[Raw]

Views on the game from Sir Bobby himself

 

[RedFish]

Abysmal performance. Pitch seemed decent enough and there was plenty of space for us to attack, but we didn't attack as a unit. Very slow in the build up, hence poor penetration into the danger areas. We need to play the game quicker in the head, know where we want to pass it before receiving the ball. Where the heck is the instinctiveness in our play? The players look as if they've never played together before and I have to say LVG is not helping this with his inconsistent team selection and team shape. Valencia is not a full back and was lucky not to cost the team a goal with that dreadful back pass. Thank goodness for Hererra who brings some much needed fluidity to our play. His goal was classy. Blind showed again his quality, even though his compass was a bit off, by his very high standards. Young was very capable and the less said about Falcao the better.

 

[sunama]

Need to play with the urgency we showed at 1-0 at the start of game. Blitz teams with wave of wave of attack instead of boring ourselves with possession between our defenders before hoofing it.

I love possession football. I was looking forward to it the day LVG's arrival was announced.
But like you said, passing it between defenders before playing a longball to your striker (or attacking midfielder), is not possession football and it isn't good to watch.
I'll call it the possession/hoof tactic.

 

[marlowe78]

This FA Cup season has been...interesting...

We didn't show any kind of push until we went down a goal, which seems to be too frequent with us now. This probably ties into LVG's approach of patient possession football but a quick turn of foot is what will more likely cut open teams in the lower divisions. Our buildup in the first half was too labored and we never got a serious look at goal.

Hurting us was the lack of pace shown by Falcao and Rooney, who couldn't get to through-balls quickly enough and kept causing our attack to break down. Rooney I could excuse because he hasn't played in the striker role for weeks, but Falcao was simply awful and should've come off at halftime. There were a few balls that were played through by Di Maria and Rooney that Falcao in previous seasons would've been able to make something of, but absolutely nothing was coming off. I think the Falcao experiment needs to end and Wilson should have his playing time increased.

The Preston goal came off a bad luck deflection but I don't think our defenders were particularly good today. Smalling won a few good battles in the air but he looked shaky with his positioning and seemed to have trouble holding ground against the Preston attackers. Rojo was also sloppy with the ball. Shaw was probably best of the four and covered the touchline well. The ball had a grenade-like quality in our backfield, as usual.

It should be obvious now that Herrara gives us that extra something where chances are created and we look a bit more dangerous. Fellaini also should be starting against any kind of physical side since he gives us the height and strength that we lack. Young was an ideal sub, as he kept switching sides to open up the game. I'm pleased with how well he's done this season.

Congrats also to Rooney for getting back on the scoresheet. It's been a long time!

 

[RedFish]

This FA Cup season has been...interesting...

We didn't show any kind of push until we went down a goal, which seems to be too frequent with us now. This probably ties into LVG's approach of patient possession football but a quick turn of foot is what will more likely cut open teams in the lower divisions. Our buildup in the first half was too labored and we never got a serious look at goal.

Hurting us was the lack of pace shown by Falcao and Rooney, who couldn't get to through-balls quickly enough and kept causing our attack to break down. Rooney I could excuse because he hasn't played in the striker role for weeks, but Falcao was simply awful and should've come off at halftime. There were a few balls that were played through by Di Maria and Rooney that Falcao in previous seasons would've been able to make something of, but absolutely nothing was coming off. I think the Falcao experiment needs to end and Wilson should have his playing time increased.

The Preston goal came off a bad luck deflection but I don't think our defenders were particularly good today. Smalling won a few good battles in the air but he looked shaky with his positioning and seemed to have trouble holding ground against the Preston attackers. Rojo was also sloppy with the ball. Shaw was probably best of the four and covered the touchline well. The ball had a grenade-like quality in our backfield, as usual.

It should be obvious now that Herrara gives us that extra something where chances are created and we look a bit more dangerous. Fellaini also should be starting against any kind of physical side since he gives us the height and strength that we lack. Young was an ideal sub, as he kept switching sides to open up the game. I'm pleased with how well he's done this season.

Congrats also to Rooney for getting back on the scoresheet. It's been a long time!

