Swansea City vs Manchester Utd
2-1
Sun 30th August - 4pm
Barclays Premier League
Swansea City vs Manchester Utd
Sun 30th August - 4pm
Barclays Premier League
One of the biggest problems with football fans is that whenever your team is doing well, its always 'we're back' and 'we're gonna win the league' etc, when in actual fact you might have just come up against a poor team or just had a game ridden with luck. Arsenal fans are known for this...one minute they want Wenger out and then the next they think he is a genius and they are back on the road to a title winning season. I don't really watch Arsenal that much so can't really comment on whats wrong but I definitely thought Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher made a couple of brilliant points on MNF and certainly worth a watch.
Now, lets look at United's season so far....
- We've bought a good couple of players in midfield and at right back,
- We had a good preseason against some good opposition but nothing magical.
- We have actually started the league pretty well. Kept 3 clean sheets, looked really solid at the back and look like we have another exciting player in Memphis.
- Rooney on the other hand hasn't started very well. He has looked a shadow of the player he has been and has been pretty poor until this week's champions league match against Club Brugge where he comes back in style and scores a hat trick.
- All of a sudden, United have found their feet and Rooney is back in form and now we are unstoppable. No. Firstly Champions League is not the same as the Premier League and as Kiko Macheda will tell you from a bench somewhere in Wales, one match doesn't change anything. Its all about consistency.
Are Smalling & Blind good enough to be our centre back partnership and win the league?
In short the answer is no. I definitely think that Smalling has turned into a brilliant CB and if he can keep up his form and stay injury free, then he could be our new Rio Ferdinand. Daley Blind is a brilliant reader of the game and his positional play is brilliant but there are 2 issues in him that worry me. When he comes up against a strong centre forward like Gomis, he is caught out. The other issue I find is that he sometimes gets pulled out of position easily and gets caught out, especially when Luke Shaw has committed himself too. I would quite happily see him playing as a centre back for 60% of the matches in the Premier League but if I am honest, we need a Hummels or Varane to go alongside Smalling with Jones & Blind as back up. Just thinking about it gets me excited but I know it probably won't happen.
Do we need another forward or do we have enough?
We definitely need a world class forward! In my opinion, I think Wayne Rooney plays well when he is a part of a top two. Someone who can make the runs for him but can also hold the ball up and play him through. In short, I would play Wayne Rooney in the number 10 role and someone like Cavani or Benzema in the number 9 role. Now comes the issue that we have too many players whose best position is the number 10 role. We have Rooney, Mata, Herrera, Fellaini, Januzaj, Pereira, Memphis. So with this news, it really frustrates me that I wake up this morning, to rumours that LVG has told Hernandez that he is no longer needed at the club. He is one of 3 players who are any good in the number 9 role and as much as I hate agreeing with Michael Owen, he is one of the best substitutes in world football. I really rate him and although he had a tough match on Wednesday (where in all fairness, he slipped for the penalty) a run in the team could be brilliant for him.
I would like to take you back to the Champions League Final in 2011. Our opponent was Barcelona and the player their defence was quoted as saying they were most worried about was Javier Hernandez. He was unstoppable. For whatever reason he hasn't been played and he hasn't been given the confidence to become the player he can be and this frustrates me!
So in conclusion I think we should keep Chicharito, play Rooney in the number 10 role and sign Cavani or Benzema. LVG over to you!
I would like to take you back to the Champions League Final in 2011. Our opponent was Barcelona and the player their defence was quoted as saying they were most worried about was Javier Hernandez. He was unstoppable. For whatever reason he hasn't been played and he hasn't been given the confidence to become the player he can be and this frustrates me!
So in conclusion I think we should keep Chicharito, play Rooney in the number 10 role and sign Cavani or Benzema. LVG over to you!
Are we a long ball team?
It starting to really frustrate me that we are resorting to hoofing the ball up to Fellaini and hoping we nick something. I would much rather see him bring on Chicharito and playing the ball along the floor like I know we can. Twitter blew up over the instant tactic change when Fellaini came on and I'm afraid I have to agree. Seriously need to reconsider this approach, especially when Fellaini and Smalling seem to be the only players of substantial height in our team.
Is Romero good enough to be our Number 1?
I am really not a fan of this Romero. He may have kept 3 clean sheets before this match but I would not put that on him. The defence has stopped everything before it has even got to him. He has not been tested one bit....until today. The second goal was so bad from his point of view and it was his chance to prove his critics wrong. Unfortunately the initial thought that he has come in as a number 2 is actually correct. We need to either bring De Gea back in the team or if he goes, we need to bid around £25m for Lloris because with Romero in goal I don't think we can win the league.
How did we play today versus Swansea?
