Playing against low-block teams

Red00012 said:
A low block coupled with AWB as the attacking full back is not a good mix
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AWB looks jittery every time he ventures forward. He has always been more comfortable in his own half. We really need to sort the full back issue if counter-attacking is going to be a vital part of our game.

I was particularly amazed at how many times AWB decided to cut back rather than take on a player. It’s almost as if the rest of the team are resigned to his lack of attacking prowess and typically opt to go through the left with Rashford, Telles and Shaw.

Just imagine if we had a prime-Evra type of player bombing forward at every opportunity.
 
DRJosh said:
AWB looks jittery every time he ventures forward. He has always been more comfortable in his own half. We really need to sort the full back issue if counter-attacking is going to be a vital part of our game.

I was particularly amazed at how many times AWB decided to cut back rather than take on a player. It’s almost as if the rest of the team are resigned to his lack of attacking prowess and typically opt to go through the left with Rashford, Telles and Shaw.

Just imagine if we had a prime-Evra type of player bombing forward at every opportunity.
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The other big problem here is that good teams (we saw this in the CL) will force the ball from left to right when they defend from the front when they're behind the ball and allow Wan-Bissaka the freedom to look up and hit a pass forward and he's not up to it.
 
Imagine if we had fullbacks like those two Liverpool got. Todays game would be over at half-time. And it seems clear to me by Ole's half-time sub today that he is fully aware of this problem. I think we might need to invest in at least 1 right-side fullback before we invest in midfielders or wingers.
 
morbidsaint said:
Imagine if we had fullbacks like those two Liverpool got. Todays game would be over at half-time. And it seems clear to me by Ole's half-time sub today that he is fully aware of this problem. I think we might need to invest in at least 1 right-side fullback before we invest in midfielders or wingers.
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Agreed. I think Shaw has stepped up his game with the competition from Telles, and I think AWB could benefit the same. He's played nearly every game for us which by itself isn't ideal, and he also doesn't really have any competition for his place. I think we'd certainly benefit from getting an attack minded right back to at least push him to step up his game. It would also be nice to be able to bring on an attacking fullback in games we need a goal just to give us a different option off the bench apart from swapping one forward for another.
 
Dominos said:
You know I completely forgot about the City game because they're not a park the bus side, but that's another game to add to the list we've not threatened enough.

As for whether they're exceptions, that's 6 out of 15 league games where we've attacked really, really poorly - Palace, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Brom, City and Wolves.

Does 6/15 count as outliers? Maybe it's a normal ratio for top teams, I'm not sure. I do think if we want to ascend seriously I'd want to us improve our "bottom level". We can't be having games where we don't look a threat as often as we are surely? It's not just that 6 out of 15 we were below our usual level, that's 6 out of 15 games where it didn't look like we had any idea how to create a chance. You can have an off game but still have some goal threat, in our off games we're shockingly impotent going forward.
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Of course they're outliers. We're second in the league in goals scored. We are demonstrably not a team that has trouble creating goals. Though it may look that way if you focus only on a handful of games where we've struggled to do so.

Also, you exaggerate a great deal. We scored in 3 of those games and won two of them, so obviously we were not entirely bereft of offense. I actually thought we had a fairly good game against Chelsea, and were unlucky not to win. Other than that, everyone have games where the machine isn't clicking. And these games are also not a coherent group of games, different factors apply. Against Arsenal we used an ineffective formation. Against Palace we'd had a week of pre-season and no one was anywhere near 100%. I agree there's a point there about struggling to break down strong teams that defend low, which are three of those games. Maybe Arsenal too, if you're feeling charitable enough to consider them a strong team.
 
morbidsaint said:
Imagine if we had fullbacks like those two Liverpool got. Todays game would be over at half-time. And it seems clear to me by Ole's half-time sub today that he is fully aware of this problem. I think we might need to invest in at least 1 right-side fullback before we invest in midfielders or wingers.
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It wouldn't. Our movement isn't half as good in the box as Pool's. And although I agree that our delivery wasnt very good yesterday, the biggest problem is that er have absolutely no targets in the box apart from Cavani
 
