Sloppy passing and touches

It’s such a cliché but I honestly think there are Sunday league teams who give the ball away fewer times from unbelievably basic errors than we do in games like today.

Doesn’t help that we seem to repeatedly reward some of the worst offenders by making them fecking captain.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s such a cliché but I honestly think there are Sunday league teams who give the ball away fewer times from unbelievably basic errors than we do in games like today.

Doesn’t help that we seem to repeatedly reward some of the worst offenders by making them fecking captain.
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And it's not just technical errors like a touch or a pass going wrong. Our players do stupid shit so often. An experienced player like Matic trying a backheel in his own half, McTominay turning straight into a bunch of players because he's not aware of his surroundings.

Whoever is the manager has one hell of a job in terms of getting these players to do the basics right.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s such a cliché but I honestly think there are Sunday league teams who give the ball away fewer times from unbelievably basic errors than we do in games like today.

Doesn’t help that we seem to repeatedly reward some of the worst offenders by making them fecking captain.
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I am fairly certain Ralf has been briefed to start Ronaldo when fit even before they hired him. He can't be that oblivious.
 
It’s unbelievable how bad our basic passing is. Can’t believe what I’m seeing.

I watched the Derby game earlier and the quality of passing was far superior from both teams.
 
Never seen a united side with this level of passing in my lifetime. I don't understand it really, since you don't stop becoming a footballer because of tactics or whatever. Unjustified lack of focus and confidence from players who are getting paid like other WC footballers.
 
Been saying this for too long now. Back under Mourinho, back under Ole.

It's a lack of standards. Basic standards that have become embedded into the club due to no leaders holding players to account.

I've said it before, it would take two passes behind me or onto my wrong foot, meaning I have to check back, to bollock the player publicly during the game.

Everytime we break, we release the pressure on the other team by playing the ball square when it should be forward, making the runners check back. It's my biggest bugbare
 
We are the worst passers in the league and it’s every player who is to blame. Serious question, do teams at this level practice passing? They must do surely, i ask because our passing has been terrible for many a year now.
 
It has been a problem of ours for years now and there comes the point where you ask yourself, are our players simply just a bit shit and if so why do we keep getting players who can't do simple stuff right, are our scouts maybe a bit shit too?
 
Every game, one thing is for sure, that you will see us struggle to do the absolute basics of what a footballer should be capable of. Absolute joke. Sick of this team.
 
NoLogo said:
It's hard to undo the damage that has been done over the past years in just a couple of weeks. Have we even hired new coaches? So far I can only remember coaches leaving.
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It's down to the players and always has been, it's the basics.
 
Leftback99 said:
It's down to the players and always has been, it's the basics.
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Well, I think coaches can have an impact on that. Just look at City, they have almost entirely players who are quality passers, of course they recruit players who are great at that a lot, but it often feels like Guardiola and his team of coaches can elevate most players to en entirely different level as well. With us over the last couple of years it seemed like the complete opposite, everyone who came here, even if they started well, becomes shittier and shittier the longer as they stay at the club and think that effect is down to coaching. Either it's down to us not training this enough and just send players to the gym to bulk up. But yeah I can't really say for sure either what is causing this since I never witnessed Manchester United training and don't have an idea what they do and what they don't do on the training pitch.
 
Can't get over how bad we are on the eye. Aesthetics and styles are what set football teams apart in terms of being remembered - and this bunch are displaying some of the worst sequences of play you'll ever witness as a United supporter.

It's not over the top to say it's painful to watch because it really is.
 
Our players are technically poor. Just watch how wolves controlled, passed and moved the ball today. A different level of technical footballer to ours and that is sobering from what is a mid table PL club.
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Not going to happen overnight.
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It won't happen at all. Coaching isn't going to change Matic at this stage, it's not going to make the likes of McTominay, AWB, Fred good in possession, they just don't have it and never will. And that's half of our team that can't progress the ball to our forwards properly.
 