Well, I actually thought we started quite well. I was glad he decided to keep with Herrera after his midweek game and thought we were in complete control of the game. Unfortunately that is all we were....in control of the game! We needed to be penetrating their defence a bit more but yet again every time we got the ball forward, it was passed backwards again. Now I completely understand that LVG wants us to play a possession based game but we need to score goals at the same time. Possession for the first 10/20 mins to kill the crowd off....fine. Possession when your 3-0 up....fine. But we need to start turning that possession into something. As i have mentioned one of the things we need to improve on is our delivery of the ball. When we have sorted that out and we buy a world class forward, I really do believe we can start to think about the title. Until that point we are going to be settling for fighting it out for 4th. We need to be concentrating on crossing in training because I remember when Beckham was in the team and he would plant the ball anywhere he wanted to but now we don't have anyone doing that. Not even once during the whole game and this is unacceptable. In terms of individual performances, I thought Smalling played well again. Damian didn't play as well as he has but still put in a solid performance. Blind played well in moments but was caught out on too many occasions. Luke Shaw is still looking one of the biggest threats and I am a big fan so far. Schweinsteiger looked tired towards the end of the game and probably could have been substituted instead of Schneiderlin who actually impressed me today. Normally he is a backwards/sideways passing player but he commanded the middle of the park well and even went on a few forward runs himself. Just don't want him to revert to the passing that has frustrated me so far this season. Rooney looked like he was a spectator but that could be the system rather than him. Memphis looked frustrated and his delivery has to improve. Mata played ok. Good goal but as I have said he is better in the number ten role. Herrera was also a little lost but wasn't given the support I think he needed. Its also worth mentioning that Martin Atkinson had a poor game. No major decision was wrong but just felt he got a lot of the smaller decisions wrong. In no way is that an excuse but just a little side note.
Match Report - Marks Out of Ten
Starting Eleven
Romero 5
Darmian 7
Smalling 8
Blind 6
Shaw 7
Schneiderlin 7
Schweinsteiger 7
Herrera 6
Mata 7
Memphis 6
Rooney 6
Subs
Carrick 7
Young 7
Fellaini 6
It starting to really frustrate me that we are resorting to hoofing the ball up to Fellaini and hoping we nick something. I would much rather see him bring on Chicharito and playing the ball along the floor like I know we can. Twitter blew up over the instant tactic change when Fellaini came on and I'm afraid I have to agree. Seriously need to reconsider this approach, especially when Fellaini and Smalling seem to be the only players of substantial height in our team.
Is Romero good enough to be our Number 1?
I am really not a fan of this Romero. He may have kept 3 clean sheets before this match but I would not put that on him. The defence has stopped everything before it has even got to him. He has not been tested one bit....until today. The second goal was so bad from his point of view and it was his chance to prove his critics wrong. Unfortunately the initial thought that he has come in as a number 2 is actually correct. We need to either bring De Gea back in the team or if he goes, we need to bid around £25m for Lloris because with Romero in goal I don't think we can win the league.
How did we play today versus Swansea?
Well, I actually thought we started quite well. I was glad he decided to keep with Herrera after his midweek game and thought we were in complete control of the game. Unfortunately that is all we were....in control of the game! We needed to be penetrating their defence a bit more but yet again every time we got the ball forward, it was passed backwards again. Now I completely understand that LVG wants us to play a possession based game but we need to score goals at the same time. Possession for the first 10/20 mins to kill the crowd off....fine. Possession when your 3-0 up....fine. But we need to start turning that possession into something. As i have mentioned one of the things we need to improve on is our delivery of the ball. When we have sorted that out and we buy a world class forward, I really do believe we can start to think about the title. Until that point we are going to be settling for fighting it out for 4th. We need to be concentrating on crossing in training because I remember when Beckham was in the team and he would plant the ball anywhere he wanted to but now we don't have anyone doing that. Not even once during the whole game and this is unacceptable. In terms of individual performances, I thought Smalling played well again. Damian didn't play as well as he has but still put in a solid performance. Blind played well in moments but was caught out on too many occasions. Luke Shaw is still looking one of the biggest threats and I am a big fan so far. Schweinsteiger looked tired towards the end of the game and probably could have been substituted instead of Schneiderlin who actually impressed me today. Normally he is a backwards/sideways passing player but he commanded the middle of the park well and even went on a few forward runs himself. Just don't want him to revert to the passing that has frustrated me so far this season. Rooney looked like he was a spectator but that could be the system rather than him. Memphis looked frustrated and his delivery has to improve. Mata played ok. Good goal but as I have said he is better in the number ten role. Herrera was also a little lost but wasn't given the support I think he needed. Its also worth mentioning that Martin Atkinson had a poor game. No major decision was wrong but just felt he got a lot of the smaller decisions wrong. In no way is that an excuse but just a little side note.
Match Report - Marks Out of Ten
Starting Eleven
Romero 5
Darmian 7
Smalling 8
Blind 6
Shaw 7
Schneiderlin 7
Schweinsteiger 7
Herrera 6
Mata 7
Memphis 6
Rooney 6
Subs
Carrick 7
Young 7
Fellaini 6
In Other News...
- A little worried about Wolfsburg. Although they have lost their best player, they have just bought Dante from Bayern Munich & Julian Draxler from Schalke. Gonna be a difficult few games when we meet in the Champions league group stage.
- As Martin Tyler nicely mentioned during his commentary, Manchester City have completed the signing of Kevin De Bruyne. I have always said that the Manchester City squad should be running away with the title and any manger that doesn't do so, deserves to be sacked. They look absolutely formidable. They are playing gorgeous football and I would bet a whole load of money on them winning the league. Unless United sign someone world class in the next 24 hours, it seems a forgone conclusion already. Just my opinion.
- If anyone remembers a few seasons ago, Chelsea started brilliantly and they were in a position where they were going to run away with the league. Then all of a sudden they sacked Ray Wilkins and crumbled. Anyone think Eva Carneiro is the new Ray Wilkins? ;)
Thanks for reading. Please share!
(p.s. Hopefully next time I post, we will have signed a few superstars but very much doubt it!)
Over & Out!
No comments:
Post a Comment