Everything, absolutely everything starts with our pressing which is shocking for some 10 years now, if we don´t play players who will want to win the ball quickly we will never build attacks quick enough and to open defense. I struggle to see why management can´t move forward with this. Today was the game when Ole decided to play more "creative midfield" at the expense of running power and we simply couldn´t press well as a unit. It is a pattern which is here for a long time, only a couple of players are able to do that but some are too lazy, inactive or not dynamic enough, so they re always a fraction behind the ball is played. Granted wolves kept the ball we still reacted very slow.

Only luckily won it in the dying minutes we managed to scrap the win in overal a very dull game instead of dominating the game from minute one. We should be less pragmatic and go for it. Wolves are good but not that good to adapt to their tactics..
 
DRJosh said:
AWB looks jittery every time he ventures forward. He has always been more comfortable in his own half. We really need to sort the full back issue if counter-attacking is going to be a vital part of our game.

I was particularly amazed at how many times AWB decided to cut back rather than take on a player. It’s almost as if the rest of the team are resigned to his lack of attacking prowess and typically opt to go through the left with Rashford, Telles and Shaw.

Just imagine if we had a prime-Evra type of player bombing forward at every opportunity.
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The funny thing about AWB is that, when he is in a spot where there is no pass on and he has to do something himself, more often than not he beats his man
 
Godfather said:
It wouldn't. Our movement isn't half as good in the box as Pool's. And although I agree that our delivery wasnt very good yesterday, the biggest problem is that er have absolutely no targets in the box apart from Cavani
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Exactly. I was watching some Utd from the 90s on YouTube and one of the differences was how many bodies we got into the box compared with the team now. If you only getting one or two in for a cross against 4-5 defenders and goalie you are going to have to be very lucky to score
 
Bilbo said:
The funny thing about AWB is that, when he is in a spot where there is no pass on and he has to do something himself, more often than not he beats his man
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I’ve noticed that a couple of times too. Maybe it’s a confidence issue rather than a lack of skill? If he adopts a more entrepreneurial approach to his attacking play, I’m sure we would be more effective and unpredictable against low-block team. I’d like to see him cut inside more often and link up with Greenwood in the box.
 
DRJosh said:
I’ve noticed that a couple of times too. Maybe it’s a confidence issue rather than a lack of skill? If he adopts a more entrepreneurial approach to his attacking play, I’m sure we would be more effective and unpredictable against low-block team. I’d like to see him cut inside more often and link up with Greenwood in the box.
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I think hes playing the toughest position in our team currently, so while he has obvious limitations I think some fans can be unfair with criticism.

So much of our play goes down the left. We are basically asking him to run his entire side of the pitch - be solid at the back and enterprising in attack. What he gains in having a lot of space he loses in often having very few options available to him. We rarely have a lot of presence in the box, its just not the way this team plays, so whipping in those early balls is often pointless.

He always plays better when McTominay is in the team, as Scott tends to play on his side so he can play off of him. Last night we did him no favours until Marcus moved over to that side late on.
 
morbidsaint said:
Imagine if we had fullbacks like those two Liverpool got. Todays game would be over at half-time. And it seems clear to me by Ole's half-time sub today that he is fully aware of this problem. I think we might need to invest in at least 1 right-side fullback before we invest in midfielders or wingers.
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They're both defensively not as good but oh boy on the front foot, they are something else.
 
It can be very very tough to break down a well organised team parking the bus, especially when we seem to be playing a game every 48 hours at the minute and everyone is knackered.

Look at Liverpool last night, in fact look at Liverpool all season against the teams in the bottom half. They're dropped a lot of points because they've struggled to break down low block teams.

Makes the win over Wolves the other night all the sweeter.
 
