Manchester United

I think the problem is that we were basically playing 4-2-4 out there today. You can't play two strikers + Mata + Di Maria because none of those four can control the centre or are very good at getting back. We then had Valencia on the right and so only Blind was doing a job in the centre of the park. Blind isn't good enough to play there by himself. 

Mata only works well playing in behind one striker. I don't think you can pick two strikers + Mata because Mata offers nothing going back. We really need to be playing a 4-4-2. The problem with 4-3-3 is we pick 3 genuine strikers and that means that Di Maria/Herrera are dragged wide which creates too much space in the middle of the park. 4-4-2 allows Herrera to play centrally and Valencia/Januzaj can play on the right. I don't know what we do until Herrera comes back.

Carrick will be back next week. (hopefully)

After watching most of the games in the EPL this weekend I find  it unbelievable that on most football sites Chelsea are the favourites by a mile and Man City are picked for fourth. As good as Chelsea are I think that City are still the better side and will win the league.

It is any ones guess who will be in 3/4/5 place and I don't think there is that much in the top 10 anyway.

Chelsea just look consistently good. However, if Fabregas or Costa get injured / out of form there could be problems.

City tend to be hot and cold even though they have the squad depth to cope with injuries/ suspensions. Though it is always tough to keep good players happy while sitting on the bench..

Fingers crossed.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/08/rio-ferdinand-manchester-united-manager

He is dreaming. That would be a joke.

And I thought Rooney was a bit of a prick.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/wags/arsenals-ozil-splits-from-mandy-capristo-christian-lell-accuses-mesut-of-affair-with-his-ex-bild/

Rooney is a bit of a prick, isn't he? I thought that was the general consensus anyway.

Anyway, strange that you'd go and post that link, well, anywhere. People are cheating, and breaking up all over the show. It's hardly news. Especially when it's unconfirmed tabloid bullshit. Either way, whatever right?

For me the conclusions that I come to from that article is that Ozil is still injured and look forward to his return to football.

I also think rooney is a bit of a prick.

It's amazing Leggy managed to post something outside the Arsenal thread to be honest.

Cause  it is the only place I can get a good laugh.

Hilariously still Arsenal related. He's been having a bit of an Ozil week though. 

Sorry, when did this place become too good to post crap?

Thats pretty much all Buff and "Arsenal" do

Just winding up Leggy. A few days before then he posted some non-story about Ozil in the Arsenal thread, so was just a little odd he was doing the same here. Worthy of a quiet nudge in the ribs, nothing else to it. 

Would never in 100 years make the claim Leggy's the only one posting BS, there's plenty going round! 

U ok pal? xx

Believe it or not we're not all prepubescent teens sitting behind keyboards who find "trolling" entertaining.

Yeah Leggy annoys me too pal.

I love that arsenal is so often the hot topic in here

See you guys over in the gooner thread later, going to be a good game! Have to head off at 8.30 tomorrow so considering merits of a 3am viewing or up at 6am. Probably the latter, but we'll see. 

COYG

Best we have played all season and apart from two poor defensive errors should have bolted in. Pity about the dropped points as we have some big games against Chelsea and City coming up. Two more defensive players and we will be right back in.

Both Shaw and Rafael looked dodgy defensively, with Rafael not steppping up which lead to the second goal. Hopefully Shaw improves with more gametime.

Di Maria looks like he has the ball on a string with some of his crossing!

Herrera apparently under investigation for match fixing from his time at Zaragoza.

Link

At 1-0 it appeared that it was game over but credit to the team they kept battling away and got the point.

The defense is really shocking. We keep giving away soft goals- one of the smallest defenders picking up Drogba at a corner. No wonder he scored. As much as I like Mata I don't think he will be around much longer. Not only is he one paced but also slow.

Still got some big games to come- City away next week. We will need to improve, even with Rooney back.

There is just no space to pick Mata with 3 quality strikers at the club. If you pick two strikers + Di Maria + Mata then you really need some absolute quality defensive midfielders to cover the holes. Kagawa was a disappointment but I think he would have been worth holding onto as a back up #10 and shipping off Mata. Mata was basically a panic buy. We bought him because he was the only quality guy available. If you are going to play Mata then you need a team built around him.

On the plus side Fellaini is starting to play well. I have always thought he was a quality player but the way he played didn't really fit our style. Having him on the bench going forward is a great option because it means if you are behind with 20 minutes to go you can bring on something different.

Agree about Fellaini-- forgot to mention him. The wife said after the game that he was her MOM.

