What are we good at?

[ScholesyTheWise]

I think a lot of things went our way last season rather than us being particularly good. Rashford's mid season purple patch in tight games put us in a strong position. Liverpool and Chelsea not being in the race helped us significantly.

Our strengths are in individual flashes rather than any particular team attribute.

Goal difference is a strong indicator of the better teams and we were 6th best on that front.

Yes.
Ever since last season ended, and before we even made our signings and I could see which signings our rivals completed,
I couldn't shake the feeling that United will fight for 4th-5th place next season (which is the current season).

In parts, from the break of winter and up to the Carling Cup final, we were a really good football team.
How we defended, how we transitioned, how we kept the ball in tight spaces... We had an aura about us, and it was much more than Rashford's purple patch.

But it seemed like these elements that didn't really relate to Rashford had to do with the fact that the team knew that we had an attacker in the form of his life, playing like one of the best players on the planet, capable of scoring almost on his own.... This kind of thing will do a world of good to the rest of the team.


But there was no way for me that Rashford would come close to replicating his ability once more (why? just because I'm a pessimist? idk), and without him, we would have been fecked last season. Then summer came and we didn't strengthen enough.

This is going to be a long, long season for us, I suspect.

 

[Abraxas]

I'd probably identify quality of players as the main thing that really helps us relative to other teams in the league.

The first and by far the most important thing in football is quality of players. You can get into "press resistance" and whatever notions people want to come out with to describe our football but you need quality footballers that make a difference on an individual level. With Casemiro, Varane, Bruno and Rashford we have that. Top quality. It's not the entire squad, it's a number of key individuals.

Top quality won't win you a league by itself, but without it there is a probable cap on what you can expect to do in this current league. People gush over Brighton for the way they maximise their resources and players in a way they perceive that we lack, but ultimately they'll probably continue to finish below us due to this factor which shows how important it is.

What we need to do is start to be able to use our resources better. Transfers, coherent profiles of players directed at a style, coaching (ETH has to take some responsibility) all should be coming together more effectively if we want to progress. That's when all this press resistance, passing, pressing etc needs to marry together.

 

[Denis79]

I agree with @Abraxas above, we have some quality players that can make the difference in tight, hard fought games.

 

[bringbackbebe]

Entirely based on this for last season:
https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...amStatistics/England-Premier-League-2022-2023

1. We are very good at not being dispossessed off the ball unless we make a bad pass
2. We take the most shots from outside the box (and amongst the fewest in the 6 yard box)
3. We are very good at making key passes from build up play
4. We played the most through balls per 90
5. We are the least fouled team
6. We scored the most goals from counter attack (and the least from set pieces)
7. Most of our build up play is via the left side of the pitch and have the lowest percentage in the league for the right (although we take more shots from the right)

All of this screams for a proper striker & can definitely also see why Mount was added.

 

[Champ]

We actually create a lot of chances, we dominate games often, we have Bruno and Rashford who are game changers, we have a solid back four,

The major issue is we are not consistent enough not just game to game but within games.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Entirely based on this for last season:
https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...amStatistics/England-Premier-League-2022-2023

1. We are very good at not being dispossessed off the ball unless we make a bad pass
2. We take the most shots from outside the box (and amongst the fewest in the 6 yard box)
3. We are very good at making key passes from build up play
4. We played the most through balls per 90
5. We are the least fouled team
6. We scored the most goals from counter attack (and the least from set pieces)
7. Most of our build up play is via the left side of the pitch and have the lowest percentage in the league for the right (although we take more shots from the right)

All of this screams for a proper striker & can definitely also see why Mount was added.

Interesting.

5. Really boils my piss. Least fouls awarded, more like. I’m sure we’re fouled just as much as most other teams.

 

[roonster09]

Interesting.

5. Really boils my piss. Least fouls awarded, more like. I’m sure we’re fouled just as much as most other teams.

Don't think so. Usually teams with good dribblers wins lot of fouls, our team lacks that.