Well, I think that was better than usual?

The 2nd half up until the goal is more like how we should be approaching breaking teams down, it actually looked like we had an idea as to how we'd create a chance and it felt like the breakthrough was likely to come at some point. Burnley were not interested in leaving their box 2nd half at 0-0 so this could very easily have turned into Istanbul away type game where we just had no clue what to do with the ball.

Tonight we used the wide areas better and created some 2v1 and overlaps out wide. We also tried some cut backs rather than lumping aimless high balls to contest.

The quality wasn't up to scratch still. A left footed right winger who can run at players would make a big difference in this team. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and Cavani need to step it up because I don't think you can really win the league when your 4 main attacking players have been as underwhelming as these lot collectively.
 
Dominos said:
Well, I think that was better than usual?

The 2nd half up until the goal is more like how we should be approaching breaking teams down, it actually looked like we had an idea as to how we'd create a chance and it felt like the breakthrough was likely to come at some point. Burnley were not interested in leaving their box 2nd half at 0-0 so this could very easily have turned into Istanbul away type game where we just had no clue what to do with the ball.

Tonight we used the wide areas better and created some 2v1 and overlaps out wide. We also tried some cut backs rather than lumping aimless high balls to contest.

The quality wasn't up to scratch still. A left footed right winger who can run at players would make a big difference in this team. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and Cavani need to step it up because I don't think you can really win the league when your 4 main attacking players have been as underwhelming as these lot collectively.
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Definitely, the lineup was a big factor too. Unfortunately it only really clicked in the second half but this was clearly a game where we didn't need runners and needed more precision and Matic and Pogba were fantastic because of that.
 
Points wise, we're probably the best team in the league at getting results against deep blocks this season, even if many of them have felt like a struggle. We've at least gotten our heads around the fact that we don't have the players to walk the ball in against these sides like City do, or bombard them with crosses like Liverpool do. Our strength is shooting, we've got a lot of players very good at creating their own shot and striking cleanly. Have to buy a ticket and all that. We've made our own luck at times.

Pogba and Matic playing the way they did today is big for us in terms of getting into good positions, both very good linebreakers when we have the majority of possession. AWB will never give us quality end-product but at the very minimum he needs to be releasing the ball quickly and making runs in games like these, today was a good game for him in that regard.
 
A little better but Burnley were taking the game to us for thenfirst 15 minutes.

We need more ball carriers and players or a system to keep the ball. Cough cough Grealish.
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
A little better but Burnley were taking the game to us for thenfirst 15 minutes.

We need more ball carriers and players or a system to keep the ball. Cough cough Grealish.
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They will foul the feck out of him and we would not be able to build up the play most of the time. What we need is players who can control and pass the ball better.
 
Dominos said:
Well, I think that was better than usual?

The 2nd half up until the goal is more like how we should be approaching breaking teams down, it actually looked like we had an idea as to how we'd create a chance and it felt like the breakthrough was likely to come at some point. Burnley were not interested in leaving their box 2nd half at 0-0 so this could very easily have turned into Istanbul away type game where we just had no clue what to do with the ball.

Tonight we used the wide areas better and created some 2v1 and overlaps out wide. We also tried some cut backs rather than lumping aimless high balls to contest.

The quality wasn't up to scratch still. A left footed right winger who can run at players would make a big difference in this team. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and Cavani need to step it up because I don't think you can really win the league when your 4 main attacking players have been as underwhelming as these lot collectively.
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Yep, those low crosses in front of their defence was a deliberate tactic against a team that thrives off heading crosses away; and it was one of these that eventually led to Pogba's goal.

While the first half wasn't as entertaining it played a vital role in our win because the switching of play across flanks eventually started to pay dividends as Burnley started tiring in the second half.
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
A little better but Burnley were taking the game to us for thenfirst 15 minutes.

