Our lack of creativity in the attacking third...

The Azzurri

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Dec 20, 2004
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What's up with that?

In the last 3 games we seems to have revert back to last season style of play, slow painful buildup, midfielders pass to the wing, cross, over hit, or deflected off for a corner, corner whip In with no real threat, or was cleared out by the first defender, and the process is repeated.

No idea, zero creativity.

Can't believe lvg is happy watching us play yesterday. It was terrible and the game was save by a Juan mata goal

People saying our defence is pulling us down but our attack need to get ourselves sorted soon
 
Slow, a lot of bad first touches, bad decision making, people not moving into good positions. Palace were quite tight and it required a bit of magic which was missing.

And it was nothing like last season.
 
Herrera not playing, Di maria and RVP out of form, Blind playing as a CB not as a mid (we looked a bit better once blind went into CM) and Rooney out of position.
 
Our players need so start showing better and PASS the fecking ball, instead of taking shots. How many bloody useless shots did we take last evening? I lost count very early in the game.

It took about an hour for RvP and Rooney to pass to each other in the final third, but I've now given up on that partnership anyway.
 
Herrera in for Fellaini makes a big difference to this IMO, though its not the sole reason. All our attacking players (or most) have been underperforming the last few games. Di Maria has looked a shadow of how he is in the middle because he's out wide, Rooney has been decent but nothing extra, RvP has had decent hold up play but nothing apart from that, Januzaj has been poor for the most part, etc..
Everythings just breaking down around the players who need to provide the cutting edge, though we're passing the ball around fine and keeping possession. Yesterday we made a decent amount of chances, but nothing clear cut until RvP's thing when it was already 1-0. I feel like the possession style we play these days is great once we're 1-0 up, but when we're chasing a goal or the score is level it can look blunt when the other team parks the bus.
 
bosnian_red said:
Herrera in for Fellaini makes a big difference to this IMO, though its not the sole reason. All our attacking players (or most) have been underperforming the last few games. Di Maria has looked a shadow of how he is in the middle because he's out wide, Rooney has been decent but nothing extra, RvP has had decent hold up play but nothing apart from that, Januzaj has been poor for the most part, etc..
Everythings just breaking down around the players who need to provide the cutting edge, though we're passing the ball around fine and keeping possession. Yesterday we made a decent amount of chances, but nothing clear cut until RvP's thing when it was already 1-0. I feel like the possession style we play these days is great once we're 1-0 up, but when we're chasing a goal or the score is level it can look blunt when the other team parks the bus.
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Definitely, LVG's 'philosophy' is based on defenders and midfielders holding onto the ball until spaces start to appear. Against teams like Palace that space is never going to just open up as theyre happy to sit back and stifle us until we stupidly concede possession
 
What do you expect when you have Rooney and Fellaini as two central midfielders? Our bulk of passing was done by Carrick yesterday, and as good Rooney might be, he isn't as creative to play that role.
 
Carrick, Rooney, Rvp, Fellaini and two wingers who struggle to beat a man and leave them for dead. That is way too many static players in one side. Chelsea side every man bar fabregas can beat a man at pace, or receive ball in a variety of positions and do something with it.
 
ADM seems out of sorts, Blind was in defence, no Herrera and Mata, and Fellaini is a fixture in midfield now .. and though he's better than last season you can't expect him to produce through balls to unlock defences and creative runs .. so not sure whether LvG's philosophy changed all of a sudden just to accommodate the big target man, I just don't understand. :(

And oh RvP's completely out of form, Januzaj is a shadow of last season and Roo as usual is frustrating, and we loaned Hernandez out to get sicknote Falcao:(. Who does that leave ?

I thought our attack was good and defence needed sorting, but now both look shot(In spite of the clean sheet, which we got only because Palace were soo shite), and I'm quite worried. We'll struggle against Arsenal and 'Pool too in the games coming up if we keep this up.

/rant
 
Our sole creative tactic has descended to the '' Moyesian Lump it to the big man'' shite so it's no surprise really. Fellaini and Rooney, the players that have the biggest responsibility in the build up are rushing into the box leaving an isolated Carrick with no option but to spray it wide. Couple this with out of sorts wingers then we are reduced to needing a piece of individual brilliance to get the win.
 
It's interesting the almost visceral hatred for Young and Valencia when our wide players looked toothless and bereft of ideas in previous seasons, compared to the current attempts to share the blame much more widely. If anything, our widemen have been getting the sort of solid platform from central midfield that Young/Valencia could only dream of.

