Not at all.
That 2008 would easily be top 2/3 in the league and one of the best sides in Europe.
As bad as this Utd side are at times they have still beaten the likes of Southampton Brigthon and Leeds quite easily. The Utd 2008 side would rip this current Utd team to shreds.
They were an outstanding group that would still finish the league on 80+ points. Simply because they were techically and physically far superior than most teams in the league still are now and had far more intelligent players.
I'm not talking about how well they'd do.
I'm talking about how well they'd do compared to how well they did then, when all the teams around them were less prepared both tactically and in terms of the physicality required to implement those tactics. It should go without saying that they would be less effective (not ineffective) unless they improved in those regards too. Football didn't stop and preserve itself in amber in 2008.
This is arguably, alongside the lack of movement off the ball, the most frustrating part of our play for me. The passing is so slow at times, which is made worse with how predictable our passing is. We make it so easy for defences to get into position/shift across.
Its not laughable. Ole has a top squad and a capable coach can drill his players much better than what we see.
McTominay and Fred aren't shite players. Our midfield options are there, it might not be world class but its daft to suggest THAT'S why we didnt control our game yesterday or prior games. Ole is out there playing a central midfielder on the left, who doesnt even stick left, and he has a 10 who then has to find pockets wide. He has a striker who finds the right winger has cut into central areas to shoot, so he moves wide. And he has a more progressive ball playing midfielder on the bench to play two holding midfielders who aren't really drilled into a familiar pattern of play.
Im sick and tired of this scapegoating of our quality of midfield. They are actually better in quality than what they are given credit for. But if there's no actual positional sense or pattern of play thats being coached then its game over.
That's what a coach does. Neville actually touched on Poch in his weekly podcast (before he spoke about Manchester United).I agree with this and the bolded parts in a particular, we have options in midfield, McFred are regulars with their international teams, VdB is an Ajax academy graduate, Pogba & Bruno are quality players, yet, when they play together, you'd think these guys never met before !!!
and then you watch Brantford, who played against a full strength Liverpool, and you can see how well they play as a team, passing, movement, attacking in numbers, and defending in numbers, etc.. all the things you see in a proper team
That's what a coach does. Neville actually touched on Poch in his weekly podcast (before he spoke about Manchester United).
He said he watched his coaching and could see he taught his midfield in particular how to press systematically and how to rotate, so it all looked like a synchronised unit. Ole does none of this, he never has and never will because that's not his style.
We beat Pep's Barca over two legs in 2008 but you think that team would struggle today against Leeds(who we spank on a regular basis) and Brighton?
It's easy to buy into a lot of the noise around football. To listen to those who have to talk about it day after day. Over analysis etc. New terminology that gives the impression of evolution but is really something that's always been around.
But we've currently got a 36 year old up front, Pogba left wing and Greenwood right wing. Coupled with two centre mids that struggle with basic control and passing.
All the sports science in the world won't have Pogba and Ronaldo pressing as hard as Tevez and Rooney. No amount of analytics will have the current midfielders building the play like Carrick and Scholes.
Nothing can make Maguire as quick as Rio.
It's all about players. The best managers are the best not because they're great on a whiteboard. They just get their recruitment right. They put players together that compliment each. We haven't done that for a long time.
The problem is if we don’t play with width we will shoot ourselves in the foot. If they press, the likes of Pogba, Fred and Mctominay will lose possession easily. So everything going centrally isn’t the best idea. And with Shaw out our fullbacks aren’t the best going forward so it’s easy for Villarreal to just stay in the low block and frustrate us.Time to bring Vdb into the starting eleven so that the passing and ball retention improves. My preferred team selection against Villareal:
Ronaldo Cavani
Fernandes
Pogba Vdb (Fred or McTominay)
Telles Varane Lindelof Dalot
Ddg
Having a three-man midfield will also help, as it is the midfield where the team has struggled so far this season.
Pick McTominay if he’s fit, otherwise Fred.
5 subs from:
Greenwood
Sancho
Elanga
Lingard
Matic
Bailly
Because our coaching is incompetent.
This has been a thing for years, even in Fergie days this was a constant complaint. Think @noodlehair was big on this years ago.
I agree they can be slow at times, especially starting games when they have majority of the ball but this isn’t a Ole thing exclusively.
this!!
you can’t be in a pivot midfield position if you aren’t constantly finding gaps in front of the CBs, to take it on the half turn and play forward, line splitting passes.
keane, Scholes, carrick, even Matic all great at it…
fred and mctominay don’t have the footballing intelligence to do it.
The problem is if we don’t play with width we will shoot ourselves in the foot. If they press, the likes of Pogba, Fred and Mctominay will lose possession easily. So everything going centrally isn’t the best idea. And with Shaw out our fullbacks aren’t the best going forward so it’s easy for Villarreal to just stay in the low block and frustrate us.
It’s obviously not exclusively Oles fault. But it’s his team and he is manager. Hence people will blame him. Look at Chelsea and Lampard. They were shit under him. But when Tuchel took over and told them what to do they grasped it and performed on the pitch. In that case will you blame the players or the coach? Same situation here.This has been a thing for years, even in Fergie days this was a constant complaint. Think @noodlehair was big on this years ago.
I agree they can be slow at times, especially starting games when they have majority of the ball but this isn’t a Ole thing exclusively.
If that’s the case and it certainly looked that way to me, why didn’t we see Ole or McKenna out on the touch line yelling at them to slow it down? Greenwood especially was guilty of this.I feel as if the opposite is true. What I saw today was a side that are very hurried and in possession. A number of our players play in a fashion where there’s a basketball style shot clock: if they don’t shoot in 15 seconds, then they have to concede possession. So many times we played very direct balls over the top, which is bread and butter to Martinez. Greenwood too was making every dribble with the sole intent of shooting at the end.
We needed a lot more patience and maturity out there today. Keep the ball, make the opposition sweat and work hard defensively, pull defenders out of position and craft a clear chance.
I caught Ronaldo at one point urging his teammates to calm it down. I couldn’t help but agree.
Bruno gave the ball away once by playing a hoof pass to Greenwood and Ronaldo told him to calm down and take his time. I’ve never seen Ole or any other staff member yell at players on the touch line.If that’s the case and it certainly looked that way to me, why didn’t we see Ole or McKenna out on the touch line yelling at them to slow it down? Greenwood especially was guilty of this.