When we had Martial, Rashford, Greenwood front 3, they used to run at defenders most of the times and we won lot of fouls and penalties. Now we lack ball carriers.

 

[Tom Cato]

We dont have a lot of goalscoring threat outside of Rashford from 22/23. if he doesnt pick up where he left its going to become a problem down the line.

Hojlund must have a remarkable debut year to make a big difference.

We are exceptionally good at admiring other squads than our own though

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Don't think so. Usually teams with good dribblers wins lot of fouls, our team lacks that.

When we had Martial, Rashford, Greenwood front 3, they used to run at defenders most of the times and we won lot of fouls and penalties. Now we lack ball carriers.

Nah, that’s not true. Antony carries the ball a hell of a lot more than Greenwood ever did. And when Martial doesn’t play he’s replaced by players who dribble the ball just as well as he does.

 

[Galactic]

Complaining.

 

[sullydnl]

Tiny sample size obviously but so far we're the team who has won possession the most in the final third per game. Which would be a positive if it continued given ETH's comments about wanting to make us a very strong transition team.

 

[roonster09]

Nah, that’s not true. Antony carries the ball a hell of a lot more than Greenwood ever did. And when Martial doesn’t play he’s replaced by players who dribble the ball just as well as he does.

This season and last we were 8th and 11th in dribbles per game. 15th and 20th fouled team.

2019-20 and 2020-21 - we were 4th in dribbles per game. 6th and 10th fouled team.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

We're pretty great at taking penalties these days.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

This season and last we were 8th and 11th in dribbles per game. 15th and 20th fouled team.

2019-20 and 2020-21 - we were 4th in dribbles per game. 6th and 10th fouled team.

Well you can prove anything with facts!

Mind you, I’d say that’s more likely down to a change in tactics than personnel. Antony definitely dribbles a lot and gets fouled a lot (two yellow cards for fouls on him in our last match) Under Ole there might have been more dribbling from fullbacks and midfielders than we’re seeing now?

 

[simplyared]

In answer to the OP: we're punching above our weight.

 

[didz]

Well you can prove anything with facts!

Mind you, I’d say that’s more likely down to a change in tactics than personnel. Antony definitely dribbles a lot and gets fouled a lot (two yellow cards for fouls on him in our last match) Under Ole there might have been more dribbling from fullbacks and midfielders than we’re seeing now?

I'd definitely agree it'd be down to tactics. As well a being more pass-first in general, we're usually a bit more patient under Ten Hag, so more likely to have players dribbling in congested areas where a defender has more time to get their challenges right. With Ole we had quick forwards fed early, so more 1v1s at speed.

I'm pretty sure there's some Cruyffism along the lines of "if you're getting fouled, it's your own fault for not deciding to pass it on time." While Ten Hag is extremely pragmatic for a Dutch coach, maybe some of that thinking is showing through as well?

We probably should be working our wide players into more 1v1s than we are doing anyway, but it's only really Antony who regularly hangs wide enough to make himself a viable passing option from deep. ETH was screaming at Rashford to hug the line against Forest at one point, so I'd guess that's what he's after.

Throw in the fact that our best midfielder for driving runs is probably Scott McTominay and those fouls/dribbling numbers start to make a fair bit of sense.

 

[roonster09]

Well you can prove anything with facts!

Mind you, I’d say that’s more likely down to a change in tactics than personnel. Antony definitely dribbles a lot and gets fouled a lot (two yellow cards for fouls on him in our last match) Under Ole there might have been more dribbling from fullbacks and midfielders than we’re seeing now?

Greenwood completed more dribbles per 90 mins than Antony at Manutd.

I think it's a combination of both. Rashford is not the same Rashford, he used to take on defenders a lot more under Ole. Martial as a CF used to dribble a lot than any other CF we had, also Rashford as a CF doesn't attempt many dribbles.

