- Aug 21, 2011
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Lloris although Kane would have been worthy of it had Lloris not played a worldy
He who dares Presses.
This has been a feature of ManU teams for me for years. It's not just that they have, of course, had superior players and often played superior football, but their work rate. It has always kind of been ignored when analysing them over the years. They have never been known as a "pressing" team per se, it's was always just endemically embedded in their collective psyche, their footballing DNA under Ferguson. And VanGaal seems to have got them back in that groove. The most noticeable thing about the first half, apart from the tactical miss-match that Pochettino's tactics had created, was the amount of time they were allowed on the ball compared to how little time they allowed us to have the ball. It was also noticeable that when we started pressing them much better in the second half how much more even the game became.
I have always used this expression. It's an old very hackneyed cliché, and I don't always like them, but I believe it. You have to earn the right to play. You have a cast iron obligation to do the basic, ordinary, unglamorous things well as a matter of course.
Whatever else ManU always did under Ferguson, however quickly they broke and tore you apart, or how well they could dominate the game sometimes, coming at you in waves, they were never allowed by Ferguson to get away with not doing the basics. Not pressing your man properly, not tracking your runner, not being diligent positionally etc etc and this is why they won leagues, often with inferior sides.
The difference in that first half was like the old ManU v the old Spurs. They were working so much harder and, thanks to Pochettino's unswerving adherence to a 4231, and the choices within in it, the converted that superiority to so many chances and half chances it was an absolute miracle we didn't come it at half time 3 or 4 down.
Pressing isn't just about being in the vicinity of the opponent. Casually meandering in his general direction, hinting at the suggestion that you may possibly if you feel so inclined perhaps get a bit closer to him. Pressing needs to be done with vigour and genuine intent to stop the opponent doing what he wants to do, making him genuinely uncomfortable. Watching Townsend, Eriksen and Chadli limply fanny about was fucking painful in that first half, and is tactical suicide with our defenders playing a highish line.
It was, frankly, a fucking miracle we got through that half unscathed. But somehow - poor finishing, luck, last ditch defending, great goalkeeping - we did.
In the match thread Townsend and Fazio were getting slaughtered at half time but I thought this was unfair. Apart from the shit pressing, of which he wasn't the only culprit, he was our only player who looked like making something happen, playing a very nice little dink cross that Kane should have done better with. I was more pissed off with the lack of contribution by Eriksen and Chadli. Eriksen wasn't doing enough to help out our over run midfield and Chadli was wasteful and lazy. And Fazio was having a torrid time but was digging in and making tackles and blocks and shit. It wasn't his fault that our defence was being so exposed.
What we got second half was a different game. Kane said post match that they were told to press better higher up. I'm hoping this is true and that "told" was a nice way of putting it. They needed a fucking rocket up their arses.
I think a combination of our increased effort to press better and higher, our rotation, our fitness (@thinktank )and the fact that LVG had played the same 11 players 48 hours previously, meant the game changed radically. For the first 20 minutes of the second half it became a much more even affair than the first half had been with the game being played much more in midfield with very few chances being made now, but gradually it became a very one sided and we were firmly on top, so much so that in the end I was actually a little fucked off that we hadn't made more of our domination over that second half. Overall it would have been hard on ManU, a draw in the end was a very fair result and reward for having a half each.
It really does worry me that Pochettino made no major tactical adjustment to counter ManU's 352, it was a complete miss-match and we were comprehensively over run for the first 45 minutes, more so than any game I've seen in the last few years. More than The LIverpool or ManC drubbings. It's not just the tactical deficiency, it's that we still aren't working off the ball coherently, we still aren't pressing the ball properly all over the pitch. Not the "high" press, just the general, press the fucking ball properly that should be endemic.
Mason had another pretty woeful game. His passing is very careless, and it's not just because he's trying Hoddle-esque passes, he's giving the ball away making routine passes a lot of the time, he did it a couple of times in quick succession and put us on the back foot instantly. You just cannot keep doing this in this league, he has the worst passing completion of all of our midfielders including Lamela and Chadli, only 1% better than Townsend. He is not creating much or making very incisive passes either, in fact he had a great chance today to play us clean through and fluffed it. Worst of all was his atrocious miss of the best chance of the game, wonderfully created by Kane. You just have to be composed enough to hit the target at least. Instead he leaned back a blasted over. It was schoolboy technique.
Mason has good intentions, but he's not a kid, he's not 19, he's got to start walking the walk and playing with more composure and craft, and soon.
Both he and Stambouli weren't helped by being numerically outnumbered in the middle of the pitch, and we really should have started as a 433 then maybe switched later on if we needed to.