We need more ball carriers and players or a system to keep the ball. Cough cough Grealish.
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I think first half hour or so we played exactly how they'd expected us to, and had set up accordingly. We kept looking wide to the fullback, and giving them a chance to restructure in defence. We obviously had a plan to cross more to the edge of the box rather than let the Burnley defenders could just clear everything, but were getting to crossing positions so slowly that Burnley would have 8 players in position to deal with crosses by the time we got near their box.

From the moment of the VAR red card moment we played with a bit more directness, and went straight forward. Any time Pogba/Matic got the ball from defence first move was look forward and pass through the lines to Bruno/Martial/Rashford. That bit of extra intention in the passing gave Burnley less lime to organise themselves, and ultimately led to them leaving gaps as they chased back that Pogba was able to come into for the goal.
 
Shades of Istanbul away tonight in terms of looking absolutely clueless as to how to go about creating a chance. I know most fans only look at the results at the end of games to form their opinions, but I was never convinced by this team's latest run of results. The likes of Wolves, Burnley and Fulham in the last few games are unconvincing but you'll get lambasted on here for suggesting as such. Tonight's result and performance doesn't come as a surprise honestly, it feels like in games like this even against the worst team in the league that the best we can hope for is we scrape a horrible win. We've won 1 league game convincingly all season (Leeds).
 
We just don't know how to do it.

We only know how to play through the middle of the pitch, barely do we ever stretch teams wide and attack from deeper positions. We need to get to the byline a lot more and move their whole defensive line into the box. Instead we just play in front of them and barely move their defence an inch, it's so easy to play against.

add in our forwards all static like snowmen, tucked into the box where they can't receive a pass and are marked, leaving only AWB free in a deeper position.

It's no wonder we can't break teams down like this, it relies on a perfect cross into the box, it's % football.

I hope Ole makes us watch City against them next week to see how to properly play through a low block.
 
We are not (yet?) a team with players who are effective in all situations. It is important for Ole to realize which players are effective as counter-attackers and those effective against the low-block so he can play them in those situations:-

Counter-attackers-
Rashford
Bruno
Martial
Pogba
Greenwood

Low-block attackers:-
Cavani
Pogba
Van de Beek
Greenwood

1. Bruno, for all his great qualities is toothless against the low-block.
2. We don’t have enough attackers with effectiveness against the low-block.
3. This is why we should have bought Sancho
 
dabeast said:
We are not (yet?) a team with players who are effective in all situations. It is important for Ole to realize which players are effective as counter-attackers and those effective against the low-block so he can play them in those situations:-

Counter-attackers-
Rashford
Bruno
Martial
Pogba
Greenwood

Low-block attackers:-
Cavani
Pogba
Van de Beek
Greenwood

1. Bruno, for all his great qualities is toothless against the low-block.
2. We don’t have enough attackers with effectiveness against the low-block.
3. This is why we should have bought Sancho
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Bruno put through Greenwood for the chance in the first half that he took too wide, he made a great run for a cut back to Martial to head that was just blocked. Not saying he was great, but he still created more chances than others.

I do agree about Rashford and Martial, there was no need for them both in the second half, once we realised it wasn’t working. We needed VDB much earlier and anyone, literally anyone, to replace AWB so that defenders bothered going over to the right hand side of the pitch.
 
I've always thought Mata is useful against low block teams. He's good at pass and move in small tight spaces. Would help break down teams.
 
Fundamentally it's an issue with your wide play. If a team is playing in a low block, the vertical space is restricted. The counter to this is to stretch teams horizontally, generally by quickly moving the ball through midfield to generate an overload on the wing. United have exactly zero midfielders who can move the ball quickly (bar Pogba) and the wide players you have all like to cut inside rather than stay wide, a problem that's exacerbated by a poor attacking right back.