Antony and Greenwood is close, Greenwood was more direct.
McTominay and Fred were good dribblers for midfielders, Casemiro doesn't attempt to dribble, same with Eriksen.

I think overall we have poor-average ball carriers compared to past teams. I think that's the profile of player we lack now, someone who takes on player and creates space by drawing players.

 

[Krakenzero]

A very interesting thread as it helps compare United forces and see where their strengths are. Please excuse me in advance for all the next Captain Obvious comments:

IMO you have a considerably strong first team, a good (but not great) squad depth and are missing a player that can be consistently world class to take you to the next level.

In this context you are able to ocasionally compete for the biggest trophies if a set of conditions are met (purple patches from some of your part time world class players like Casemiro and Rashford last mid season, no important injuries or suspensions, a calendar that allows to focus on 1-2 titles and not more), but not consistently enough to actually be a threat to City 's dominance. Therefore you can look like the best when things are going your way, and very mediocre otherwise. Most of the PL top teams look like this anyway, as Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have shown during the last season.

The obvious path from there would be to strenghten your team (ideally to meet the manager's philosophy), and it seems that you're trying to do just that. You upgraded De Gea and Fred (both ending their contracts) with Onana and Mount, and got Hojlund to improve your goal scoring threat. None of this players are world beaters who would make United compete from City overnight, but they could improve your consistency. Thing is, in order to get to the next level you'll still need the 1-2 world class players, and some of the players capable of that are already on their thirties so the window of opportunity before having to replace them is short. I think you're moving in the right direction, although maybe slower than you'd need to.

 

[acnumber9]

I’d say most teams have purple patches at some point in a season. The teams that finish in the top half of the table definitely do.

You’ve still skirted over why our purple patch was enough to finish so high up the table? What are we doing so much better than so many other teams?

Our best players are better than some think they are. Specifically Bruno, Rashford and Casemiro. Those are players that get slated but ultimately carried us through much of last season. They’d be so much better at better teams too.

 

[gaffs]

Two top center backs, when fit. Individual excellence from players like Bruno, Casemiro and Rashford.

The off years from Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool helped us a lot last year.

 

[noodlehair]

Things we're good at (when everyone's fit):
a) Our midfield was actually (contrary to caf opinion) very good for a large part of last season. Casemiro is an extremely good midfielder, Eriksen is a very good midfielder who the caf randomly decided can't play in midfield, based presumably on him playing in midfield for Man Utd and doing well there (this sort of logic regularly happens on here, see point 2 below).
b) We counter attack well
c) We actually have some very good players. Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Bissaka, Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford are all better than what most teams have in comparable positions. Some are past their best but none are finished as top level players (see below, point 4).
d) We definitely do have patterns of play. Its gone backwards somewhat at the start of this season due to our manger changing the system, but last season we were generally quite organised and consistent in how we played.
e) We have a wide player who can get 30 goals in a season. Most teams struggle to find one who can get 10.
f) Most of last season we were very hard working and consistent performing compared to at least half the teams in the PL.
g) We are one of the countries leading clubs at mistreating women.


Things the caf is bad at:
1) The caf often gets our best players confused with our worst players. E.g. Casemiro, Fernandes and Rashford often highlighted as problem players on the basis that they are frequently incapable of being superhuman.
2) Sometimes a mysterious unknown force will inhabit the forum, swaying vast amounts of the populous to adopt a certain opinion on a player or our team, based on no actual insight or evidence, or backed up by applying ridiculously out of place parameters. For example the ongoing theme of Bissaka being a useless fullback because he doesn't have 10x the assists of every other fullback in the world, the idea Eriksen can't play in midfield because he plays in midfield, etc.
3) Some people on the caf like to claim we have no patterns of play or that we're not "press resistant" as a means of pretending they know what they are talking about, and little more. The other day someone posted a video on here where a guy used the term "resting defence" and implied we aren't very good at it. Since then I have seen this terms used several times. I don't understand what it means and neither do the people using it.
4) The caf confuses players not being at their best for about 2 games, with them being "past it". A recent example being Casemiro who's "legs have gone". Ignoring that you can clearly see them still attached to his body, and that when we signed him this time last season it took him a good 4-5 games to get fully up to speed and match sharp.
5) The caf regularly bemoans our transfer activity yet if it were up to this place our squad would currently be about half of Paul Pogba and a bunch of U21 players.
6) The caf often compares our own players (well, mainly Rashford) unfavorably with players in similar positions at other teams who are obviously worse than them, then when it becomes obvious how stupid this was, sometimes doubles down or develops an agenda against said player, instead of admitting it was wrong.