Di Maria and Januzaj have been really dissapointing in the last few weeks. Expect a lot more from both of them. Januzaj is "yong and lernin" but Di Maria really needs to up his game.
 
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This is being ignored for whatever reason but It’s starting to become a major concern, we have little to no penetration with all our attacking players are becoming static and uninvolved in the game. At the start of the season the talk was we had enough firepower to beat any team no matter how bad our defence was, I’d go as far as saying our defence has outperformed our attack this season given the difficulties they have had to endure.
RVP, Rooney, Falcao, Mata, Di Maria, Januzaj, Herrera, Wilson have all underperformed on a regular basis, maybe it’s being brushed under the carpet because most have a reputation but that will only last for so long. West Ham have scored one goal less than us, Arsenal two and Everton three less. I’ve heard many times posters say it will come good, we are now 17 games in and I’ve yet to see it click.
 
Cooksen said:
Herrera not playing, Di maria and RVP out of form, Blind playing as a CB not as a mid (we looked a bit better once blind went into CM) and Rooney out of position.
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Apart from the odd game here and there, Di Maria has been out of form since september.
 
We've relied on the other team messing up, crosses and individual brilliance to get goals. that's it.

Look at City today. They didn't rush it, played some nice passes around with movement to draw players away and picked them off. This lot haven't got a clue about that type of play.
 
I'm not worried about our attack. I think the whole rooney mata play making part of the team is a bit too safe for my liking. They seem to constantly play it backwards or sidewards when they should be creating. Di Maria will be key in that sense because he's one of our few players who can just turn and drive forwards beating players and progressing our play. Till he reaches full fitness and form you'd want rooney and mata to be more progressive. Turning towards safety gets unnecessary after a point.
 
Freak said:
We need quick passers. Get back the 442 diamond with Herrera, Di Maria and Mata and we will be good again. I'm not confident about our defence regardless.
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I like Mata, but he's been given enough of a chance for now. Januzaj surely deserves a chance at his expense.
 
Agree with @Getsme here, not sure whether it's all down to that fecking 352 but it's looking really bad. Nothing from Rooney or Mata today, awful from ADM when he came on, everything was relying on Young and Valencia. If they beat their man, we've created something, not? Pass it backwards or switch the wing. It's funny how our 'slow and uncreative passing' was attributed to Fellaini yet you've had all those players who are touted to be great quick passers and all that and yet again we've looked like shit today.
 
Freak said:
We need quick passers. Get back the 442 diamond with Herrera, Di Maria and Mata and we will be good again. I'm not confident about our defence regardless.
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Doesn't even have to be a diamond.

Just get 4 at the back and Carrick in midfield. Our attackers will actually be able to receive the ball and the rest will be automatic.

Second half of this game showed exactly why.
 
No pace, no party. I've said it since the summer... Rather a few more quality players with pace than a defender.
 
Kevin said:
No pace, no party. I've said it since the summer... Rather a few more quality players with pace than a defender.
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I am not even sure pace is the problem, it is having a brain that can see and pick out a pass quickly. Quickness of thought is just as valuable as someone who can run fast.
 
It has a lot to do with Blind being injuried nad Herrera not on the pitch. Blind. They know how to open opposition defence and we missed them when they are not on the pitch,
 
Everything's just so slow and patient with us. Mata has to take quite a bit of blame, his link up play between midfield and attack is dire to say the least.
 
The answer is obviously to move the ball quicker, I think we have the players to do it but they are so scared to lose the ball because of our shocking defence that it doesn't happen. Its not helped our best midfielder, Carrick is played in defence, if you have a look at what he does he always looks for the forward pass and will try where ever possible to release the ball early, much like Scholes this gives him more time as the opposition are scared he's by-pass them, we need another doing this. Herrera will do that in time and hopefully if we can get the message to Blind to look forward more we have the basis there to make it happen.
 
None of the players seemed to want to try and create chances centrally today. There was too much passing to the wings. Mata was in the wrong position most of the time, either too deep or advanced. The passing was slow and not enough forward passes.
 
Would like to see what Januzaj could do in place of Mata in today's system.
 
3 in back killing us.
Our attacker never get run behind defence.
Mata surprisingly not creating more or very less.
 
Just terrible. Mata doesn't seem capable of creating anything in a role where he is the link to two strikers, Herrera is a better #10 than Mata and would at least tried a through ball..
 