Provides much needed variation in pace, is always looking to create chances in and around the box with quick incisive passing/ give and go's, and has got an eye for goal. He reminds me a little of Scholes. Should be a regular starter.

 

[The Man Himself]

Not really a question of obstruction.

In the split second the action unfolded, the keeper can't be expected to say to himself, 'Rooney is offside, so I can ignore him, and dive to my right as if he wasn't there. " He's more likely to think, 'I can't dive to my right, because if I do, Rooney will tap the ball into the opposite corner.'

So Rooney's presence may have influenced the outcome.

If we go by the rule, Rooney can't be said to be obstructing and that's what ref will consider. Keeper should have dived for the ball regardless because if he was aware that Rooney was in offside position, Rooney tapping in opposite corner would have been disallowed anyway.

 

[Gannicus]

Another poor first half performance, but as soon as Falcao came off we were a vastly better side and we earned the win.

Roo was not offside.
Fellaini did push the defender, but it was a good no call.
Roo made Louganis proud to top off the tank.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Cant bealive the hoopla about the penalty-slow news day I guess. The only thing Wayne didnt do correctly was to get a touch from the keeper. What Wayne tried to do is an excepted part of the game. If the goalie had pulled out of the tackle before reaching Wayne, that would be a different then.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

Cant bealive the hoopla about the penalty-slow news day I guess. The only thing Wayne didnt do correctly was to get a touch from the keeper. What Wayne tried to do is an excepted part of the game. If the goalie had pulled out of the tackle before reaching Wayne, that would be a different then.

I think there's still a prevailing thing in English football culture that footballers should be 'hard men'. I don't think most people would say the challenge wasn't worthy of a penalty, the problem people have is that they think that Rooney avoiding contact and not getting his leg smashed means that in some way he didn't 'earn' it. It's probably a hangover from the macho heyday of English football in the 80s that some fans and pundits like to get all nostalgic about.

 

[Sultan]

Can't believe the technical talk on the forum. United should under normal circumstances be beating teams such as Preston with ease regardless of formations or choice of players.

 

[montpelier]

It's an obvious dive/yellow card. Rooney makes no attempt to land his right foot on the floor to keep him stood up. Does it extremely well, mind. Could easily have stayed on is feet for me.

Personally I'd also disallow the goal for offside though I do accept you can argue otherwise by stretching this ludicrous offside Law quite a long way. Wayne looks pretty 'active' to me given he's in the 6 yard box and is putting off the GK.

About time we got a few of these though, innit?

 

[ravelston]

Can't believe the technical talk on the forum. United should under normal circumstances be beating teams such as Preston with ease regardless of formations or choice of players.

Indeed. Just like Chelsea should be beating Bradford and City should be beating Middlesborough. Somehow these things turn out to be not as easy as we expect.

 

[ravelston]

It's an obvious dive/yellow card. Rooney makes no attempt to land his right foot on the floor to keep him stood up. Does it extremely well, mind. Could easily have stayed on is feet for me.

Personally I'd also disallow the goal for offside though I do accept you can argue otherwise by stretching this ludicrous offside Law quite a long way. Wayne looks pretty 'active' to me given he's in the 6 yard box and is putting off the GK.

About time we got a few of these though, innit?

Wrong on both. The keeper fell foul of either "kicks or attempts to kick an opponent" or "trips or attempts to trip an opponent". In either case, as the offense was in the penalty area, it's a penalty. That Rooney avoided being either kicked or tripped is irrelevant - what matters was the goalkeeper's action.

The "offside" was a perfect example of case 7 in the interpretations. In the absence of movements or gestures intended to put the keeper off, it's not offside.

 

[Spoony]

Indeed. Just like Chelsea should be beating Bradford and City should be beating Middlesborough. Somehow these things turn out to be not as easy as we expect.

True. But I suspect they've got bigger fish to fry. The FA Cup is the only chance we've get of adding silverware to our collection, this season.

 

[montpelier]

Wrong on both. The keeper fell foul of either "kicks or attempts to kick an opponent" or "trips or attempts to trip an opponent". In either case, as the offense was in the penalty area, it's a penalty. That Rooney avoided being either kicked or tripped is irrelevant - what matters was the goalkeeper's action.