 

[colombianmancunian]

The caf? Is extremely good at moaning and being negative.

 

[Brightonian]

Things we're good at (when everyone's fit):
a) Our midfield was actually (contrary to caf opinion) very good for a large part of last season. Casemiro is an extremely good midfielder, Eriksen is a very good midfielder who the caf randomly decided can't play in midfield, based presumably on him playing in midfield for Man Utd and doing well there (this sort of logic regularly happens on here, see point 2 below).
b) We counter attack well
c) We actually have some very good players. Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Bissaka, Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford are all better than what most teams have in comparable positions. Some are past their best but none are finished as top level players (see below, point 4).
d) We definitely do have patterns of play. Its gone backwards somewhat at the start of this season due to our manger changing the system, but last season we were generally quite organised and consistent in how we played.
e) We have a wide player who can get 30 goals in a season. Most teams struggle to find one who can get 10.
f) Most of last season we were very hard working and consistent performing compared to at least half the teams in the PL.
g) We are one of the countries leading clubs at mistreating women.


Things the caf is bad at:
1) The caf often gets our best players confused with our worst players. E.g. Casemiro, Fernandes and Rashford often highlighted as problem players on the basis that they are frequently incapable of being superhuman.
2) Sometimes a mysterious unknown force will inhabit the forum, swaying vast amounts of the populous to adopt a certain opinion on a player or our team, based on no actual insight or evidence, or backed up by applying ridiculously out of place parameters. For example the ongoing theme of Bissaka being a useless fullback because he doesn't have 10x the assists of every other fullback in the world, the idea Eriksen can't play in midfield because he plays in midfield, etc.
3) Some people on the caf like to claim we have no patterns of play or that we're not "press resistant" as a means of pretending they know what they are talking about, and little more. The other day someone posted a video on here where a guy used the term "resting defence" and implied we aren't very good at it. Since then I have seen this terms used several times. I don't understand what it means and neither do the people using it.
4) The caf confuses players not being at their best for about 2 games, with them being "past it". A recent example being Casemiro who's "legs have gone". Ignoring that you can clearly see them still attached to his body, and that when we signed him this time last season it took him a good 4-5 games to get fully up to speed and match sharp.
5) The caf regularly bemoans our transfer activity yet if it were up to this place our squad would currently be about half of Paul Pogba and a bunch of U21 players.
6) The caf often compares our own players (well, mainly Rashford) unfavorably with players in similar positions at other teams who are obviously worse than them, then when it becomes obvious how stupid this was, sometimes doubles down or develops an agenda against said player, instead of admitting it was wrong.

I feel like I've been waiting for this post my entire life. I agree with every single point here.

To add one more (because I'm a team player):

h) We have a number of players who are clearly very good at doing what Ten Hag wants the to do, but not what the Caf wants them to do.

Antony is a case in point. He is positionally close to perfect, both when we're on and off the ball. His work rate and defensive contribution are unimpeachable. The Caf doesn't think he can beat his man but clearly opposition teams do, because he always draws two/three defenders, which is half the battle. He is almost impossible to dispossess, even high up the pitch, and very rarely misplaces a pass.
Of course ETH wants Antony to score and assist more. But clearly he wants all of the above more, because all of these things in combination are incredibly valuable. That is why Antony always plays when fit, and did so on his debut season in a team which finished third.

