THE ULTIMATE SMASH AND GRAB WIN: Scientists will be spending years trying to figure out how on earth Man United won last nights game(Monday). This was arguably one of our worst performances of the season. It was characterized by mispass after mispass with Fellaini and Rojo being the worst culprits. For the second game in a row, Fellainis mispass has directly led to us conceding a goal (against Stoke and Southampton). We had the 2nd least ball possession (48%) and the 3rd least passing accuracy (81%) of all the 15 games we have played this season. It is no secret our away record has been very poor this season. In fact, the top 4 least ball possession we have had in all 15 games; have been all away games (vs Arsenal 73%, vs Man City 79%, vs Southampton 81% and vs Burnley 82%). Interestingly, we have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 1. This clearly shows that even though we may not have the best performance in a game, we somehow manage to get a good result. That is exactly what Fergie used to do and that is what all great teams do. We are now in Top 3 for the first time since Fergie retired, have won 5 games in a row for the first time since Jan - March 2013. Van Persie has now scored twice in a league game for the first time since August 2013. The 3-5-2 formation is clearly not suiting us and our style of play. But Van Gaal is being forced by circumstances beyond his control to use this formation. All our first choice fullbacks ( Rafael & Shaw) are injured and also we have no consistency in the centerback partnership due to the multiple injuries of our first choice centerbacks ( Jones, Rojo & Smalling). McNair has been the biggest casualty of this system as he is clearly not comfortable playing as one of the 3 centerbacks and last night Van Gaal had to sub him off due to the litany of errors he kept making inside our own penalty box. The strength of a 3-5-2 formation is having all your 3 centerbacks confident with possessing the ball. If even one of your centerbacks is not comfortable with possessing the ball (like McNair was) and you are playing against a high pressing team like Southampton were last night on mande, you will have major problems on your hand. I believe all these defensive problems will be solved in the next 2 transfer windows........
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:36:25 +0000
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