[Alex Styles]

Why not Mata as 10 and Rooney the one striker? What more does Rooney offer to the team than Mata as 10?

ok. on current form RVP and Falcrap don't offer much so I guess it would make sense to play Rooney as the one striker.

 

[sunama]

RVP is injured, so lets see who LVG puts up front.
Fellaini, Rooney, Di Maria, Falcao, Smalling. Who will it be?

 

[Zoo]

Why not Mata as 10 and Rooney the one striker? What more does Rooney offer to the team than Mata as 10?

Yeah Rooney with Mata looks our best bet right now, it needs to be tried and hopefully we can stick with it until the end of the season.

 

[ZDwyr]

I thought it was one of our better performances in a while. Some of our build-up play was quite good, we just were poor with the final pass or finishing. Don't think we deserved to lose, but there has been games where we didn't deserve to win so I guess it evens out. Frustrating.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

I thought it was one of our better performances in a while. Some of our build-up play was quite good, we just were poor with the final pass or finishing. Don't think we deserved to lose, but there has been games where we didn't deserve to win so I guess it evens out. Frustrating.

Agreed.

 

[beergod]

I thought we played fairly well until they went ahead, we were dominant and it appeared we would grind out a second. They sucker punched us and we spazzed out in the last 20 minutes.

We need to play only one striker because the lot of them couldn't score in a brothel at this point.

 

[rover]

another game to meet with fans dream lineup: herrera and adm in midfield with rooney upfront

another game fans roared with anger after losing it.

indeed, i assure this is another game which twisted the lvg's arse

there is a reason why rooney has been played in midfield. we don't have a player doing what flectcher once offered for us, that every team would have need one for balance. rooney is the one most close to the profile. we need him there more than in upfront, for this season at least.

if we need a poacher chicharito can be even a better one

 

[RedPnutz]

Good game, unlucky result.

So the majority of fans got what they wanted, four at the back, herrera in midfield, di maria NOT playing upfront, Falcao out, and Rooney up top.

So why the complaining? We played with better tempo, more attacking intent; a much less boring style of play. So we lost, shit happens.

When we play boring, low risk football fans moan moan moan about how we were lucky to scrape a good run with dire performances.

Well, today we weren't so boring but our defence looked more shaky. Maybe just maybe the 'boring' style allowed us to be a little more watertight and pile the probabilities in our favour.

Seems at the moment our squad is not ready or not good enough to play pretty and win smash teams.

 

[utdalltheway]

We had a ton more shots than they did but they had double our shots on goal. Tells a lot, sadly.
Piss poor result.
In general, why is it that we seem to have better 2nd halves?
I suppose the halftime talk and subs make us better but you'd think LVG would get it right, from the beginning.

 

[NoPace]

I thought we looked like 2/3rds of a good team today, which is a massive improvement. We desperately need some movement and better link play in attack.

 

[noodlehair]

Funny how this was exactly something I was thinking. Seems to always be McNair involved one way or another as well.

It shouldn't be that I as a fan can sit there and say "he'll have to change that at half time", or "he'll have to take him off" and know 100% that I'll be right...but it happens in about half our games, maybe more.

It's happened a couple of times with McNair...or there was the time he started Carrick at centreback when he didn't have to...or the time he started Fletcher ON HIS OWN in central midfield...or the time he did the same with Fellaini...or when he tried to play Herrera about 5 days after he'd broken his ribs.

It's complete and utter idiocy. The most annoying thing is how United fans wont just call it for what it is. As long as we cling on undeservedly to a top 4 spot people just pretend Van Gaal is doing a good job. If we drop to 5th or 6th suddenly the tune will change, even though there's been no single point during the season when our performances have suggested we should be any higher than that.

 

[holyland red]

Maybe Tony V was tired. And Jones has been playing well when fit. People seize on anything our defenders do to have a crack at them. It's a merry go round. One week Smalling, next Jones, then Rojo. It's always Evans' turn of course. Perhaps with good reason.

If anything I'd say the biggest factor in our stuttering form right now is the lack of Carrick. Blind is an excellent footballer, but Carrick has a much better defensive reading of the game, and the passing ability to stay deep.

Tired? Those midweek CL games are ruining our season, aren't they? I don't think Jones was particularly bad, although his needless booking provided his mandatory moment of mindlessness.

I do think it was a fine performance overall, perhaps our best away performance of the season (I missed the Spurs game). Considering our record so far I think finishing 6th-7th would be a fair reflection of our performances.

 

[Dunk]

We were awful. I don't know where some of you lot get the idea we've improved. Swansea quite clearly let us play our passing game on the edge of their box, because they are not a defensive unit that defends from the front which created the illusion we played well. That was probably one of the easiest games they've had on their ground. They had double our shots on target because we didn't get any clear cut chances.