Of course our players were not that good with those before. Now, it looks even worse.

I wonder if the reason for it was the famous methods of passing vertical as much and quickly as possible with 4 2 4 formation with all forwards getting way up and already marked. Implementing that stuff on a team that is already not good at those will have a very bad effect.

I mean is it that hard to figure out?
 
We're simply just not capable of playing at a high tempo consistently. Both technically and tactically we aren't good enough to move the ball in a tempo that doesn't invite pressure on our players which, as a result, has to make decisions with a player close by or right on their back. In most matches the oppositions defensive players always seem on the front foot and are able to read where we intend to move the ball very easily.

Paired with a lack of collective tactical understanding of movement without the ball and positioning to create situations where we outnumber the opposition, we simply aren't set up to play quickly and absorb the pressure from teams that aren't even famous for great pressing.

In addition, we lack the technical ability to play quickly and play under pressure in key areas. I'd say that the central midfield, central defenders and the fullbacks are instrumental to the build up play. But in midfield McTominay and Fred are too sloppy and doesn't have the passing range and vision needed. And then we have AWB who is a hindrance as well. In Varane and Maguire I still think that we are set. Maguire is more reliant on a good structure and movement around him though, which we clearly lack right now.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Been saying this for too long now. Back under Mourinho, back under Ole.

It's a lack of standards. Basic standards that have become embedded into the club due to no leaders holding players to account.

I've said it before, it would take two passes behind me or onto my wrong foot, meaning I have to check back, to bollock the player publicly during the game.

Everytime we break, we release the pressure on the other team by playing the ball square when it should be forward, making the runners check back. It's my biggest bugbare
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This is bang on and often overlooked. The amount of times we kill our momentum by playing the ball behind the player and making them check to collect the ball is criminal
 
Any coaches on here to explain this shite? These players were not this bad when we signed them. Even passes that find their target are poorly weighted and passed at the wrong angle. It's endemic within the squad, no single player is a culprit.
At some point, I and my mates started counting passes before we gave the ball away, the highest was 6. Many of them are totally unforced without any pressure. Another thing we noticed was how often the players put height and spin on their passes when they aren't necessary. Utter shambles.
 
The Firestarter said:
I am fairly certain Ralf has been briefed to start Ronaldo when fit even before they hired him. He can't be that oblivious.
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I am getting these vibes too unfortunately... damning if true

Leftback99 said:
I was told new coaches would change this.
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I can't accept that all our players are supposed to be technically inferior.

The issue (or at least the majority of it) is somewhere else. It starts with not being comfortable on the ball, not being confident about the next move. Some players seemingly shit their pants making mistakes (Shaw, AWB, McTom) and therefor have a tendency to avoid a natural flow - seemingly trying to avoid becoming the scapegoat instead of trying to be the one to bring the change.
The timing and synching between the players is completely shot. It is shot for quite a while (since Jose) but the little security we had due to Oles longlasting insistence on 4-2-3-1 has also been given away by RR forcing his system seemingly. We created the place where we are with many factors adding up that result in our showings: too much pressure on young players, no established backbone, very questionable transfers, mix of tactics and approaches, many disturbances in the normal everyday due to the pandemic, international tournaments and so on.

We are at a very problematic place - we have many players who are really good. But they were collected without a big picture in mind. Thats the thing - you can build awesome teams making the best use of Ronaldo, Pogba, Rashford or Bruno - but it is a fecking nightmare to build a team with all of them. And that is the story of these days, we have many great players each with their own strength and weaknesses. There needs to be a plan that tries to bring out the best from the most players we have. If that means, Bruno has to be dropped, fine. If it means, Ronaldo will be dropped or Sancho or Fred or AWB - fine. But we have to accept where we are right now:

Our defence is seemingly alright, prone to quick counters and individual mistakes when pressure is applied or attacks are displayed with pace. Playing out from the back is decent, nothing more.