If you look at Bruno's goal, this is one of the only times in the game where an overload was created to attack a wide area - and even then it was via Maguire dribbling forward before releasing Shaw. That's hardly a sustainable way to attack - it's on Ole to figure out a way to play with actual width against low block teams. Right now far too often you just play into the oppositions' hands by helping to clog the centre.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Fundamentally it's an issue with your wide play. If a team is playing in a low block, the vertical space is restricted. The counter to this is to stretch teams horizontally, generally by quickly moving the ball through midfield to generate an overload on the wing. United have exactly zero midfielders who can move the ball quickly (bar Pogba) and the wide players you have all like to cut inside rather than stay wide, a problem that's exacerbated by a poor attacking right back.

If you look at Bruno's goal, this is one of the only times in the game where an overload was created to attack a wide area - and even then it was via Maguire dribbling forward before releasing Shaw. That's hardly a sustainable way to attack - it's on Ole to figure out a way to play with actual width against low block teams. Right now far too often you just play into the oppositions' hands by helping to clog the centre.
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Point well taken. Also, we have two attacking players, Rashford and Martial, who fancy themselves dribblers who consistently dribble into two defenders and lose possession of the ball. Rashford has the explosiveness but not the talent to beat defenders in tight spaces; Martial has the talent the beat defenders but he’s lost the explosiveness he had 3 seasons ago. Greenwood has both but is still in development. Those three are too selfish and just don’t look for the quick pass and the invention that can pick apart lesser clubs.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Fundamentally it's an issue with your wide play. If a team is playing in a low block, the vertical space is restricted. The counter to this is to stretch teams horizontally, generally by quickly moving the ball through midfield to generate an overload on the wing. United have exactly zero midfielders who can move the ball quickly (bar Pogba) and the wide players you have all like to cut inside rather than stay wide, a problem that's exacerbated by a poor attacking right back.

If you look at Bruno's goal, this is one of the only times in the game where an overload was created to attack a wide area - and even then it was via Maguire dribbling forward before releasing Shaw. That's hardly a sustainable way to attack - it's on Ole to figure out a way to play with actual width against low block teams. Right now far too often you just play into the oppositions' hands by helping to clog the centre.
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Agree I've said for a while that our use of the wide areas is very poor and we don't utilise the overlap effectively very often.

Frankly it shouldn't matter what our wide players want to do, they need to follow instructions. If staying wide and creating 2v1 via overlaps is what is going to get us more wins, that's what they need to do. It all comes back to coaching again.
 
lex talionis said:
Point well taken. Also, we have two attacking players, Rashford and Martial, who fancy themselves dribblers who consistently dribble into two defenders and lose possession of the ball. Rashford has the explosiveness but not the talent to beat defenders in tight spaces; Martial has the talent the beat defenders but he’s lost the explosiveness he had 3 seasons ago. Greenwood has both but is still in development. Those three are too selfish and just don’t look for the quick pass and the invention that can pick apart lesser clubs.
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Yeah I think a lot of the time your players aren't placed in the optimal positions to succeed. It's been said elsewhere, but I agree with the (seeming) consensus that United are over-reliant on individualism for success rather than through a cohesive system.

Personally I think some sort of 3-4-1-2 would be interesting:

----------Rashford----Cavani-------------
---------------------Bruno----------------------
Shaw---Fred-----McT----Greenwood
-------Telles------Maguire---AWB------
-----------------Henderson------------------

Probably couldn't use this against the Burnleys of the world, but this way you have Telles as a weapon to cross from deep areas, Shaw on the overlap, Greenwood to mostly stay high and wide to provide an outlet with AWB in behind, a proactive goalkeeper to help make up for the slight downgrade aerially (though I think Maguire, Shaw, Cavani, McTominay, and Greenwood are probably sufficient to cope with most sides). Plus when out of possession, Shaw can step back into the centre with Telles going wider. Obviously this is somewhat inspired by Tuchel's use of CHO at wing back against low block teams - his usage in that position has really been a revelation in terms of our ability to stretch opponents horizontally.

