Man Utd may be a poor side but...

[Stavrogin]

But you can't give the ball away as cheaply and as often as we did. This was the key to the match for me, everything else pales into insignificance.

If we know that a) we're not defensively resilient and b) we haven't, in recent weeks, had the cutting edge up front, then possession is massively important. Plus it really grated seeing such middling opposition being gifted the ball again and again - whilst we were devoid of ball winners of our own.

I'm not really sure who's at fault. Redknapp for not drilling it into the players, the players themselves for so many lapses, or just a mental issue related to our inability to control games?

 

[SpurSince57]

Yes, they're total shite. :roll:

 

[spurs mental]

Since when are Man United poor?

 

[Stavrogin]

Since when are Man United poor?

What? Since they've been unable to invest money in their squad and since their overall performances have decended to a hitherto unprecedented level of ineptitude (relatively speaking).

 

[spurs mental]

And yet they finished second last season, and are presently sitting third in the league. The difference between us and United, still, is that they can get it done when it matters.

 

[There's always next year]

So poor that they have yet to be beaten this season.

If they are poor, what doe sthis say about us.

 

[rabbikeane]

Their players aren't as impressive as they used to, but they got
- Sir Alex Ferguson, winning mentality, experience and stability to always deliver.

This is where we're playing catchup.

 

[RickyVilla]

But you can't give the ball away as cheaply and as often as we did. This was the key to the match for me, everything else pales into insignificance.

If we know that a) we're not defensively resilient and b) we haven't, in recent weeks, had the cutting edge up front, then possession is massively important. Plus it really grated seeing such middling opposition being gifted the ball again and again - whilst we were devoid of ball winners of our own.

I'm not really sure who's at fault. Redknapp for not drilling it into the players, the players themselves for so many lapses, or just a mental issue related to our inability to control games?

We been smoking them weeds again? ;-)

 

[Wiener]

They are far from a poor side. Great Manager, Van der Saar, Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick, Evra, Berbatov, Nani, Park etc are all far from poor to name but a few. They do have some concerns regarding the lack of talent coming through and who will replace Ferguson. But at the moment they are still one of the best most experience sides in Europe.

Perhaps the OP meant, poor by Man U's high standards.

 

[StartingPrice]

Since when are Man United poor?

Since the Glazer's ran them into the ground to maximize profits, and they began existing solely to service interest off debts:shrug:

 

[Bus-Conductor]

The reason we took nothing from that match is that we wasted the ball in the final third. If you compare that performance with previous performances you will probably find we were actual more assured on the ball and we gave the ball away less than usual. If anything I was more surprised with how much ManU were giving the ball away, partly due to pressure but not always.

 

[AngerManagement]

I think we were generally second best in the game.

We had passages of nice play and but for the post and a fine save by Van Der Sar from Modric could have scored, but they looked the better team on the day over all and were worth the victory.

The controlled the ball better, attacking movement was much better than ours.

 

[PT]

Huddlestone was key. He didn't play and we were poor in recycling in the middle third.

 

[guate]

In previous seasons we've had an excellent end product and very little mid-field help, now it's completely reverse with good mid-field support and no end product.
Untd are still a large step up from us though, in character !!!!!! which we have still to learn

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Huddlestone was key. He didn't play and we were poor in recycling in the middle third.

A really strange thing to say.

How well did Huddlestone recycle the ball at home to Arsenal last year ?

The lack of Huddlestone was the key to us actually having as much ball possession as them up to the 70th minute and preventing them from ever really dominating the middle of the park. Playing with Huddlestone last year was the key to us being dominated for long periods and losing 3-1 and it was him that gave the ball away for their third goal.

That was actually the best game up there in the middle third of the pitch for a long time.

 

[Damian99]

That was actually the best game up there in the middle third of the pitch for a long time.

Against possibly the weakest United than in previous encounters too. Funny really how you are trying to stake a claim that, that was our best performance up there for a long time, seeing as we were minus Huddlestone and Jermaine(i give the fucking ball away when under no pressure)Jenas played. You can put as much pressure on the ball as you like all day long but if you do fuck all with it when you have it, you won't win football matches.

We ended up with the samething we always end up with at OT, FUCK ALL.

 

[Stavrogin]

The reason we took nothing from that match is that we wasted the ball in the final third.

This is what I mean about needing to monopolize possession. When our attacking play is so blunt we need as much of the ball as we can get, yet we were generally profligate all over the pitch.

If we'd been against a stronger Man Utd team we'd probably have been punished at some point and the issue would have been glaringly obvious, so you might say it doesn't matter so much. But until we can shake our attack up it really does.

 

[PT]

Exactly - where there is little or no front option in the final third - and let's be frank here - Keane was absent in the danger areas and VdV had his quietest match in terms of imposition - the midfield four has to keep possession, keep recycling. Use the back four across the line, and this is where Huddlestone would have stepped up in to the hole and bridged. We missed him.

 

[double0]

Its always the same talk after a game with United generally we play well and LOSE. To make things interesting of late we have controversy thrown in for good measure, r Spurs fans crying we were robbed United fans laughing with 3 points

When will this nightmare end.

 

[ultimateloner]

I think Man U will still be the team to beat. Nani alone is enough to cause any team problems. He's fast replacing Rooney as the pivot of the team and perhaps we should have man-marked him throughout - perhaps Jenas could have been given that responsibility.