I watched the whole game and I'm not gonna put the blinders on and pretend everything's hunky dory. At one-one in the second half my head was in my hands in despair at our monotone performance. And that was before they scored. Simply, we didn't look like anywhere near scoring a second.

 

[ZDwyr]

We were awful. I don't know where some of you lot get the idea we've improved. Swansea quite clearly let us play our passing game on the edge of their box, because they are not a defensive unit that defends from the front which created the illusion we played well. That was probably one of the easiest games they've had on their ground. They had double our shots on target because we didn't get any clear cut chances.

I watched the whole game and I'm not gonna put the blinders on and pretend everything's hunky dory. At one-one in the second half my head was in my hands in despair at our monotone performance. And that was before they scored. Simply, we didn't look like anywhere near scoring a second.

I don't think anyone is doing that. Those who have mentioned some positives have simply said it was an improvement on what we have seen recently.

 

[Acole9]

I can't see how for the life of me van Gaal thought we played well. Apart from the brilliant bit of play for the Herrera goal I think this is the worst I've seen us play all season quite possibly bar the MK Dons match.

 

[Getsme]

We created very very little in terms of real chances, in truth Swansea created the clearer cut chances and could easily have been leading by half time. This is the same Swansea team had only won one league game this year, the same Swansea team that got humiliated by Chelsea in their own back yard only a few weeks ago, a Swansea team beaten comfortably by WBA in their last game, this Swansea team have now done the double on us.

It seems to be a recurring theme in our play, we play well for 20 minutes or so but the other 70 is snooze fest. If this is the best we've played away this season then God help us when we actually play a half decent team. What's is it now? 16 points from our last 10 games?

 

[Kostur]

We created very very little in terms of real chances, in truth Swansea created the clearer cut chances and could easily have been leading by half time. This is the same Swansea team had only won one league game this year, the same Swansea team that got humiliated by Chelsea in their own back yard only a few weeks ago, a Swansea team beaten comfortably by WBA in their last game, this Swansea team have now done the double on us.

It seems to be a recurring theme in our play, we play well for 20 minutes or so but the other 70 is snooze fest. If this is the best we've played away this season then God help us when we actually play a half decent team. What's is it now? 16 points from our last 10 games?

'Just 2 defeats in 17 games' and 'if we take out 10 first games we're first lol'.

Been saying that there's a very, very thin line between being 3rd and 5th in current standings and with other teams picking up pace, we'll be fecked. At the moment (and basically whole season) I'd say that our 3rd/4th is more dependent on how other teams do (hopefully they all drop like flies due to fatigue in EL/CL) rather than what we actually present.

Our away form is as staggering as our home form last year, I've had a good laugh when people suggested that we'd easily beat Swans and Toon away in the 'next 10/8' games predictions thread. Newcastle away could as well be our downfall because we're going to walk through hell after it.

 

[Colin Gibson]

There were positives and negatives from the game yesterday, just like there have been in most games this season. Yes it was frustrating to watch, but we've played worse and won.

For the people climbing into LVG - what's the solution? Get rid? Change managers every f***ing season? I notice nobody is suggesting a single alternative.

Yes this season's tough to watch just as last season was. Effectively it appears that LVG realised early on that he'd have to pursue a pragmatic style of football to get us into the Top 4 and build from there. I wish things were better but maybe we can't have the instant gratification that so many have grown to expect.

 

[Getsme]

'Just 2 defeats in 17 games' and 'if we take out 10 first games we're first lol'.

Been saying that there's a very, very thin line between being 3rd and 5th in current standings and with other teams picking up pace, we'll be fecked. At the moment (and basically whole season) I'd say that our 3rd/4th is more dependent on how other teams do (hopefully they all drop like flies due to fatigue in EL/CL) rather than what we actually present.

Our away form is as staggering as our home form last year, I've had a good laugh when people suggested that we'd easily beat Swans and Toon away in the 'next 10/8' games predictions thread. Newcastle away could as well be our downfall because we're going to walk through hell after it.

Take out the first 10 games and we're first argument is laughable and stinks of people clutching at straws, it's as cringe worthy as the RAWK alternative table.

Other teams are picking up pace, Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton and Spurs are all ahead of us in the form table, not only that but they are gaining more and more momentum while we are at best standing still.
As you rightly said our away form is awful, 7 points from 6 games, but sure we've only lost one of those games so it's nothing to be concerned about. Like you, I can't see us getting anything from the Newcastle game, or any other away game this year.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

Our biggest problem is gavin three forwards stealing almost half a million a week from the club who are living on last glories and need to be shipped out at the first available oportunity

 

[RikRuud]

We gave up towards the end. The tactics were all wrong from Van Gaal. The players should have been looking to get down the outside to make things happen from wide areas. Instead we were treated to 2012 Stoke City football for the last 10 mins. It does not work for us so we ned to stop it.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Just got back from vacation and haven't seen the game! Someone accurately tell me how we played?

