March is a fixture list from hell. That month can make or break your season.
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Football Thread 13/14 |OT14| Juan Flew Into The Slug's Nest
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March is a fixture list from hell. That month can make or break your season.
No. Same tactics again and again. All out attack. Bringing Rooney back into midfield. Valencia for Rafael. That reduces the teams defensive capabilities by 1/4 at least. You think it is only chance we've dropped so many points late on? Especially when we are on all out attack mode?
Personally, reviewing yesterday's game, I think we should really stop doing the above. Fulham were sitting so deep, but were dangerous on the counter attack. Moyes should had kept Rafael on. Valencia doesn't improve things all that much. & Carrick can spread the ball as good as anybody, so Rooney was all the more redundant in midfield yesterday. Fletcher should had stayed on. A winger should had departed for another striker sure. But depleting a weak midfield wasn't the best thing to do,
Feb?
Liverpool - H (FA Cup)
United H
Sunderland - H
You're pessimistic about that.
Stoke
Swansea
Spurs
Chelsea
City
That's our March but we could have 67 points before we even travel to Spurs if we win our other games.
Ozil has been overplayed. It is no surprise he is slumping right now. Not sure when we will be able to rest him, but he definitely needs to be rested at some point.
Also I think a player new to the EPL needs a full season to adjust. Some adjust immediately (Cazorla) and some take a season or two (Mertersacker). And some never do (Shinji).
Also I think a player new to the EPL needs a full season to adjust. Some adjust immediately (Cazorla) and some take a season or two (Mertersacker). And some never do (Shinji).
He can rest after the Bayern game. Sunderland at home we should win that one without Mesut. He might get a rest for the FA cup game but I hope not.
NO ONE rests against United.
I can see where you're coming from. He's always been more of a 'before the game' kind of manager in my eyes, hence continual sightings of him at other stadiums (even abroad) all the time. I've yet to be impressed by anything he's done in a game but this season he has taken it to another level at United.
He's more of a Hodgson than a Rodgers. One manager showed improvement and had character while the other said and did all the wrong things. One had a defeatist attitude (I hope we don't get thrashed by a team bottom of the league!) while the other (ludicrously I must admit) said we could finish in the top two.
I'd start looking for a new Manager/backroom staff from this point on if I were the United hierarchy. What kind of manager spends that much money on an attacking midfielder to cross 81 times from the flanks.
But Bayern away is right in the middle! Arsenal will be under more pressure due to these upcoming fixtures if they don't come out of next week full of confidence.
The team performance against us was woeful but I'm really surprised, having watched Giroud a bit this/last season, that Wenger didn't go for a more mobile and technical striker.
I get to watch some of those games on UK time, thank god.
GHG
Member
It's not just around the pitch.
They couldn't run anymore so they had to cross and cross, then cross some more.
Jesus hahaha. Van Persie's "prehistoric" comments make so much sense now. TBH I wouldn't be surprised if he's been feigning injury for the past few months to avoid having to take part in those shitty training sessions.
But doing what he does means MORE CROSSES.
I don't think it's fair to say that Kagawa never adapted. He looked pretty good in us 1st season whenever I saw him play. Moyes obviously doesn't like him for whatever reason. Maybe he's not good at crossing and doesn't listen to Moyes' instructions to cross all the time because it's not his game.
We should definitely put a bid in for him at the end of the season IMO. Rozza isn't getting any younger.
After Blackburn last season, City this season I've heard this all before. Lose a match and its the end of the world, doom and gloom like our top 4 challenge last season. confidence can change over 1 game.
Low after Blackburn defeat and high beating Bayern away. Extremely fickle especially if Bayern hand us our ass at the Emirates again so don't care about the second leg.
GHG
Member
The Man United game is going to be a real test for us mentally. It's either gonna be sink or swim. I hope the players go out there fired up with the mentality that we should take them to the cleaners and absolutely turn them over. They need to show some fight. This is no time for losers.
Haha. I wasn't talking about the players, more the fans and press. If they do badly in the upcoming fixtures I wouldn't want to see what the reactions will be like.
I still remember that poisonous opening period...
You should watch the Bayern press conference from last season it's a beauty if you like wenger meltdowns.
Fans are fickle. As soon as we win they change. They booed the team against Aston Villa when we lost but made all the noise when we beat Spurs with the same team.
Press are irrelevant. Look at what they are doing now, you'd think we were just relegated.
"I don't know where information comes from."
The intensity in his words, the focus in his eyes.
"Why do you look at me?"
"Thank You."
I can't believe I haven't seen this earlier.
Your crosses against us will provide a feast we don't bother marking players.
"can we get questions on tomorrow's game? That will be very nice"
"I don't want to talk about Bayern Munich today"
"thank you very much for that question. Been a long time I didn't answer it"
So many beauties in that conference
Ozil
Mata
this is why I was raging when we bought Diego (admittedly not even close to their class)
Playmakers are so expensive, and you hardly feel their effect on the pitch if your team is filled with holes and you don't play to their strengths.
Diego was Draxler/Gotze-like with Werder Bremen and look at him now. ;_;
Mata
this is why I was raging when we bought Diego (admittedly not even close to their class)
Playmakers are so expensive, and you hardly feel their effect on the pitch if your team is filled with holes and you don't play to their strengths.