Dominos said:
Agree I've said for a while that our use of the wide areas is very poor and we don't utilise the overlap effectively very often.

Frankly it shouldn't matter what our wide players want to do, they need to follow instructions. If staying wide and creating 2v1 via overlaps is what is going to get us more wins, that's what they need to do. It all comes back to coaching again.
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Agreed. I really wonder whether creating these sorts of situations is prioritised at all in training - right before Bruno's goal vs. Everton I believe you had an actual 3v2 opportunity on the wing, but no one actually tried to take advantage of the situation by making a diagonal run towards the penalty area. Obviously it worked out thanks to Bruno's brilliance, but that doesn't seem a sustainable way to create an attacking framework if you ask me.
 
I wonder if specific coaching for wingers is given in the academy.

The problem starts there. We should be able to produce homegrown talent for wide positions.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Fundamentally it's an issue with your wide play. If a team is playing in a low block, the vertical space is restricted. The counter to this is to stretch teams horizontally, generally by quickly moving the ball through midfield to generate an overload on the wing. United have exactly zero midfielders who can move the ball quickly (bar Pogba) and the wide players you have all like to cut inside rather than stay wide, a problem that's exacerbated by a poor attacking right back.

If you look at Bruno's goal, this is one of the only times in the game where an overload was created to attack a wide area - and even then it was via Maguire dribbling forward before releasing Shaw. That's hardly a sustainable way to attack - it's on Ole to figure out a way to play with actual width against low block teams. Right now far too often you just play into the oppositions' hands by helping to clog the centre.
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Agree completely. The way we played against Southampton should be the prototype of how we play against teams that sit back and defend. Obviously Southampton were down to 10 men but the way we played by using the width and stretching the play was perfect to take advantage of any team sitting back.

Today our wide attackers weren't getting involved, Bruno's first half was the worst he's played since joining us, Fred had probably his worst game of the season, Cavani was invisible in the second half...we just weren't able to build anything. But over the top of it all it was our lack of width that seemed to be limiting us.
 
Dominos said:
Agree I've said for a while that our use of the wide areas is very poor and we don't utilise the overlap effectively very often.

Frankly it shouldn't matter what our wide players want to do, they need to follow instructions. If staying wide and creating 2v1 via overlaps is what is going to get us more wins, that's what they need to do. It all comes back to coaching again.
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Technically, yes; part of learning to win is learning to 'stoop' to do whatever it takes to win. Once teams see you'll 'stoop' to that level, then it's they who are forced to try something else and then options open up for you.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are any instructions beyond: "sort of play like this".

Maybe Ole's keenly aware that Fred and McT will never have the passing chops to execute this and they'll more often than not end up in lost possession/counter attacks.

It's baffling that it's virtually never tried to the point that it looks like it's being instructed against, if anything.
 
It's the same thing that's been an issue for so long now. We ignored the right wing for years, and resort to playing forwards/scorers in the wide positions rather than creators. We need a natural right sided creator (Sancho), and then we'll have a threat on both wings, help out the fullbacks on both wings naturally, and open up space for Bruno in the middle as a result. It'll also balance out the front 3/4. Greenwood/Rashford/Martial are all scorer types, forwards, none are creators who will look to play the pass and create first before scoring. We need someone like that in our front 3. Bruno is also a scorer, but he creates loads so he's perfect as a 10, but we definitely need a mass creator type on the right wing to help feed the striker and left wing and ease the burden from the forwards on the left side. Playing 2 forward/scorer types as your wingers only works if your striker really is a firmino type who is exclusively a creator, but like Liverpool do they also have very creative fullbacks to give creativity from the wide positions.

