[Albion] Real feelings about Utd game

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I think we gave a master class in how not to play against them.

United have one recognisable characteristic as a team under OGS - rapid counter attacks. Give them space to exploit and they're a threat. We were wide open all game, leaving huge swathes of space for them to exploit. It might not have been a problem if we had kept the ball like we can but we chose yesterday to turn it over cheaply time and again. The combination of sloppy possession and giving them all that space enabled them to have a field day. Which they duly did.

It's not the end of the world but it is frustrating that we didn't turn up.

 

[bhafc99]

OGS praising it as United’s “performance of the season” in his press conference kind of puts it into perspective. They played very well, we didn’t. Not worth crying over, but worth learning a few lessons hopefully.

I get the feeling GP sees no point in the CH ‘parking the bus’ approach in these games, and maybe that’s even something agreed with TB during his recruitment. As if you do and end up losing, what was the point.

But I’m not so sure we should be going about them with the same formation and tactics as, say, at home vs Norwich either. I’d have dropped Connolly for this one, and just gone one up front. I would have put Mooy and Gross in, with Trossard on the bench. It would have made us a bit more resilient, and left fewer spaces in the middle of the park.

As it was, we left big gaps that Utd started exploiting with relish, and the peripheral roles of Connolly and Trossard started to feel like luxuries we couldn’t afford.

I’m not saying this is some master plan that would have changed the result, but personally think we need to find a middle ground between Potterball and CH for games like this.




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[fleet]

OGS praising it as United’s “performance of the season” in his press conference kind of puts it into perspective. They played very well, we didn’t. Not worth crying over, but worth learning a few lessons hopefully.

I get the feeling GP sees no point in the CH ‘parking the bus’ approach in these games, and maybe that’s even something agreed with TB during his recruitment. As if you do and end up losing, what was the point.

But I’m not so sure we should be going about them with the same formation and tactics as, say, at home vs Norwich either. I’d have dropped Connolly for this one, and just gone one up front. I would have put Mooy and Gross in, with Trossard on the bench. It would have made us a bit more resilient, and left fewer spaces in the middle of the park.

As it was, we left big gaps that Utd started exploiting with relish, and the peripheral roles of Connolly and Trossard started to feel like luxuries we couldn’t afford.

I’m not saying this is some master plan that would have changed the result, but personally think we need to find a middle ground between Potterball and CH for games like this.




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Agree with 1 up front and strength in midfield - he can’t have known that Stephens, Propper, and Burn would give the ball away as often as they did though, so that didn’t help. I think this was ideal for Trossard as an impact sub, Gross is never going to be an impact player from the bench in the same way.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Our passing was League 2 standard at best and that cost us the game
Possession is the name of the game and yesterday was woefully bad
Move on lesson learnt hopefully

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[Kalimantan Gull]

Agree with 1 up front and strength in midfield - he can’t have known that Stephens, Propper, and Burn would give the ball away as often as they did though, so that didn’t help. I think this was ideal for Trossard as an impact sub, Gross is never going to be an impact player from the bench in the same way.

The ball was given away because the options were lacking. Thinking back to spurs, Stephens, Burn, Montoya had Alzate, Mooy and Gross near them, wanting the ball and all three with close ball control to receive it in tight spaces. Today, Stephens was almost man marked, which made it very hard for him, propper doesn't really have the game for being closely pressed, and I only saw Trossard pop up on the wing, he wasn't really available, and so a lot of long balls were played to Connolly and maupay.

Formation, personel, couple of off days and a big 6 manager prepared to try and stop our tactics rather than just focus on them - all recipes for what was fairly chastening.

Then again, to dream of winning at Old Trafford, and to hope of many future chances, I'll take it.

On a similar note, Crystal Palace beat man Utd at Old Trafford this season. It was their 21st premier league game there. The results of the previous 20 : W0 D4 L16. Not easy

 

[Icy Gull]

Going toe to toe with United was probably the ideal tactic from United’s perspective. My only concern about us playing this way (we are going to lose games like this however we play) is that our confidence could be shattered over the next three games. If that happens and Potter doesn’t have a back to basics plan for the recovery we could end up struggling against everyone. He’s been a breath of fresh air so far, now it’s going to get really tough and we’ll see if his tactics and our players are good enough for a season at this level. Keep saying it, we are going to be in a relegation struggle.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

No inferiority complex, just naivety.

When you play bigger teams, it is what you do with the ball when you have it. The possession stats tell us literally nothing, as we did very little with it.

Yesterday there was a need to match up with United, absorb and break at pace. having one less in midfield, Connolly and Maupay were almost redundant.

By playing in such an open manner, we gave United space and allowed them to build their confidence.

If OGS has sussed Stephens and Propper are key players, he won’t be the only one.


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[Lower West Stander]

on paper, the quality of the players maybe. the team performance on recent weeks and table say otherwise. this was a mid table clash and they are now a whole 1 point above us.

the commentry is they out done us on tactics, which says something (not outright ability), i wonder if Potter needs to mix things up in the midfield where we may have become predictable.