 

[Jazz]

We just need to move on from this.

Our biggest problem is gavin three forwards stealing almost half a million a week from the club who are living on last glories and need to be shipped out at the first available oportunity

This is definitely a problem.

 

[ChrisG11]

Watched the game back last night and I must say, we were very unlucky to lose. As a team it's probably the most entertaining weve played that system all season and I can't really say anyone had a bad game apart from maybe van Persie and Di Maria.

We had a gameplan and we were executing it well. Stay solid while Swansea press higher in the first half and then when they're knackered and sit back in the 2nd, bring more offensive players on and probe for a winner. It was going great, they were penned in, we were creating opportunities, the pressure was mounting and it seemed like only a matter of time. Football is a messy game though, and there's some things you can't plan for as a coach; say, a long range effort cannoning in off a strikers head as he tries to get out of the way.

A rare piece of misfortune has seen us drop three points which is frustrating because we've got a tough run coming up. The result however doesn't reflect our progress and I firmly believe we are capable of getting points against the tougher opposition in the league. If anything, we've got more chance, because they will leave themselves more exposed than lower league sides, the Arsenal game a perfect example.

 

[Oneunited26]

'Just 2 defeats in 17 games' and 'if we take out 10 first games we're first lol'.

Been saying that there's a very, very thin line between being 3rd and 5th in current standings and with other teams picking up pace, we'll be fecked. At the moment (and basically whole season) I'd say that our 3rd/4th is more dependent on how other teams do (hopefully they all drop like flies due to fatigue in EL/CL) rather than what we actually present.

Our away form is as staggering as our home form last year, I've had a good laugh when people suggested that we'd easily beat Swans and Toon away in the 'next 10/8' games predictions thread. Newcastle away could as well be our downfall because we're going to walk through hell after it.

The worry is what no one has pointed out, van gaal has not won a premier league game home and away when we go behind in games, when we lose the first goal we don't win.

 

[Oneunited26]

Watched the game back last night and I must say, we were very unlucky to lose. As a team it's probably the most entertaining weve played that system all season and I can't really say anyone had a bad game apart from maybe van Persie and Di Maria.

We had a gameplan and we were executing it well. Stay solid while Swansea press higher in the first half and then when they're knackered and sit back in the 2nd, bring more offensive players on and probe for a winner. It was going great, they were penned in, we were creating opportunities, the pressure was mounting and it seemed like only a matter of time. Football is a messy game though, and there's some things you can't plan for as a coach; say, a long range effort cannoning in off a strikers head as he tries to get out of the way.

A rare piece of misfortune has seen us drop three points which is frustrating because we've got a tough run coming up. The result however doesn't reflect our progress and I firmly believe we are capable of getting points against the tougher opposition in the league. If anything, we've got more chance, because they will leave themselves more exposed than lower league sides, the Arsenal game a perfect example.

And arsenal fans can say they should have beaten us

 

[Yorkeontop]

Who was the ref? I quite like that guy. I remember a commentator talking about how he rarely sends a player off - I think it was him. Look at the way he handled Fellaini - was probably a bit too lenient in the end - but another ref sends the big guy off.

 

[ChrisG11]

And arsenal fans can say they should have beaten us

They could yes, what's your point?

 

[Oneunited26]

They could yes, what's your point?

To say we were unlucky against swansea says it all about the current team, we can look back at games when we were also lucky and could have easily lost. I don't think any of us could use the word luck when you see how we have won some games, so it balances it out how lucky and unlucky the team have been. Where we are! we deserve to be, but if that is van gaals plan to stay solid against swansea, it makes us question, how far the team has fallen?

The plan by van gaal is the man who built his house on sand, If we don't score the first goal, we don't win. So his game plan does not work especially if we go behind in games, and he's relying on the home form in hope to get the top 4

 

[SirFergie]

We were awful. I don't know where some of you lot get the idea we've improved. Swansea quite clearly let us play our passing game on the edge of their box, because they are not a defensive unit that defends from the front which created the illusion we played well. That was probably one of the easiest games they've had on their ground. They had double our shots on target because we didn't get any clear cut chances.

Have to agree with this, unfortunately. You got the distinct feeling that we were playing exactly the way Swansea wanted us to in that 2nd half. Although, if it wasn't for the ineptitude of our so-called big players we would have scored a 2nd goal.

 

[ChrisG11]

To say we were unlucky against swansea says it all about the current team, we can look back at games when we were also lucky and could have easily lost. I don't think any of us could use the word luck when you see how we have won some games, so it balances it out how lucky and unlucky the team have been. Where we are! we deserve to be, but if that is van gaals plan to stay solid against swansea, it makes us question, how far the team has fallen?

