal wants us to play. There were barely any passing triangles. The players were very slow and sluggish, and they were very poor in taking up positions going forward, mostly just walking around rather than making themselves available. With Carrick and Schneiderlin, we had a square in the middle, which allowed Spurs to easily contain us and leave us disjointed. When Schweinsteiger came in for Carrick, however, there were more triangles, which allowed to play passes through Spurs' lines more often and open them up. Schweinsteiger took up more advanced positions than Carrick, whilst Herrera took up better positions as a #10, and overall, we looked better going forward.
As the lone forward, Rooney did his best in supporting the others as he should. His movement was quite good, and he took up some nice positions. His loose touches, however, caused us a few issues as it slowed down/broke our attacks.
The second half showed promise in how the 4-2-3-1 would be. Schweinsteiger was the one pushing forward, whilst in the first half, both Carrick and Schneiderlin stayed back. This allowed for Spurs to focus more on him, thus leaving more spaces for our wide players and creating more 1-on-1 situations (too bad Young was poor yesterday). With Herrera also roaming around as well as Rooney, Spurs faced more problems defending against us.
It's quite clear that, if we are to play a 4-2-3-1, we cannot play both Carrick and Schneiderlin together. Both prefer to sit back when we have the ball, and that leaves us disjointed. It reminds me of van Bommel and Tymoshchuk/Schweinsteiger (when he was adapting to the role) in midfield, which left Bayern quite disjointed under van Gaal. At least, with Schweinsteiger/Herrera in midfield partnering a deeper player, we'd be more balanced and better off against our opponents.
However, the reason van Gaal plays Schneiderlin with Carrick is because Schneiderlin is quite aggressive off the ball. We've seen quite often how he'd push up to close down Spurs. For this reason, I think he plays Carrick beside him. Schweinsteiger is similar to Schneiderlin in that he prefers to push up and win the ball (hence why Javi Martinez/Lahm worked well with Schweinsteiger in Bayern's midfield) though with less energy and aggression due to how much he physically declined. If Carrick has to play, he has to be a central defender for us or have Herrera beside him. Carrick and Schweinsteiger means that we lose bite in the midfield, and we've seen how disjointed we are with Carrick and Schneiderlin, though I think that partnership can improve as Schneiderlin grows into his role.
Ultimately, in a 4-2-3-1, van Gaal prefers a #6 and #8 in the team. With Carrick and Schneiderlin, we have Schneiderlin as a #8 though Schneiderlin still seems to be adjusting to this role. He's currently playing like he did under Koeman (sit deep and stay back) when he should be more proactive like Schweinsteiger was in the second half. Memphis as a #10 won't work at all as it'd be difficult for him to curb his instincts as a winger. We'd be better off with either Januzaj or Herrera there. Mata's too physically weak to play as a #10, so he's better off out wide with an attacking full back supporting him. In terms of wingers, we need wingers who will cause problems in 1-on-1 situations and put in good deliveries from out wide as well as score goals. Young doesn't have the quality to start for us, whilst Memphis is perfect for us. We have no right winger at the moment with di Maria gone, and whilst Januzaj could work there, he's often been deployed on the left under van Gaal. This is where Pedro could go, and he'd be well-suited to play on the right with van Gaal.
If Mata can't play as no 10 than he's better off sold. He's too slow to play as a winger
I'm definitely not as negative as most on here atm.
Last season in that purple patch we had, there were two triangles in either side of the pitch - Blind/Fellaini/Young on the left and Valencia/Herrera/Mata on the right. I wish we would recreate that this season because it gave our attacks some structure and the opposition struggled with it. It'd probably mean moving back to the 4-3-3 with the point backwards but I'm all for that.
Last season in that purple patch we had, there were two triangles in either side of the pitch - Blind/Fellaini/Young on the left and Valencia/Herrera/Mata on the right. I wish we would recreate that this season because it gave our attacks some structure and the opposition struggled with it. It'd probably mean moving back to the 4-3-3 with the point backwards but I'm all for that.
Sometimes I think managers fill players' heads with far too much information, rather than just trusting them to go out and play.
Did anybody watched MNF. Just watched it now and i am suprised how high we defend. Yes i saw some of our players are high but never really got this felling we are going 3vs3 or even 4vs3 at the back. Maybe as Martinez highlighted i didn't noticed it because we were great at doing that and we often succed and didn't let Spurs to take advantage of that but it is suprising think.
And just want to point out it was Blind who most often went into "midfield" area to stop Eriksen, is this the reason he is playing because he good at this? We often ended with only Shaw, Smalling and Darmian in defence, i think that having a fullback who can defend really well gives LVG the option to play like this.
What are you thinking? Did you noticed during the match?
And just want to point out it was Blind who most often went into "midfield" area to stop Eriksen, is this the reason he is playing because he good at this? We often ended with only Shaw, Smalling and Darmian in defence, i think that having a fullback who can defend really well gives LVG the option to play like this.
What are you thinking? Did you noticed during the match?
Carragher highlighted this last season at the anfield kick offs. The back line were pushed way forward
I remember MNF when we played against City they highlighted how small pitch we made for City but it was totally different tactics. Watching this today and the one against City made me thinking how much work must be done on the training ground to be able to defend that way. Ofcourse we mix defending tactics based where opposition players are but i just wonder how much work have to be done on the training ground to do that, to coach all this different tactics into players head.
We are becoming real good at pressing and we are able sit deep an wait for the opposition players to do a mistake and it is something we were really not good at in the last SAF years.
