What's the reason for our poor away record?

Born2Lose said:
I wish he'd been more pragmatic on Thursday and shut the game down to try and take a point. I had a feeling after about 20 minutes in that they'd nick a goal somehow towards the end.

The same at say 3-0 or 4-0 against Liverpool so it didn't become arguably the worst United result for me post SAF. At some point in a hammering, it has to become a question of damage limitation.

Maybe our definitions are different, but to me a purist is someone like Pep, who'd rather lose the right way than win the wrong way.
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Exactly what we should be.
 
we should be trying out a 433 in tougher away games where we inevitably lose control of the midfield.

instead we persist with a 2. even when we had no Casemiro we persisted with 2. mental.
 
Born2Lose said:
Tough away games need more numbers in midfield. There's no point having in effect 4 attackers if they're not getting the ball or as is the case with our players, they lose possession too easily.

De Gea doesn't help either. I thought they started ok against West Ham, and then completely against the run of play, De Gea gifts West Ham a lead. It must be so disheartening for the rest of the team to know they have a liability waiting to happen playing in goal behind them.

EtH is too much of a purist and not enough of a pragmatist. I hope he can adapt. I find his subsitutions, frankly, boring. He very often just switches like for like and doesn't use subs to change the style or formation of the team.
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EtH has in no way been a purist this season.
 
I got curious about whether any particular player has really let us down (or at least been a consistent feature when we're struggling) in the PL and no shock on who was the worst culprit. I included stats sans-big defeats just out of curiosity if they were skewing the data a lot. Biggest shock to me was that Maguire's stats weren't horrible, was he only terrible in cup games or something? I know he destroyed us in Europe, but still expected him to have poorer stats than this data showed.

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Yes, I have too much time on my hands, I know.
 
See Arsenal Newcastle the other day. They were bombarded from the off, crowd up for it and Newcastle pressing like mad.

Then Odegaard gets the ball, he has the control in tight areas and the composure and accuracy to slot one in totally against the run of play. In lots of other away games he’s done the same but in the form of a killer pass. They then have Newcastle silenced and exactly where they want them.

Composure, accuracy and control - even our best players like Bruno simply do not possess it.

We need players of a higher technical standard and intelligence.
 
We are not that good as a team to win games away. That is the reason. TH did good job with the team he has, and he obviously don't believe too much in players out of first 11 + a 2-3 more, so with playing them every 3 days we had to have problems with energy levels. That is one of the reasons, for sure, and there is plenty of more, but I think that key reason is that we are not good enough.

All the games that we won, we have to fight till the end to win. From what I can remember, we won only 1 or 2 at home comfortably, without fighting till the last minute to keep win. I think it was Leicester at home, and maybe one more. Usually we win by 1 goal, or 2 but with late second one. So, we are not beating teams easily. So, when we play away, I guess home team will give 10-20% extra with fans around, and those 10-20% is enough for us to fail.

So, while our results are good overall, especially at home, and probably better than thought it will be in the first year of TH in charge, we are not that strong as you could suggest by checking league table only.

When you check other results, you will see that even Newcastle who had a lot of draws, had a lot of wins in which they got easy win with 3 or 4 goals margin. And it is not just cause of fatigue, as we've been the same at the start of the season and before WC
 
Offside said:
See Arsenal Newcastle the other day. They were bombarded from the off, crowd up for it and Newcastle pressing like mad.

Then Odegaard gets the ball, he has the control in tight areas and the composure and accuracy to slot one in totally against the run of play. In lots of other away games he’s done the same but in the form of a killer pass. They then have Newcastle silenced and exactly where they want them.

Composure, accuracy and control - even our best players like Bruno simply do not possess it.

We need players of a higher technical standard and intelligence.
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Add in desire because sometimes you may lack those technical traits but actually giving a feck about the badge can be enough to bring your part in the team.

Didn't Sir Alex recruit players based on their mental strength? Read somewhere that he'd observe how players reacted to their teams being on the losing side of a match. I may be wrong here but I'm open to being corrected.

I think we need players that can give a reaction if things are not going well. Who those players might be I have no clue.
 
I’m seeing no difference in the performances, just that away from home teams expect to compete and we let them. It works at OT because we have the home support and they see us over the line.
You don’t keep turning over possession away from home and expect to be dominant. Till the ball management improves our form will be shaky.
We have to stop trying to cheat football and stop approaching every games like a cup game.The better team should always have more possession and better opportunities will follow. Our game has to be modelled around these fundamentals and the away form will pick up. Instead we keep trying to create chances out of nothing and expect that’ll be sustainable away from home, when they have their home supporters and people wonder why the players crumble.
 
Waynne said:
Add in desire because sometimes you may lack those technical traits but actually giving a feck about the badge can be enough to bring your part in the team.

Didn't Sir Alex recruit players based on their mental strength? Read somewhere that he'd observe how players reacted to their teams being on the losing side of a match. I may be wrong here but I'm open to being corrected.

I think we need players that can give a reaction if things are not going well. Who those players might be I have no clue.
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Under SAF our players were technically better than the others in the league. Having the pick of the talent pool allows room to create an extra criteria to streamline. We are not in superior technique phase yet to start laying too much emphasis on mental strength.
Id always argue Fred is mentally strong but technically bad. We have a few players like him and we expect them to outperform players with better ability. Top players should play like top players (intelligence, arrogance, calm, skill) and if your are unable to do so under pressure, then you were never one. Apart from Martinez, Varane and Shaw none of players bear these, even when having bad games they still dont lose their football ability, intelligence and arrogance.
 
Offside said:
See Arsenal Newcastle the other day. They were bombarded from the off, crowd up for it and Newcastle pressing like mad.

Then Odegaard gets the ball, he has the control in tight areas and the composure and accuracy to slot one in totally against the run of play. In lots of other away games he’s done the same but in the form of a killer pass. They then have Newcastle silenced and exactly where they want them.

Composure, accuracy and control - even our best players like Bruno simply do not possess it.

We need players of a higher technical standard and intelligence.
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Yeah there is no doubt we severely lack technical quality and game management in this team
 
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