Diego was Draxler/Gotze-like with Werder Bremen and look at him now. ;_;
So much for Guarin's threat not to play anymore for Inter. Started in the win along with Hernanes. Good result.
The golden lines make everything he says, even the lines as simple as "I trust our quality", hilarious.
I thought it's been brought up many times that Diego's attitude is terrible? How true is that? If I'm not mistaken that was also one of the rumored reasons we didn't go in for him.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Seriously. Under a quality manager, that kind of team would definitely be a good shout for top four. All this talk of Moyes needing a super-massive spend to get decent results is ridiculous.
A win that feels like a defeat.
Winning 1-0 off a corner against the worst side in Italy.
at home
well he's Brazilian!
he criticised Ferrara publicly once :lol :lol
Manchester United would be happy about this!
Inter were all over them with Milito blowing a practical tap in because he got his feet tangled up.
The amount of chances Inter had that game should have been 4-0
To be fair to Moyes, he was playing all out attack [does Hodgson know that concept at all?]. Stats don't tell the story of course, considering Fulham just sat in front of their goal, but the scoreline sure does.
We were 0-1 down. We scored 2-1. That part was good.
What happened next was as bizarre as the rest of the match. What on earth we were doing not closing out the match but being so open to a counter attack, god only knows. Call it lack of concentration. Call it ill discipline. Call it bad coaching. But it was a soft goal again.
We really need to stop leaking such soft goals.
Of course yes. The sad thing is I do remember periods like this during Fergie's rein where our central midfield was just devoid of any imagination. Thing with Fergie was that he just shut up shop. He didn't like losing two games in a row. In those times, we tended to just win three or four 1-0 games. Before form came back.
Conceding 2 from Fulham is pathetic.
still, it's Sassuolo. A side worse than Fulham.
as it stands. I can see them finishing below Verona, Parma, Torino, Lazio and possibly Milan. (11th give or take one spot)
KidA Seven
Member
I'm not worried about the defense and this shit defending. You can fix that. What worries me is his attacking plan. He has Mata, RVP, and Rooney at his disposal and he wants them to cross at every opportunity. I just don't understand how anyone can think that method can bring the best out of them.
The shit defending cost us the 3 points, but you can point to the attack being so inept that it allowed Fulham a chance to be in the game.
Moyes is giving me a migraine.
GHG
Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKC9KdBCgW4
YES MOYES.
The 0:42 second mark is criminal though. Mata on the ball in a central channel and he attempts to cross the ball when Rafael is in a great position to his right for some kind of passing exchange to advance. Crossing the ball from central areas. Its mind boggling.
YES MOYES.
The 0:42 second mark is criminal though. Mata on the ball in a central channel and he attempts to cross the ball when Rafael is in a great position to his right for some kind of passing exchange to advance. Crossing the ball from central areas. Its mind boggling.
Sad thing is he will probably beat us using this very method on Wednesday...
But 3 points is 3 points.You don't get a bonus point for 5 goals so it's still a good win. A commanding performance everywhere except the scoreboard but got enough.
I don't think it's all about player positions though. 31 shots with 9 on target, never mind how many actual chances we created against a parked bus. That's pretty fucking good all things considered.
That Utd defense had to protect their goal three times in 94 minutes. Fulham scored two soft goals. And ought really have scored their third too. That's appalling, don't you think?
Their second win in 11 games and probably their last till April. Fiorentina, Roma, Luca Toni, HGH Torino and German Denis are next!
Lightning pls accept their permanent status as a mid-table team <3
Has BoringJamesMilner moved to Liverpool?
Fiorentina can suck it, Roma lol couldn't score against Lazio, Torino lol if we can keep 11 players this time. No problem that group of games.
Shanks D Zoro
Banned
I try to be optomistic as much as possible. But, this team needs confidence. Man Utd always need to be respected. It is important that we put in a great performance as well as getting a win on Wednesday. If we get beat then this team could collapse mentally and get knocked out of the FA Cup and then there is Bayern.
It really is make or break for us this month. We could either still be in three comps or we could be out of everything and in 4th.
Shanks D Zoro
Banned
Says the person who offered support to Liverpool. FUCKING LIVERPOOL!
Your opinions get worse and worse, Juve BoyHe thinks Wenger should stay and now this. He clearly knows nothing about football
This only made me love Yurt more. <3
KidA Seven
Member
It's not the player positions. You can have Mata or Kagawa out wide and they can be effective provided they have the right style of football instilled in the team. This is why you see Kagawa on the left for Japan playing well and kagawa playing shit for United. Crossing over and over again is not going to get the best out of Rooney, RVP, or Mata. It will never happen.
The defense was bad, but you can point to Vidic being dumb and trying to pass it off to Carrick instead of just clearing it. Again, that was a short term negative. What's not a short term negative is the shit tactics. The attack has been shit the entire season and there are no signs of it changing.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
Huh, yesterday actually happened.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
^_-
You jest, but it's not everyday the most famous person in the world comes to a stadium. Could certainly see why it was a distraction
KidA Seven
Member
Broder Salsa
Banned
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