Davies had an excellent game, I don't think he's brilliant going forward, more steady, but if you have a more attacking RB that's not the end of the world, and after Rose's horror show boxing day, he was a calming influence.
Lloris had another very good game, although I thought it was his uncharacteristic hesitancy that created that weird chance for RVP, that Lloris ultimately saved.
Man of the match for me was Kane. The boy just keeps surprising you. He was really poor against Leicester, looking clumsy and bereft of wit. Comes out two days later and puts in a performance like this today. He was energetic, second half led the pressing, winning the ball back brilliantly a couple of times and putting ManU under real pressure - it was this kind of pressing from him that changed the whole ambiance of the game - and it was a superb piece of play from him, playing the best pass of the game to set up Mason for the best chance of the game.
I know you can't press frenetically for 90 minutes. It's impossible, but we need to keep the ball better when we are in rest (or non press) mode. Pochettino needs to find a way to manage games, both before and during. We are conceding too much of games to opponents, and not just the ones of the calibre of ManU.
I thought the subs were right, but could have been made a bit earlier.
Individual stuff:
Lloris - Very good game. I thought one blunder but more than redeemed.
Chriches - When weighing up the gains and costs there really isn't much to choose between him and Walker as RB's. Both do the odd daft thing, but he's more composed and intelligent, Walker's quicker. Tactically I don't understand why he wasn't coached this week to show Young outside on his slightly weaker left side. Continually showed him inside onto his right and it was very dangerous for us.
Fazio - You don't want people running at him on the counter, but when it's a battle he digs in. I didn't think he was terrible today.
Vertonghen - I thought he was also generally pretty decent under considerable onslaught from quality players first half.
Davies - Excellent game. Our best defender on the day I thought.
Stambouli - You can't fault his endeavour, and the CM's were horribly outnumbered by some quality footballers. Tough day.
Mason - Pretty poor game overall. 19/33 passes is really not good enough, even on a tough day. You cannot fault his desire and willingness to battle and he'll have easier days, but he's not just there as a busy ****, he's got to offer more football and much fewer careless mistakes.
Townsend - Defensively very lax, but I thought offensively was our best player first half. Someone said in the match thread (@Dov67 I think) Townsend's like one of those players that's almost really good but isn't, and this is kind of it. He can show great technique then miss-control it, he'll nearly create a great chance, but then two minutes later he'll waste a great chance to set someone up by blasting from 30 yards or turning into trouble. It's like nature has played a cruel joke on him, given him talent but not the mental faculties to make the most of it. Very decent first half, meh second.
Eriksen - Poor first half, needed to show more fucking desire to be part of the game. Better second half.
Chadli - As above. But not loads better second half and rightly subbed. Wasted a couple of good positions with poor control choices too.
Kane - Outstanding game. This is his best position for me. He's poor "10" but a real handful as a "9". Dragging defenders around, pressing brilliantly from the front, changing the whole tone of the game, his hold up play was good and his ball for Mason sublime. MOTM for me.
Dembele/Lamela - Right subs, did OK in the limited time they had. Should have been on sooner.
Lloris again for me but Chiriches was also very good first half.
Just because our defence had to survive a lot of pressure, it doesn't mean that the defence was the cause of the pressure.I haven't had the chance to see the game today as working, sounds like everyone is saying Fazio looked good but Utd still seemed to have a load of clear chances. We couldn't have been that good in defence
Nobody apart from everyone?Having said that, Lloris is the clear MOM for me.
Nobody seems to notice how often he saves us, and it's great that he'll finally get some recognition. Some of his saves in the 1st half were World Class.
I know, but we seem to give away a lot of clear chances every game with strikers losing their markers. I was just wondering if Fazio did his usual, win lots of headers and make some blocks that can catch the eye but still be responsible for a couple of cock upsJust because our defence had to survive a lot of pressure, it doesn't mean that the defence was the cause of the pressure.
I know, but we seem to give away a lot of clear chances every game with strikers losing their markers. I was just wondering if Fazio did his usual, win lots of headers and make some blocks that can catch the eye but still be responsible for a couple of cock ups
Fazio was good, JV was OK, Davies was very good and Chiriches was...'questionable'- he seems to do something really good, and then fuck up a minute later.I know, but we seem to give away a lot of clear chances every game with strikers losing their markers. I was just wondering if Fazio did his usual, win lots of headers and make some blocks that can catch the eye but still be responsible for a couple of cock ups
Hugo fazio and Kane excellent then you let yourself down... Mason was great ? Are you his dad ?First half, 4s all round (Hugo aside), second half;
Great: Hugo, Fazio, Mason, Kane
Good: Davies, Chiriches, Verts, Townsend
Fine: Stambo, Chadli, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen
Poch and fans - 10/10