I disagree. I thought we played quite well. The obvious mismatch is a cock up sure, but in my head Hazard scored from what was a pretty solid piece of build up. Then Chelsea continued to sit back (the mourinho bus) and fouled us everytime we went for a counter attack. (not that I'm attacking the tactic) Other than the goal, RVP was very average. I would much rather have Mata, Rooney Falcao over RVP.

Di Maria should've scored early. Smalling with a fantastic, well executed headlock.

The team is heading for some exciting times. The backline all being 24, except Shaw who is 19. Januzaj 19. Blind 24. Wilson at 18 definetly not embarrasing himself.

Even though we escaped with a point it was an improved performance. Dunno if Leggy has seen the table? Chelsea sit four points clear and we matched them from whistle to whistle. Fellaini had Cesc in his pocket. We created plenty of chances, admittedly the finishing wasn't great but no Rooney or Falcao is a lot of firepower and RVP isn't in his best form IMO. One defensive error IS an improvement if you've seen any of the previous games. A few too many speculative crosses for my liking though, not our style but other than that happy with the result and the performance, the players are still getting used to each other so we should expect improvements from week to week going forward.

TL of course I've seen the table but the reality is our central defenders are not that great. Because of injuries we don't have the consistency that you should have in the back four. If you look at the Chelsea defense they are solid and apart from one game have played the same four all season. This is where we need to improve. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the result.

Defensively we were good today. Most (if not all) defences will struggle against Hazard, Oscar, Willian and Fabregas and to only concede from a corner is pleasing. 

With a fully fit team we will make our way up the table. Today we missed attacking depth on the bench, as Mata looks uncomfortable playing in central midfield (cannot express himself and get about) and RVP wasn't firing. Di Maria also lacked that final pass.

Would have taken a point before the game but after how we played and how the goal was conceded, would have been nice to have 3 points. Should be able to take another 3 points at City next weekend if the form continues

Bit quiet in here this week.

In some parts of the world people are only just getting up.

The result was fair as you are never going to beat a side like City with 10 players.  I would not expect an under 12 player to get booked like Smalling did for the first yellow and the second one shows how poor he is. He was never going to get to the ball before Milner-- Lets hope we flog him to the London club that wants him in January. 

With 10 men I expected to get done by 4/5 and either City are not what they should be or we were better than I thought. Was still an enjoyable game to watch compared to the way we played last season. I reckon we can win the return game.

A bit hypocritical to suggest that it is a bit quiet on here.As a City supporter 2ndBest it seems like  years since you were on the City thread :)

I've always said I'm not much of a City fan. Can't remember the last game watch. More of a follower, so I don't have any worthy contribution to make on particular teams.

Thought it was a terrific game myself. Smalling put us out of it to a large extent but was still fascinating to watch and we were looking good for a point for the last 20 minutes or so. I think Valencia's horrible positioning played some part in  Smalling's tackle but the first yellow was inexcusable.

Backline did surprisingly well for two teenagers and two midfielders. Great to see Carrick back too. Rojo could be a big loss.

Most of the side put in decent shifts. De Gea outstanding as usual and Rooney played well. Van Persie surely would not be starting if Falcao was fit or Welbeck had stayed. He offers so little now and got in Fellaini's way every time a ball was played to the back post. Hopefully in games against weaker midfields Mata plays in the hole and Rooney leads the line.

Pretty chuffed despite the result, heading in the right direction in terms of tactics and commitment.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/louis-van-gaal-and-manchester-united-face-the-easiest-start-to-the-201415-premier-league-season-but-rivals-manchester-city-have-the-hardest-9664727.html

The question is: is an easier start really easier than a hard start? I think it would have been better to play the tough teams first. We would have lost anyway to those teams. Then you leave the easy games until the signings have arrived. It also means you end the season with the easy teams so can finish strongly.

This is such a shit yarn. The team look entirely different under van Gaal, sure he's had money to spend (would Moyes have pulled the same targets? doubt it - also Moyes had a Premier League winning backline, anyway...) the vibe is coming back to the team and the vibe is returning to Old Trafford.

We play better, we look better, we are better. If Moyes record speaks for itself one wonders why he is still unemployed.

The only good thing was that we got 3 points. I don't understand how LVG can expect to put out that formation and be successful.

Playing two wide players and RVP up the middle just does not work.For all his ability to beat players Januzaj does not have the football brains or passing skills to do the job. The min. he was subbed Utd scored. Having Blind playing at the back is poor as he has no pace and towards the end he was back to midfield, where he should be.

Have never seen such a one sided game( even if Palace should have score before half-time) The guy that  again played well was Fellaini.

 Young Wilson showed that he could be a very good striker for the future. Should have won by 2 or 3.

Looking forward to the Arsenal game.

Probably because your fans hounded him out of the club.