Old Trafford - Is it the Fortress it once was ?

Gazza

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'tis a silly place
Let's look at the facts :

West Ham, Arsenal, Liverpool, Bolton, Chelsea and Middlesboro have all come to Old Trafford and won.

West Ham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Boro have all won by the single goal, playing the same strategy:

Playing 10 players behind the ball and waiting, waiting, waiting for an hour and then striking.

It seems like teams coming to play at Old Trafford are now seeing United aren't unbeatable, and now there are two teams showing up - we will have to work for our points next season. I watched the games we lost at Old Trafford on TV and I can't see what was missing. There was just no imagination, no creativity. The defence was solid but we seem to lost concentration at the wrong time and in the blink of an eye it's over. 6 defeats at home at a ground where we have only lost about 10 (?) since the Premiership began is just terrible. Why is Old Trafford no longer the fortress clubs feared visitng ?

I hope next season we can re-build our reputation. Let's face it, clubs now relish playing at Old Trafford. Games like Boro, West Ham and Bolton are all games we should have won but instead lost us the title. Lapses in concentration has cost us, but next season we will have to work much harder in games, and strike fear in to our opponents once again.

I can't wait for next season, and am looking forward already - there have been plenty of positives to ake from this season ! We'll love you ever-more !
 
Originally posted by Gazza:
<strong>
I can't wait for next season, and am looking forward already - there have been plenty of positives to ake from this season ! We'll love you ever-more !</strong><hr></blockquote>

At last some positive minded opinion.

Thanks Gazza! ;)
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Originally posted by $ukhjit:
<strong>Good thoughts Gazza. I am optimistic for next season aswell. I can't wait!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Never mind, there's always next season! That's the sort of comment you would criticise in the supporters of other clubs!
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Obviously it was far from a fortress this year.

There were many positives but IMO many more negatives. Because these kind of negatives are hard to fix. Liverpools problems can all be solved by buying new players i.e. need width? Get a winger.

Ours is more complicated, one more CB wont patch up all our holes. Neither will 4 world class defenders. Its not the players, its the way the team plays that is wrong.

When we lack a spark (which was quite often this year) none of our players can jump up and provide it. Its possible we an buy someone for this, but nowadays our current players seem incapable of producing this energy when we most need it i.e. look at Ljungberg lately. You cant buy that spark, the players have to produce it within themselves and if our players did that we'd never lose. They've only done it about 5-10 times this year.

What happens when they do? Spurs and Deportivo. Thats our lot at about 85-90% potential, why cant they do it more often instead of plod along at 70% or below? Money cant solve these things...just ask Chelsea and Leeds. Sorry to be so negative, but I only say it cos I care.
 
Arsenal's away form this year shows that the home advantage can no longer be regarded as crucial. The key is that we lost home AND away to the other top teams.

There were slack games at home, but both Arsenal and Liverpool had the occasional one of those as well. We shouldn't worry that Old Trafford is not a fortress. We should worry that we've shed 12 points to Arsenal and Liverpool, wherever we play. Fix this and we can win the premiership next season...0/12 next season and we'll finish no better than third. The premiership is now played at a higher level of quality, and the advantage of playing at home is immaterial.
 
Arsenal's away form this year shows that the home advantage can no longer be regarded as crucial. The key is that we lost home AND away to the other top teams.

There were slack games at home, but both Arsenal and Liverpool had the occasional one of those as well. We shouldn't worry that Old Trafford is not a fortress. We should worry that we've shed 12 points to Arsenal and Liverpool, wherever we play. Fix this and we can win the premiership next season...0/12 next season and we'll finish no better than third. The premiership is now played at a higher level of quality, and the advantage of playing at home is immaterial.
 
Originally posted by ShAoLiN_ChRoNiC:
<strong>Obviously it was far from a fortress this year.

There were many positives but IMO many more negatives. Because these kind of negatives are hard to fix. Liverpools problems can all be solved by buying new players i.e. need width? Get a winger.

Ours is more complicated, one more CB wont patch up all our holes. Neither will 4 world class defenders. Its not the players, its the way the team plays that is wrong.

When we lack a spark (which was quite often this year) none of our players can jump up and provide it. Its possible we an buy someone for this, but nowadays our current players seem incapable of producing this energy when we most need it i.e. look at Ljungberg lately. You cant buy that spark, the players have to produce it within themselves and if our players did that we'd never lose. They've only done it about 5-10 times this year.

What happens when they do? Spurs and Deportivo. Thats our lot at about 85-90% potential, why cant they do it more often instead of plod along at 70% or below? Money cant solve these things...just ask Chelsea and Leeds. Sorry to be so negative, but I only say it cos I care.</strong><hr></blockquote>


We lack a player who can provide spark up front, that's for sure. I have watched too many times this season, that we were making more than 20 passes outside opponents penalty box getting to nowhere. Ruud and Ole are both excellent finishers, while Scholes, Beckham and Veron are excellent passers. But when I saw situation like that I can't help thinking about Cantona, who could decide a match by a clever trick, or Yorke-and-Cole, who could tear the whole defence all by themselves. I believe we lack that kind of genius, that kind of spark in this team. Our way of playing is too predictable at times, so that when opponents crowded themselves inside the box we are almost impossible to break them. This kind of spark can buy, but surely for a very high price. Let's see what will Fergie do in this summer.
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Originally posted by uranushk1:
<strong>


We lack a player who can provide spark up front, that's for sure. I have watched too many times this season, that we were making more than 20 passes outside opponents penalty box getting to nowhere. Ruud and Ole are both excellent finishers, while Scholes, Beckham and Veron are excellent passers. But when I saw situation like that I can't help thinking about Cantona, who could decide a match by a clever trick, or Yorke-and-Cole, who could tear the whole defence all by themselves. I believe we lack that kind of genius, that kind of spark in this team. Our way of playing is too predictable at times, so that when opponents crowded themselves inside the box we are almost impossible to break them. This kind of spark can buy, but surely for a very high price. Let's see what will Fergie do in this summer.</strong><hr></blockquote>
We shouldn't have sold Sheringham imo, he was willing to stay another 2 years and thats what we should have given to him.
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Originally posted by Gazza:
<strong>We need a cheap and effective striker. Three words: Paulo Di Canio. :cool: </strong><hr></blockquote>

He aint the silver bullet cos hes to damn old, one thing we should be doing is lining up a top notch young midfielder to take over from keaneo, someone like duff or joe cole.

We should also be giving o'shea a run in the team, we should have been doing that all season instead of pumping johnsen full of pain killers.
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zippy, we need a player in the Cantona / Sheringham role and that is one position that you don't need pace, in fact the onlder you are the better, because you need plenty of experience in that area of the field. He would be cheap, about 3m, and at 33 has two years or so left in him, and we would get good use out of him. I agree with you when you say Keane isn't getting any younger, but that's why we have Nicky Butt. I may get critisized for this but I honestly think he can replace Keano. If not, get Dyer, as he was originally bought up to be a defensive-midfielder; but certainly not Duff or Joe Cole. They are good players but you can't say they can replace Keane - they are completely different ! I am struggling to see how an attacking CM or a attacking LM can replace the one defensive player we have in midfield, the one who holds the team together. Butt has leadership qualities also. No, I don't think another midfielder is top of out list this summer. O'Shea was given a good run in the first-team, playing a few games, good performances... but then he got injured. Johnsen has come in and done superbly and hopefully earned a new contract. O'Shea's time will come, possibly next year - we have a partnership for the future in Wes and O'Shea.
 
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