Wan Bissaka is another who this notably applies to.

 

[Plastic Evra]

I feel like I've been waiting for this post my entire life. I agree with every single point here.

To add one more (because I'm a team player):

h) We have a number of players who are clearly very good at doing what Ten Hag wants the to do, but not what the Caf wants them to do.

Antony is a case in point. He is positionally close to perfect, both when we're on and off the ball. His work rate and defensive contribution are unimpeachable. The Caf doesn't think he can beat his man but clearly opposition teams do, because he always draws two/three defenders, which is half the battle. He is almost impossible to dispossess, even high up the pitch, and very rarely misplaces a pass.
Of course ETH wants Antony to score and assist more. But clearly he wants all of the above more, because all of these things in combination are incredibly valuable. That is why Antony always plays when fit, and did so on his debut season in a team which finished third.

Wan Bissaka is another who this notably applies to.

It's very difficult to separate Antony from his fee, even for myself despite the fact I know it's two different things. I could be flippant and say that, well, all his qualities should be baseline and the work rate is minimum expectations but we know that's not true and he is a lot more sound at all those things than many a player in the front line.

There's definitely a big dissonance at the moment with a lot of people convincing themselves that somehow ten Hag and MU recruited Mount without knowing what kind of player he is and what they were getting.

 

[Rozay]

We’re good at defending and have a few players who are capable of moments.

Also not to be underestimated is simple ‘football heritage’. Psychology in sport is very important. There is the intangible value of expecting to win a football match because we are Manchester United and a team expecting not to win it because we are Manchester United. Teams also need to beat their own demons before they can actually beat us. We will always get some chances, and often win games undeservedly because opponents do not have what it takes mentally to take their chances against us and actually beat United.

 

[Rozay]

Things we're good at (when everyone's fit):
a) Our midfield was actually (contrary to caf opinion) very good for a large part of last season. Casemiro is an extremely good midfielder, Eriksen is a very good midfielder who the caf randomly decided can't play in midfield, based presumably on him playing in midfield for Man Utd and doing well there (this sort of logic regularly happens on here, see point 2 below).
b) We counter attack well
c) We actually have some very good players. Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Bissaka, Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford are all better than what most teams have in comparable positions. Some are past their best but none are finished as top level players (see below, point 4).
d) We definitely do have patterns of play. Its gone backwards somewhat at the start of this season due to our manger changing the system, but last season we were generally quite organised and consistent in how we played.
e) We have a wide player who can get 30 goals in a season. Most teams struggle to find one who can get 10.
f) Most of last season we were very hard working and consistent performing compared to at least half the teams in the PL.
g) We are one of the countries leading clubs at mistreating women.


Things the caf is bad at:
1) The caf often gets our best players confused with our worst players. E.g. Casemiro, Fernandes and Rashford often highlighted as problem players on the basis that they are frequently incapable of being superhuman.
2) Sometimes a mysterious unknown force will inhabit the forum, swaying vast amounts of the populous to adopt a certain opinion on a player or our team, based on no actual insight or evidence, or backed up by applying ridiculously out of place parameters. For example the ongoing theme of Bissaka being a useless fullback because he doesn't have 10x the assists of every other fullback in the world, the idea Eriksen can't play in midfield because he plays in midfield, etc.
3) Some people on the caf like to claim we have no patterns of play or that we're not "press resistant" as a means of pretending they know what they are talking about, and little more. The other day someone posted a video on here where a guy used the term "resting defence" and implied we aren't very good at it. Since then I have seen this terms used several times. I don't understand what it means and neither do the people using it.
4) The caf confuses players not being at their best for about 2 games, with them being "past it". A recent example being Casemiro who's "legs have gone". Ignoring that you can clearly see them still attached to his body, and that when we signed him this time last season it took him a good 4-5 games to get fully up to speed and match sharp.
5) The caf regularly bemoans our transfer activity yet if it were up to this place our squad would currently be about half of Paul Pogba and a bunch of U21 players.
6) The caf often compares our own players (well, mainly Rashford) unfavorably with players in similar positions at other teams who are obviously worse than them, then when it becomes obvious how stupid this was, sometimes doubles down or develops an agenda against said player, instead of admitting it was wrong.