I am confident that we are doing the similar job in attack but as every manager would say, you have to build from the back, has LVG focused first on how to defend really well. I think and hope it will click sooner rather than later in attack and if we can press well, defend deep when it is needed and we click in attack we can be pretty good side. Just hope it will all click soon.
I'm thinking it completely negates people's fears of Blinds lack of pace (Darmian, Smalling and Shaw can cover more than sufficiently) and he's unlikely to be up against a striker in the box either.
I agree, mate. Although, I can see the need for a special player who has pace and creativity, I don't for a second believe that our current squad is totally incapable of playing flamboyant football. There are enough attacking options, who are good enough to trouble most teams in the league; for that matter, any team on their day.
Another thing I am baffled by is if the plan was to play this counter-attacking set-up then why were Nani and Van Persie sold. I am not a Nani fan, but he is a player with pace and creativity, though inconsistent, who could have come in handy right about now. Van Persie with his hold-up would have been more useful in the current set-up too.
Some mind boggling decisions been taken. Though, for the sake of positivity - I hope the craziness works, or atleast the penny drops before it's too late.
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The thing that has been most baffling to me about the switch to the 4-2-3-1 so far this season has been the poor possession play. Last season even if we were utterly shit we still had around 60% of the ball. In pre season and against Spurs it's been almost 50/50 and I think the main reason is the massive space between the 6 and the 8 and Memphis as a 10. It's lead to too many misplaced passes through the midfield and players getting caught on the ball. Van Gaal obviously loves possession, which just makes it weird as the 4-3-3 towards the end of last season is a much better bet for dominating the ball.
Yes, he is too slow to play as a winger, but van Gaal really, really likes Mata, so it'd be difficult to see him getting sold. Plus, he's very effective from out wide if he has an attacking full back supporting him. He's much more effective cutting inside and operating in the middle, and van Gaal seems to deal with his issue by either playing him on the right and giving him the freedom to cut inside or in a deeper midfield role. IMO, if Man. City replaced Silva with Mata, there'd be no difference between them. However, as he's often played as more of a winger for us, he hasn't been as effective.
I disagree. Silva's far better at carrying the ball than Mata is, better with the ball at his feet. He's also more of a playmaker. He looks for the incisive passes far more.
True story.
Yup, we play a very high line and for that reason I think that Blind's getting a chance at LCB. He's got very good awareness for all his physical shortcomings and he reads the game very well, thus he's able to lead the line with Smalling, it's the RB and LB that have to adapt (as per usual with offside trap) and keep in line with those two. I think that there was one situation when it failed and Spurs had a chance to bite us, think it was in the first half, and it was Darmian that broke the trap. No biggie, he has to adapt so it's fine but other than that it usually works very well for us.
Even if the trap is broken, Smalling is really fast. There was this stat popping up during match with top speed in the match, top three were Young, Smalling and then Depay, think Mike was hitting something around 33. High line simply allows us to reduce the playing field (something LVG kept banging about before) and enhance our pressing.
Thinking about Herrera and the formations where he can be used nicely, it seems that he would thrive under a system like Pellegrini's 433/4231 (where the CMs have freedom to go box-to-box), Guardiola's 4-3-3 (as one of the 2 advanced CMs).
But I think Jose would have no room for him in his 4-2-3-1 (his long passing and control of temp is not as good as Fabregas, he isn't a natural as a 10), and it seems LvG can't accomodate him in his double pivot either, and his #10 profile is more like a second striker. That's a pity, a midfield with Schweinsteiger, Herrera and 1 DM (Carrick or Schneiderlin) could go toe-to-toe with any opponent.
But I think Jose would have no room for him in his 4-2-3-1 (his long passing and control of temp is not as good as Fabregas, he isn't a natural as a 10), and it seems LvG can't accomodate him in his double pivot either, and his #10 profile is more like a second striker. That's a pity, a midfield with Schweinsteiger, Herrera and 1 DM (Carrick or Schneiderlin) could go toe-to-toe with any opponent.
I totally agree with this. I wish we would play the 4-3-3 the way we did last year, and dominated Spurs, Liverpool, and City. When we made the acquisitions that we did this summer, I was incredibly optimistic that LVG was buying players for this type of 4-3-3, and yet he goes and reverses it... So he's using a winger as a no. 10, a no. 10 as a winger, and leaving arguably our best CM(Herrera) off of the pitch? Why is it that he is essentially choosing Ashley Young over Ander Herrera?? It's absolutely mind-boggling...
If LVG was truly intent on playing in the formation that he has used all summer, through the 1st game of the season, why did he buy Schweini and Schneidy, if he isnt going to play them alongside Herrera? As far as I am concerned, Carrick is too old to be used regularly, and should be used to spell Schweini. If he wanted to play a 433 with the triangle pointing forward, he should have invested in another winger from the start of the window, to allow Mata to move inside and play the No. 10 Role, instead of trying to force him out of position, to one that really requires pace to work in LVG's system. Or he could better yet, at least temporarily shift Young to RW (which he can definitely play, albeit the fact that LVG would no longer have his precious inverted winger), Mata to CAM, and Memphis to LW. But I guess that makes too much sense for the boss, yeah?
I understand the Boss gets paid the big bucks because he knows his football, but some of this is just so painfully obvious, it hurts my soul.
and fwiw here is what i'd like to see:
---------------Schneiderlin
-----Herrera ------------- Schweinsteiger
Mata ----------------------------Memphis
-----------------Rooney
but if the triangle is facing forward:
--Herrera/Schneidy ---- Schweinsteiger/Schneidy
--------------------Mata---------------------
Young/Pedro ----------------------------Memphis
--------------------Rooney
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