22 Mar 2015 17:26:00
Hello everyone. Ed001, I know you believed that Utd will fall out of 4 top and that at the end we will make CL. Has this changed after tonights match? And if you have time, I would like to hear your match review, what went wrong (beside Stevies card) and who dissapointed you.
Cheers.
{Ed001's Note - it looks unlikely now that they will fall out of the top 4, they are picking up results and will probably keeping doing so. I thought Rodgers would have spotted the signs that teams had figured out the system and tweaked it for the better. Instead he has just made the wingbacks drop deeper as fullbacks and it is costing us. We don't have the personnel on the pitch to defend.
My match review? Simple, United hoofed into the corner to Fellaini, who just did his usual elbows out in the face tactics and Can couldn't cope. Then they picked up the pieces because we were stood watching. Our defence was non-existent as a unit. Skrtel still dropping off when there is no need, Moreno is just dozing and Can is just not comfortable when put under pressure defensively.
If Rodgers is going to persist with this system, then he has to push the team up and attack the opponents, whoever they are. It is not set up to defend.
Who disappointed me? Pretty much everyone. Rodgers has to take the main blame though, when he can't figure out how to cope with the same tactical system Allardyce employed all those years ago at Bolton, then he has a problem. Plenty of other managers figured it out, he should have too. At the very least he has to realise Allen is a passenger in games like that and we desperately need Lucas back in there.}
22 Mar 2015 18:07:37
But Harsh Ed. Pretty much every United fan hates the long ball up to Fellaini but I didn't see may desperation today. In the 1st half possession was kept and Liverpool were pushed back. I get that Fellaini is all arms and elbows but even his biggest critics at United (including me) think he is making a differenc right now. The questin for Liverpool is what happend in that 1st half? Why did the form team not show up?
Also worth noting that United beat Spurs because Spurs were rubbish and the same is being said today. United have been poor for much of the season but in the last 2 games have looked like a team. I. still think anything can happen in the run in.
{Ed001's Note - why is that harsh? You lumped the ball to a thug and it worked. Just shows why English teams are so useless in Europe when this is the tactics employed each week in the league! It is like going back to the days of Wimbledon. May as well have Dave Bassett in charge as LVG really. Sorry but I don't see any sign of you being a good team, just a hoof it team, but defo more of a team.
As I said to Ed004, Spurs were rubbish because United put them under pressure, Liverpool the same, so it is to their credit that the opposition was poor in both matches. Having said that, the tactics were awful and a good manager would have figured out how to deal with them with no difficulty at all. Unfortunately Rodgers didn't even make any kind of tactical adjustment until half time, and that didn't work out well at all.}
22 Mar 2015 18:47:34
Agree with most of what you say, Ed. We all knew cCan would be found out in big games and he was. We needed Lucas in mid today like you say and if teams have figured us out, then we need to tweak it again. Top 4 will be hard now but all is not lost and we need to keep playing.
Also Ed, it is being said on TV that BR and SG have a semi frosty relationship due to his not being offered a contract on his terms and being left out of the team. This might have led him to being so reckless in the game due to all that penned up frustration. Is this true and if so, what's your take?
{Ed002's Note - It is not up to Rodgers to decide the terms of any contracts. SG is not the full optic but that won't have led him to make the tackle that he did. You should change channels redohio.}
22 Mar 2015 18:49:55
Have to say, had BR started Gerrard instead of the vastly overrated Allen I believe we would have been much stronger at the back. Gerrard would have put Sideshow Bob Fellaini in his place early on and we would probably have staked a claim on the midfield. Instead Wee Allen was run over repeatedly, offered up juicy possession to the opposition, and generally left us bereft defensively.
The side note to that is that Stevie G wouldn't have come on extra pissed and would probably have avoided that most shocking red.
. then again, how is it that Sir Alex still has the refs in his pocket when he's not even there? Can someone explain that shocking Jones tackle and it's gift of only yellow?
22 Mar 2015 19:00:45
No one hates the Fellaini long-ball game as much as me, but neither goal or even the penalty were the result of a Fellaini long-ball.
22 Mar 2015 20:00:22
Completely agree syd! If you ask me Fellaini has showed in the last few games he has more to his game than just getting on the end of long balls. Some of the excuses iv heard today from liverpool fans are ridiculous, You were beaten and completely outplayed in the first half, i believe we invited you back into the game by sitting deeper to protect our lead. And to the person comparing the Jones challenge with Gerrard's. Here's the difference, Jones went for the ball and completely missed(which is not surprising really) Nothing malicious like studs up, Whereas Gerrard had no intention other than stamping on Herrera. Please stop making excuses for your own sake its embarrassing. United outplayed Liverpool and deserved to win the match as simple as that. !
22 Mar 2015 20:41:07
Sorry Colin_Canada, Gerrard would have been just as bad as Allen, teams have been running through like he's a ghost all season, Lucas is so badly missed its unreal.
23 Mar 2015 00:10:16
Got to laugh that Sydney is back. Been anonymous on these pages all season and suddenly he's found his megaphone
23 Mar 2015 02:44:51
Ed, I did not say that it led to the tackle. I merely asked if the events that may have allowed all that frustration to sink in came to a head hence, a lash out to a tackle in exasperation in a game he thought he should have started. Neil Ashton of the daily mail was who said that, hence, my question.
{Ed002's Note - It is nonsense. If he cannot control himself and that is the result he should never be allowed to walk on to a football pitch again.}
22 Mar 2015 23:27:50
must have been watching a different game to everyone else ed, we clearlly didn't play long ball.
23 Mar 2015 06:39:02
Really SPB?
When ever the ball was played back to De gea, the commentators said, "Now De Gea is going to launch it to Fellaini on the left."
And that's what he did, EVERYTIME.
But United seem to have picked up their game just when they needed to. You guys made Spurs and Liverpool look poor.
Sturridge and Sterling haven't been at the races for a while now. We really need to try something different for Arsenal
23 Mar 2015 08:50:11
Random red, when you keeper if kicking it he's naturally going to look for the tallest, biggest target isn't he, why would he fire it to mata? Common sense! But that doesn't make us a long ball side! None of our goals came from that, we opened you up with through balls. And should of been more had di Maria not played it behind Rooney when we were through. We outplayed you. Chased you down wjth more intensity, more accurate with out passing, better movement. Best team won! Simple as thay
{Ed001's Note - yes the best team won, but you still hoofed it when the keeper had the ball with time and space it was launched rather than passed. Sorry but you are blinkered.}