DomesticTadpole said:
I am not even sure pace is the problem, it is having a brain that can see and pick out a pass quickly. Quickness of thought is just as valuable as someone who can run fast.
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That's the main thing for me. We have enough creative players in there. They're just taking so long to do anything and that allows the opposition to pack their defence and see out the danger. Di Maria was making the difference for us earlier in the season but he's been injured and out of form recently. We've been coached to retain possession but in the process we've lost the risk and urgency we were famous for. Bravery and speed are key to success in this league.
 
I don't like that were so reliant on Young and Valencia as widemen. When neither are consistently good enough to demand such a focus point in the attack.
 
Mata isn't a creative player yet he has the most creative role. Herrera was the biggest miss today IMO, exactly the type of player you want for games like today. Shame he's injured/ill.
 
septic said:
I don't like that were so reliant on Young and Valencia as widemen. When neither are consistently good enough to demand such a focus point in the attack.
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It's refreshing to see both of them in better form than last 2 seasons but crazy to think that they're the ones creating the danger for us.
 
The whole team is having to over compensate for the defence. Will sort itself out
 
I think because of our defence our attackers are trying to play it safe without risk, ever since the Leicester game we haven't recovered our attacking play...
 
kouroux said:
It's refreshing to see both of them in better form than last 2 seasons but crazy to think that they're the ones creating the danger for us.
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Agree with that. The quality we have in the middle in Falcao, RVP, Rooney, Di Maria... and yet we have two players so far below that group in terms of quality pinging in the crosses, which more times than not are poor. Young particularly is better than previously, but he's not good enough if we want to be serious challengers for the title and CL longer term.
 
After the Leicester game I think LVG realised he had to sacrifice the attack until he could get the defense he wanted. We are defending in number at the moment and until we get some consistency in selection and performance back there, I don't think we will see our best attack.
 
Some of you people, I don't know what you're expecting. You receive the ball in midfield. In front of you are two Villa midfielders. Behind them are 5 defenders playing very tight. Sprinkled between them are two strikers, neither of whom are going to receive the ball and start dribbling or would want to chase the ball into space (not that there was much space because of Villa playing so deep). If you're Rooney or Mata, your passing options were the other one, back to Fletcher or out wide. That's it. You can't just make up a pass. There are only 2-3 team mates in front of you with 7-8 defenders. What are you going to do? Only thing you can do is move the ball as fast as you can between flanks. The system is way too rigid. Can't even pass it to the wingers between a CB and full back. It's god awful.

This match is all on LvG. It wasn't any worse than the Liverpool match or Arsenal match or Southampton match. None of our performances have been convincing playing this way. Even the result that looks good on paper, 3-0 against Liverpool, was a game that could have gone the other way. I honestly don't know what kind of miracle the manager is expecting from this. It's probably based on: More possession = more chance of scoring = less chance of conceding; completely negating the fact that the team isn't creating chances and are poor 1v1 at the back. It's probably correct in a way because statistics tell you that it will end with points and that's what we've been getting. It won't progress the team however at all and will result in a fight over 3rd-4th when we really should be able to finish comfortably at 3rd and pushing higher.
 
Snow said:
Some of you people, I don't know what you're expecting. You receive the ball in midfield. In front of you are two Villa midfielders. Behind them are 5 defenders playing very tight. Sprinkled between them are two strikers, neither of whom are going to receive the ball and start dribbling or would want to chase the ball into space (not that there was much space because of Villa playing so deep). If you're Rooney or Mata, your passing options were the other one, back to Fletcher or out wide. That's it. You can't just make up a pass. There are only 2-3 team mates in front of you with 7-8 defenders. What are you going to do? Only thing you can do is move the ball as fast as you can between flanks. The system is way too rigid. Can't even pass it to the wingers between a CB and full back. It's god awful.

This match is all on LvG. It wasn't any worse than the Liverpool match or Arsenal match or Southampton match. None of our performances have been convincing playing this way. Even the result that looks good on paper, 3-0 against Liverpool, was a game that could have gone the other way. I honestly don't know what kind of miracle the manager is expecting from this. It's probably based on: More possession = more chance of scoring = less chance of conceding; completely negating the fact that the team isn't creating chances and are poor 1v1 at the back. It's probably correct in a way because statistics tell you that it will end with points and that's what we've been getting. It won't progress the team however at all and will result in a fight over 3rd-4th when we really should be able to finish comfortably at 3rd and pushing higher.
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If it was a one off then fair enough, but it's far from that.
 
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