Some may even accuse us of ‘zombie passing’.

 

[bringbackbebe]

There's definitely a big dissonance at the moment with a lot of people convincing themselves that somehow ten Hag and MU recruited Mount without knowing what kind of player he is and what they were getting.

We were barely a goal scoring threat down the center last year and we did not have midfielders who had the confidence to take a decent shot from the 18 yard box (Bruno has the tendency to shoot from outside the box a lot). By swapping Mount for Eriksen, we miss out on some of Eriksen's creativity but we add someone who can open another goal scoring dimension to our game. Ideally, this should have been DVB but let's not go there.

 

[SirScholes]

Whining

 

[bringbackbebe]

Whining

Fans or players?

 

[DJ_21]

Not sure anymore. Don’t even think we’re that good at countering anymore.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

This thread got me thinking…

For a while now the caf has lamented our lack of technical ability (“not press resistant” are the buzzwords of choice). We don’t have “patterns of play” so can’t create enough chances to score. We don’t press effectively and can’t keep hold off the ball when we do win it back, because our passing is garbage.

Our last keeper was crap and the new guy not much better yesterday. Our defence is flawed because one of our first choice centre backs can’t play more than once a week and the options in reserve are widely slated. Our fullbacks vary from sublime to shite on a game by game basis. And don’t get me started on the long running saga of trying to win football matches without a proper number 9. Or, indeed, the quest to find the missing piece(s) to our midfield jigsaw.

So we lack technical ability, are shit at passing and have a squad with gaping, obvious holes in it, in basically every area. And now we’re apparently not as fit, strong, aggressive or athletic as any of the other teams in the league.

Soooooooooo… How the feck did this team of frail, technically inadequate, lazy cowards finish third in the league and go deep in every cup competition? Seriously? What do we do well? In what way are we better than all but two teams in the league?

Post your theories here please. The answers might help inject some much needed positivity into the caf.

We are great at winning the ball back in the final third.

We are great at dusting ourselves off and moving on from setbacks

We are great at stretching our resources beyond what they should achieve

 

[Brightonian]

It's very difficult to separate Antony from his fee, even for myself despite the fact I know it's two different things. I could be flippant and say that, well, all his qualities should be baseline and the work rate is minimum expectations but we know that's not true and he is a lot more sound at all those things than many a player in the front line.

There's definitely a big dissonance at the moment with a lot of people convincing themselves that somehow ten Hag and MU recruited Mount without knowing what kind of player he is and what they were getting.

It's not actually though, I do it every day.

Good post anyway, agree on Mount too.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

We have great defensive players capable of holding onto results, including de gea as he could make a huge stop and won us several points last year (accept that he is not a good attacking player and could also lose you a match with a mistake).

We are epic on the counter and have been for years.

Bruno Fernandes is a very very productive player.

 

[SirScholes]

Fans or players?

Fans + Bruno

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

We have great defensive players capable of holding onto results, including de gea as he could make a huge stop and won us several points last year (accept that he is not a good attacking player and could also lose you a match with a mistake).

We are epic on the counter and have been for years.

Bruno Fernandes is a very very productive player.

That's another myth that's being perpetuated for reasons quite unknown. We were good last season, topped the stats in goals from counters. Three more than Liverpool and City (PL stats), so i'm not sure about the "epic" part. We were certainly not epic at it in the previous seasons.

