I agree with Memphis not being #10. He would require time to get used to the role definitely. I felt Herrera did a better job than him when he was introduced. I have not lost all hope on him yet. But I feel Herrera should start than him. He could be introduced in 2nd half as of now. Hopefully, by the end of the season we will see the best of Memphis.
Better play than last match for ManUtd, but a lot is left to desire for going ahead. Thanks to the awful performance of Aston Villa, they didn't break a sweat. One good thing is they sorted out their Full backs, both Darmian and Shaw are playing very good. Schneiderlin another solid performance in middle alongwith Carrick and Basti (last 30 minutes).
However, I am still not convinced with defense pair of Smalling & Blind with Romero as GK. Lot of critical mis-communication between the three especially with Romero. Individually Smalling is defending good, but his understanding with others is not upto the mark. Better game by Blind today, but still not convinced with his physical side once the opponents have settled. Mata needs to play #10. He showed today how dangerous really he is in middle than on the right hand side. His defense cutting pass was the difference between the teams. Memphis was way better on left wing than last match. Hopefully, Memphis continue there in future. Frankly speaking the worst on pitch were both Januzaj and Rooney. Eventhough Januzaj score the goal today, his overall game was poor. Clearly he is lacking matching fitness and physicality. Too easily pushed off the ball in early stages. A talented player who needs match time to grow. A curious case of Wayne Rooney. It seems he is not comfortable in Striker role. He wants to get involved with the game and here he was aloof almost majority of the time.
Based on last two performance, Van Gaal needs to sort the striker position as quickly as possible. Rooney is struggling there. Van Gaal also needs to figure out his #10. Too many players in team to play for that position resulting in lots of experiment. This is effecting the game. Lastly, Utd needs a Centre Back better than Blind.
I don't know which is true Man Utd attack being outstanding or FC Brugge defence being disastrous. A game which felt like FC Brugge didn't want to play and forced upon (Maybe due to many injuries and suspensions). Anyways coming to the play, Rooney was on fire, played like a striker first time this season. His movement was really good. Memphis is growing into a quality player on left. Good play by Mata on right too followed by similar play by Young in last 15 mins. Herrera started bit shaky but grew into the game. However, not upto his best yet. Carrick and Schweinsteiger solid in holding midfielder position. Another good game for Darmian and Smalling. However, the major let down being Shaw and Blind. Both of them were caught of position couple of time each. And Blind being between in air and speed few times. I just hope he rectifies his mistake otherwise it will be a nightmare defensively. Romero is not giving that confidence in goal. He can be outstanding in one moment but equally treble in span of couple of mins. Another poor play was from Hernandez. Two open goal chances missed. He is really devoid any short of confidence at the moment.
Overall, lack of quality Utd. defense was shown by FC Brugge movement. However, due to the pathetic quality of Brugge strikers, they were not able to convert a single one. A half decent opponent would have scored couple for sure. A lot needs to be dawn defensively.
Really frustrated with today's match!! Hate the lack of intensity from Utd. No will to win the derby. No attacking balls, all approach with safety first even when you have two players who can play #10 (Mata and Hererra). Even the speed is too slow for Premier league level. I don't understand the reason to play Rooney as sole striker he is not effective. He is always good as #10 or second striker. Really frustrated.
It was only after the introduction of Lingard that we saw few runs. I am really happy with Martial, a damm good player in the center (way better than Rooney) and on the wings (better than hyped Memphis).
Only positive was the defensive movement to restrict City's wingers especially Bruyne but apart from that nothing. Schneiderlin was again solid defensive midfielder. But it is a meaningless consolation when you being home team are content with DRAW!!
To be fair both managers set up their teams to not lose which is understandable.....ands the reds shows greater de sire than city...i would really have wished nasri to come for the last 20 minutes or so to see if thy cld win...
City showed desire to attack in first half which completly vanished in 2nd half. I am just frustrated by the fact that Utd didn't try to go for kill when City was in defensively mindset in 2nd half. It became a monotonous affair from Utd just passing the ball to wings and try to create chances from low crosses or cut inside and try to shoot. There was almost no through ball from the center of the park to Rooney or no off the ball move to go behind the offside trap (except one from Lingard).
With City's perspective, they were lacking Augero and Silva's creativity in final third badly. No coordination between Bony and Toure made the matter worse. Sterling is struggling in City's squad and still not able to understand his role in the team. I am pretty sure City will be happy with this result.
I dont know where to start. When you have more than 60% of possession and still muster lesser shots on target then opponent then you need to look at your striker. Rooney is struggling big time. Even a non-footballing brain can see that. I never believed when SAF said Rooney's future was midfield than forward. Now I can see why SAF said so. He is dropping too deep for a lone striker. Many a times today the crosses from Martial, Hererra and Rojo was welcome by only Crystal Palace players in 6 yards box. Where was Rooney outside the penalty area. A simple question who are we crossing the ball for.
Darmian is turning out to be a big time average player in recent games. Even Valencia and Young both wingers by trade are doing better job at right back position than him. I love Schweinsteiger, but his impact in games are lesser than Carrick. His movement is good but lacks that pace as a results looses the ball easily near opponent penalty box.
Everytime United takes to field we can see united is playing with only 8-9 players. Always 2-3 players are invisible in the whole match and surprisingly these player are not at all replaced.
I am getting restless with the Van Gaal's tactics of just sterile possession. What is point in having the possession when you cant score a goal? The winning attitude of Man Utd is invisible this season. We are lucky that we are in top four of the table. But if we continue like this. I am sure we will drop out of top 4 by the start of the new year and miss champions league again.
Its time for rooney to pack his bags to MLS. Even he can't finish one on one situations now, sad state of affairs. Even a girlfriend will not give so many chances to her boyfriend considering chances given by Van Gaal to Rooney
Comments
lucky to win and couple of good saves at the end
Man UTd CB's aren't that great
Even he can't finish one on one situations now, sad state of affairs.
Even a girlfriend will not give so many chances to her boyfriend considering chances given by Van Gaal to Rooney