The plan by van gaal is the man who built his house on sand, If we don't score the first goal, we don't win. So his game plan does not work especially if we go behind in games, and he's relying on the home form in hope to get the top 4

Well yes, it does say it all about the current team. We play our players in their desired positions, play better football and lose. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, at no point in my post did I suggest we haven't been fortunate so far this season in certain games.

 

[Name Changed]

We weren't unlucky at all, we were poor. The name of the game is not about keeping possession, it's about scoring goals. Playing with the ball in midfield for most of the game whilst making very few chances does not make us unlucky. Swansea had more shots on target. We have no dynamism, no pace. It wasn't unlucky at all.

 

[Oneunited26]

Well yes, it does say it all about the current team. We play our players in their desired positions, play better football and lose. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, at no point in my post did I suggest we haven't been fortunate so far this season in certain games.

The point is? Don't think any of us can use the word fortunate, when we have won games where we have looked awful. It just shows we get found out where other games have not, look at arsenal, if they were more clinical it would have been a long day

 

[ChrisG11]

The point is? Don't think any of us can use the word fortunate, when we have won games where we have looked awful.

So we were unlucky to win the games we played awful in?! You've completely lost me.

 

[ChrisG11]

We weren't unlucky at all, we were poor. The name of the game is not about keeping possession, it's about scoring goals. Playing with the ball in midfield for most of the game whilst making very few chances does not make us unlucky. Swansea had more shots on target. We have no dynamism, no pace. It wasn't unlucky at all.

Of course it was. We set up with a gameplan over 90 minutes and just as we began to exploit Swansea and pen them back, they got a goal completely against the run of play through a deflected shot from range which wouldn't have gone in otherwise. Are you one of these fans that believes because we're United we should be 3 goals up against every team below the top four before half time because we won some titles a few seasons ago? Football doesn't work like that.

Anyone with any sort of understanding of football will have spotted our approach to the game realised it is filled with complete sense and logic. There are things in football you can't prepare for though. I had no idea what the other lad is on about either, considering I'm only talking about this game in particular.

 

[Amir]

I guess the idea is that things even up. Sometimes you play badly and win. Sometimes you play well and lose. We had both....

 

[ChrisG11]

I guess the idea is that things even up. Sometimes you play badly and win. Sometimes you play well and lose. We had both....

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. I never suggested otherwise though, my point was that despite the result, we shouldn't now start filling our minds with doom because of the result when the performance as a whole was actually one of our better ones, despite losing.

 

[Oneunited26]

So we were unlucky to win the games we played awful in?! You've completely lost me.

Well you should not be lost, and that is exactly what has happened, we had won quiet a few games we were lucky to win. But we were not unlucky against Swansea, and unless it's a Pompey at OT in the fa cup In 08, that is what I would call unlucky. You look at the games we could have lost and won, we should be thankful we had points on the board.

Because under this team, if we go behind in games we ain't winning. That alone is a risky strategy, that we have to get the first goal. Which makes going into games a daunting prospect hoping we score first

 

[ChrisG11]

Well you should not be lost, and that is exactly what has happened, we had won quiet a few games we were lucky to win. But we were not unlucky against Swansea, and unless it's a Pompey at OT in the fa cup In 08, that is what I would call unlucky. You look at the games we could have lost and won, we should be thankful we had points on the board.

Because under this team, if we go behind in games we ain't winning. That alone is a risky strategy, that we have to get the first goal. Which makes going into games a daunting prospect hoping we score first

Of course we were. We had a gameplan, we executed it well and due to an unforeseen bit of fortune the game completely changed. I don't give a shit about any other game, that's not the aim of my post to discuss our luck this season, it is to analyse our performance and the summary is that the result doesn't reflect it.

 

[Oneunited26]

Of course we were. We had a gameplan, we executed it well and due to an unforeseen bit of fortune the game completely changed. I don't give a shit about any other game, that's not the aim of my post to discuss our luck this season, it is to analyse our performance and the summary is that the result doesn't reflect it.

Don't give a shit about any other game? Was any of those games where other teams could say the same thing? We executed it well, what against Swansea? Lol. That is the same shit we used to hear with moyes, we had a game plan and stuck to it, against small teams like swansea, and we wonder why we went into free fall since fergie retired. Where the champions league games In Manchester are not at old Trafford, but at the council house, that is how bad it's got


So because a bit of so called miss fortune, what swansea took the lead? and United can't recover from this? Against Swansea? We should be eating teams like swansea for breakfast, but no, they have done the double over us. The only game plan van gaal should be sending out, was not execute a Defensive gameplan, but win the game how a United team should be able too, convincingly. And if we can't do that against Swansea, it's going to be tough times for some time