Sort that out, and it'll be far better. To take a further step forward, get Pogba in the midfield 2 behind Bruno, and get a defensive mid who can actually hold that midfield together (like Ndidi). And then lastly get a CB who won't be soft as feck on aerial duels or won't be out-paced by average pace forwards, and start a goalkeeper who will actually come for crosses sometimes. That's what's needed to actually start winning the big trophies. We've improved a lot. But you can't win the title with so many gaps in your team. Football is a game where the weakest link probably plays a bigger role than the strongest piece, and when we have players who "do a job" in 4 of the starting 11 positions (RW, CB, #6 and #8), then it's not going to be enough for consistency at the highest level. I mean we have Paul Pogba and can't even use him next to Bruno properly because we don't have a defensive mid who can do a normal defensive midfielder job, but instead have to play both Fred and McTominay (and still concede loads of goals, despite having fullbacks who are very strong defensively).
 
DRJosh said:
AWB looks jittery every time he ventures forward. He has always been more comfortable in his own half. We really need to sort the full back issue if counter-attacking is going to be a vital part of our game.

I was particularly amazed at how many times AWB decided to cut back rather than take on a player. It’s almost as if the rest of the team are resigned to his lack of attacking prowess and typically opt to go through the left with Rashford, Telles and Shaw.

Just imagine if we had a prime-Evra type of player bombing forward at every opportunity.
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Shaw is that guy. Our only world class player.

Our main problem, I feel, is in the centre of midfield. Fred and McTominay are not good enough on the ball to dictate the tempo, build attacks, or create chances. Bruno is the opposite. He forces the issue too often, and plays low percentage balls when patience is required. I would like to see Bruno played as a false nine with Greenwood and Rashford in support. Pogba is very important to this team, love him or hate him. He has the ability on the ball that our other midfielders lack. I would like to see us sign Tielemans from Leicester. Tielemans, McTominay, and Pogba would be a good blend of attributes in midfield.
 
The main issue still lies with the coaching. Our team has been trained to attack the space, counter attack effectively. But, individual player quality can only take you so far when coming up against an organized, low block defence when the coaching level is not upto the required standard. Take any template for example, whether Man city, Liverpool or Leicester, they all involve quick recycling of the ball, precise passing, sharp movement, overloads and most of all, a clear pattern of play, that the players can rely upon, not hack it as you go as we so often do, and consequently keep making the same mistakes as there is no defined system. People keep mentioning the need to buy more creative players, but a creative player cannot create out of nothing, maybe once or twice, but in order to create consistently, he needs a clear pattern or situation which will bring out the best in him.

Even after failing repeatedly against low block teams, Ole is yet to show that he has come up with something effective against such tactics. I honestly think that he has reached his limit as a head coach, and if we were a proactive club, we would be wise in moving on from Ole.
 
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I just have a basic question, why don't any of our forwards/wingers try to run inside the box with the ball.. its almost always a cross or a lob that's attempted... Is it just a confidence thing or are they being instructed to cross only..
 
Eternitiy said:
Shaw is that guy. Our only world class player.

Our main problem, I feel, is in the centre of midfield. Fred and McTominay are not good enough on the ball to dictate the tempo, build attacks, or create chances. Bruno is the opposite. He forces the issue too often, and plays low percentage balls when patience is required. I would like to see Bruno played as a false nine with Greenwood and Rashford in support. Pogba is very important to this team, love him or hate him. He has the ability on the ball that our other midfielders lack. I would like to see us sign Tielemans from Leicester. Tielemans, McTominay, and Pogba would be a good blend of attributes in midfield.
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Well said. Shaw is great but we need competition for AWB on the right.

Tielemans would be a great fit. Ndidi would be a great midfield addition too. All solid players positionally and technically.
 
Satissh12 said:
I just have a basic question, why don't any of our forwards/wingers try to run inside the box with the ball.. its almost always a cross or a lob that's attempted... Is it just a confidence thing or are they being instructed to cross only..
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I think they do try to mix it up.

What frustrates me is when someone gets into the box and then passes back out of it. If you're in the box they automatically have to give you a bit more space or risk fouling, take him on!
 
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