The "offside" was a perfect example of case 7 in the interpretations. In the absence of movements or gestures intended to put the keeper off, it's not offside.

I still don't agree but I did think last night that GKs are generally allowed to be more 'reckless' than outfield players - what is a foul regardless of contact, and as you describe, is automatically penalised in normal play but some slightly different interpretation occurs for keepers in the box. - as they slide wildly out for balls they are not reaching and requiring forwards to get out of the way.

(Chesney at Arsenal has a fair bit of previous for wiping out forwards but not being red carded for the dangerous play)

 

[siw2007]

The argument over Herrera's goal being offside reminds me vaguely of Jonny Evans's own goal against Newcastle in December 2012. There was huge debate over whether Cisse's presence in the offside position had any bearing on the goal and we are similarly looking at whether Rooney was doing the same. Of course we will say that Cisse was off and Rooney was on while opposition fans will say the opposite. Just goes to show the hypocrisy in football fans I guess.

This debate over Rooney is really annoying and you can see that it is not quite a clear cut call. For me it comes down to two questions. The first did Rooney dive? The answer is YES. You can quite clearly see that there was no contact being made and that he jumped over the challenge. The second question is was it a penalty? In my opinion YES. Rooney has knocked the ball past the keeper and he has come flying out, two footed in order to intercept it. The goalie has failed this and is either going to be taking out Rooney or forcing Rooney to jump over. That is a foul whatever Rooney decides to do and the goalie had to be punished for it (in someways, Rooney is partially irrelevant in the matter).
Rooney's dive might not have been pleasant viewing but when we look past this English bravado, 'evasive action' from strikers is smart and quite often the correct thing to do.

 

[GeneralGattuso]

All 3 of our goals were perfectly fine. It wasn't offside, it wasn't a foul (although I would say this is the one people can actually argue over) and the third was a reckless challenge, which doesn't need to make contact to be a foul!

As for the general performance it wasn't so bad, especially when we got going. But Smalling looks like he is going to crap himself everytime the ball comes near him, he panics. Valencia can't pass - even simple passes, under no pressure, went out of play or to the opposition. Fellaini has no first touch when balls are played to his feet, which is probably why he is more suited to playing upfront where high balls come in for him to head/chest down. Herrera should be starting and Rooney should be upfront (as nearly everyone has said).

 

[dsch]

http://www.theguardian.com/football...orry-fa-cup-penalty-manchester-united-preston

Stuckmann is adamant the penalty should not have been awarded.

“I say it clear: ‘That was no penalty,’” he said. “I also believe that, if the situation had happened the other way around, one of our strikers against the United keeper, the ref wouldn’t have given the penalty. I have no doubt about that.”

Hold your breaths, everyone: bringing the game into disrepute charge coming up for Stuckmann.

 

[Stan Jefferson]

http://www.theguardian.com/football...orry-fa-cup-penalty-manchester-united-preston



Hold your breaths, everyone: bringing the game into disrepute charge coming up for Stuckmann.

How about davies not being sent off? What if that was the other way around and it was rooney? Bellend.

 

[rover]

fellaini occupied the tip of the midfield, but he couldn't link up the play nor provided much service to falcao. roonie failed to help him in the play making role neither. that's the reason why we were not productive in our attack.

for the game i smelt some retaliation from lvg though.

fans cried for playing herrera and he played the game.
fans cried for rooney playing as a striker and he gave you rooney as a striker.
fans cried for adm to play in midfield where he made himself famous at his last season at madrid, and he played you adm there...

and then you get the result as shown in the first half. funny

 

[sunama]

In the Summer, he will probably buy 2-3 players, so the team we have now, is pretty much the same team we will play with next year and probably win the title with.
LVG is trying out different formations to find his best team and formation, for next year.
If that means to try out formations which the fans are demanding, there is no harm in this.
Ultimately, its about LVG finding out what his best formation is and which position each player on the pitch can do a good job for us, is.

IMO, we already have the tactic/system/players which allows us to concede very few goals, if not the least goals (which is inline with title winning form).
But he now needs to figure out a good system of attack.