 

[Rossa]

Greenwood completed more dribbles per 90 mins than Antony at Manutd.

I think it's a combination of both. Rashford is not the same Rashford, he used to take on defenders a lot more under Ole. Martial as a CF used to dribble a lot than any other CF we had, also Rashford as a CF doesn't attempt many dribbles.

Antony and Greenwood is close, Greenwood was more direct.
McTominay and Fred were good dribblers for midfielders, Casemiro doesn't attempt to dribble, same with Eriksen.

I think overall we have poor-average ball carriers compared to past teams. I think that's the profile of player we lack now, someone who takes on player and creates space by drawing players.

I agree with this. We don't have anyone in midfield who are able to go past players. Going past players in the center of midfield opens up so much space going forward. I remember when Giggs started to play as a central midfielder. Yes, he lost the ball a fair but, but blimey did he create space for himself with his dribbling and speed. The same with Anderson. Fred for all of his faults could do this to a lesser extent. We saw how Wolves tore through us using that tactic. We have none. McTominay, for all of his mediocrum, is decent at this, but Casemiro, Eriksen and till now Mount do not have that in their locker.

As for forward players, I think you summed it up well:
- Rashford is not the same in terms of dribbling; he's not as good as it, nor does he try it as much.
- Antony is not a great dribbler at all - Greenwood was much more effective.
- Martial has regressed from great to abysmal
- Sancho has not been able to live up to expectations, although he does dribble a little bit here and there.

Our most consistent dribbler in the final third is almost AWB...

 

[Rossa]

That's another myth that's being perpetuated for reasons quite unknown. We were good last season, topped the stats in goals from counters. Three more than Liverpool and City (PL stats), so i'm not sure about the "epic" part. We were certainly not epic at it in the previous seasons.

We were quite good under Solskjær - especially in the season we finished second.

Epic is perhaps too strong a word, but our counter attacks have been a threat for years: https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...-news/guardiola-man-united-city-news-27046679

 

[NLunited]

Last year we were good in transitions and showed fight and spirit to win many close games.

We are three games in this season, so it is a bit early to name what we are good at. The obvious answer is creating chances.

The primary tactical plan is to press high and have the opponent in a vice, forcing them to lose the ball which in itself creates many chances.

When they play through the high press or win the second ball from a long ball, we need to be good at dealing with this with correct positioning and sweeping.

Our build up has been much better and passing/dribbling in the final third pretty good as well.

Weakness: finishing and decision making in transitions. Counters need to be played out better.

Squad building: we need a cm now (Amrabat please) and lb cover unless we plan on playing Alvaro.

We also need to plan on replacing Casemiro and Varane as starters next summer. Get in another striker.

We haven’t been consistently good at any one aspect yet, we are very much a work in progress.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

We were quite good under Solskjær - especially in the season we finished second.

Epic is perhaps too strong a word, but our counter attacks have been a threat for years: https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...-news/guardiola-man-united-city-news-27046679

No, we weren't. We were average to good, with 6 counter-attacking goals in each of his two full seasons. Nothing to write home about, which is why i mentioned it. I don't know what the link you posted is supposed to prove. Did you expect Pep to deride his opponent before an FA Cup final? Or did you forget that, in more casual moments, KdB has said on camera that City weren't even bothering to go through Solskjaer's tactics before facing United or that, very recently, Pep described United under ETH as "just another transition team".

 

[Crashoutcassius]

That's another myth that's being perpetuated for reasons quite unknown. We were good last season, topped the stats in goals from counters. Three more than Liverpool and City (PL stats), so i'm not sure about the "epic" part. We were certainly not epic at it in the previous seasons.

We were bad at everything under Ralf

We were great on the counter under ole

Maybe you can take umbridge with the word epic if you have the time. We have been one of the best in the world at it for five years or so, ignoring the period under Ralf because it is the strangest period that's ever occured at a large club