Our midfield is an issue, even though I think we are more than capable matching most teams in a midfield battle with McFred. Against defensive teams, these two aren't great, so we have to mitigate. There is no combination of existing options that offers more than one approach, which makes it easy to play against. Like today: Wolves seeing Matic on the pitch and decide for a combatetive(?) approach and roast us just by pure numbers. As soon as we bring on Bruno to at least somewhat match the numbers, they play 20 yards more deep and add Adama for counters. Had we played with Fred they would have taken that shape from the beginning I guess.

Our attack is badly balanced - we have no real wingers, apart from Sancho and Bruno, nobody is trying to facilitate stuff for others. Greenwood here and there, Rashford a few years ago, Cavani works without much productivity and Ronaldo is this special animal. Where is a player like Bernado, Di Maria, even a Bowen. Somebody who is willing to make runs knowing he isn't going to get the ball but putting pressure on the defence?



We have to decide, what we are: do we want to play aggressive? Then get rid of Maguire, play a highline with Fred in the team and outscore opponents. We will concede many but whatever. Or do we want to be defensive, then play on the counter yourself, add players like Matic or a third midfielder (excluding Bruno from midfield and put him in one of the offensive positions) - we might end with many more draws but at least we stop the xGA. We have to have a plan and we have to enforce it. It will mean, that one or even a few good players will miss out. So be it. We have to accept the consequences of the mistakes we made in the last 10-12 years. But are we really ready to take that painful road?
 
Adisa said:
It has to be psychological. There's no other explanation.
Rangnicks instruction to get the ball forward quicker has made it even worse. The number of unforced errors are staggering.
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We are not a technical team, we just don't have the players.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Been saying this for too long now. Back under Mourinho, back under Ole.

It's a lack of standards. Basic standards that have become embedded into the club due to no leaders holding players to account.

I've said it before, it would take two passes behind me or onto my wrong foot, meaning I have to check back, to bollock the player publicly during the game.

Everytime we break, we release the pressure on the other team by playing the ball square when it should be forward, making the runners check back. It's my biggest bugbare
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I think it was Rio that said when a new player started training with the team Roy Keane would absolutely smash the ball at them and if their touch wasn’t flawless he would dress them down in front of everyone. Probably a bit too dinosaur for these sensitive souls but I reckon it would cut down a lot of the absolute shite we endured today.
 
Cutch said:
Here was me thinking without Bruno and Rashford the 2 main culprits we'd give the ball away less
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Problem is we've replaced like for like. Bruno gives it away easily but Cavani as a No.10 is no better in that regard. Probably even worse.

The Brown Bull said:
Rashford overhitting a simple pass with a good counter on just summed us up.
Shite.
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It's not just that it was overhit either. It was so badly overhit. Like twice the power needed. How's that possible at this level playing on a carpet.
 
It’s a chore to watch us to be honest. Incredibly frustrating watching professional players, paid 6 figures a week, passing so poorly. Every second attack or bit of possession you’re expecting it to be lost.
The fact of the matter is we have far too many technically inconsistent players in the squad.
Mctominay : decent ball carrier but his passing is just inconsistent and not technically good enough
Pogba: his defining trait is inconsistency
Rashford: very inconsistent and makes poor decisions
Fred: sloppy
Fernandes: feels like he has to really concentrate to stop his passing from going wayward
Wan Bissaka: technically poor
Van de Beek: too weak for the premier league
Shaw: inconsistent and plays within himself
Cavani: ok but arguably his head isn’t in it and he’s too old
Ronaldo: been our best outfield player but is sloppy at times and doesn’t offer much when he doesn’t get the service
Matic: too slow for the league, leaves us open without the ball
Maguire: decent but very slow and cumbersome at times

I genuinely think it’s a full rebuild needed now. And, unless we can sell a lot of players for decent fees, that’s something the glazers will never do to the extent needed.
 
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