Having been at the game, I can assure you we didn’t lose because of tactics. We lost because they had three lightning strikers our defence couldn’t cope with and because we were outmuscled in midfield.

We lost because the opposition were better.


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[spence]

Having been at the game, I can assure you we didn’t lose because of tactics. We lost because they had three lightning strikers our defence couldn’t cope with and because we were outmuscled in midfield.

We lost because the opposition were better.


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With all due respect to you being at the game the tactics were certainly wrong. Agree with you about being outmuscled in midfield but Stephens picked up such an early yellow he was scared of making another iffy tackle.
With the pace Utd had i would have played Bong at left back and made Montaya not cross the halfway line until much later on in the game and only at the right time. Mooy would have been a good option to throw in because he would have wanted to make amends for that red.
I would have made the game a bit scrappy to slow it down but i suppose this isn't Potters way. Something needs changing though because we cannot go to these sort of grounds the way we set up. We just end up getting destroyed as been proven already on two occasions.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Having been at the game, I can assure you we didn’t lose because of tactics. We lost because they had three lightning strikers our defence couldn’t cope with and because we were outmuscled in midfield.

We lost because the opposition were better.


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Do you not think allowing a lot of space behind the back four and the midfield not sitting tighter to the CBs was tactically wrong?



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[nickjhs]

Having been at the game, I can assure you we didn’t lose because of tactics. We lost because they had three lightning strikers our defence couldn’t cope with and because we were outmuscled in midfield.

We lost because the opposition were better.


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Fully agree, although you didn't need to be at the game to see this. As I have said before people writing Utd off as has beens and a walk over were being delusional. Liverpool have only dropped one point so far and it was at OT a 3 weeks ago.

 

[Lever]

I thought we had got rid of our inferiority complex since GP had taken over but I thought we were pressured very early today similar to Chelsea away and buckled somewhat. So I’m disappointed today in so much that I thought we had gone up a level but now maybe I, like a few others, had got ahead of ourselves.
What think you ?

I don't think it helped that a couple of days before the game Potter admitted to being very scared when he went to Old Trafford as a player..... such comments are arguably too much information!

 

[B-right-on]

A mere bloom day dream unless we invest in real quality starting with the midfield. Clueless gutless spineless and more important goalless fact !
Stephens [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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Oh just F off back to whatever flea infested, plastic cladded sh1t hole you crawled out from under and go back to performing reproductive acts with your family you inbred twunt.

I know it's hard for you to count above the number of brain cells you have (zero) but we weren't goalless.

 

[el punal]

I see now how much better they are than us Saunders but I made a mistake in thinking the gap had closed further..... bearing in mind we’ve had our successes against them at home. Still a way to go.... and that realisation has left me a bit down tonight...... but not out mate.

Man Utd have blown hot and cold this season, and as many have commented, they are a much stronger side than their league position suggests. For us to be successful against “top six” sides we have to play at our best and the opposition have to have a ‘mare - a la Tottenham at home. So yes, it was a disappointment but that’s all it is. As a team we are improving, playing better football and are enjoyable to watch but we must bear in mind it is still early days in Potter’s regime - just 12 League matches.

The realistic approach for us fans is for us to believe that the team will beat those clubs below or around us and hope to get a result against more superior sides.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

A mere bloom day dream unless we invest in real quality starting with the midfield. Clueless gutless spineless and more important goalless fact !
Stephens [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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Goalless ?

Blimey.

If you don't want to dare to buy into Bloom's dream, then it's only your loss.

 

[Surf's Up]

Defending shite, Trossard impact sub material, Mooy should of packed the midfield Potter got this one wrong. Move on to Leicester.

Agree with this - I can't understand why, when available, Mooy isn't an automatic selection.

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm not convinced by the posters (who spent last season screaming (for a policeman) about defensive tactics) demanding defensive tactics yesterday.

In the cold light of day we were very unlikely to win, irrespective of the formation.

So what's the point of admitting defeat before kick off?

At some point Mr Bloom wishes to have a team that competes at Old Trafford.
Taking the game too Utd may well have cost us yesterday, but little battles were won.
Players learned lessons, esp the yoof.

The team scored and had other (half) chances.
The Utd mystic took a little knock.


I guess I'm saying the team lost the battle but are able to take some positives forward through the war.
That's not happening after an 89 minute punch in the gut from Spurs, after 10 men behind the ball.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

No inferiority complex.

We came to win & dominate, but failed. Potter quite obviously expected United to play in a different way than they did, after 10 minutes or so the camera was showing Potter writing in a notebook with an expression that sort of said "hmm, shit this is not what I expected...". We wanted to lock their game and force their defenders to play it long and have our giant defenders win every duel, thus keep the ball ours. But Lindelöf turned out to be fit and that young Williams guy started on their left, so the likely tactic to let Jones & Rojo waste possession failed.

When it very quickly turned out United would play through their midfield we got ****ed, because there is no world where our defenders are capable of dealing with their freak show of pace. If Potter knew the United lineup before he picked his own I'm fairly certain one of Connolly and Maupay would have been benched for an extra midfielder.

But once the game kicks off, what you gonna do? Take someone off after five minutes, destroying that player? Nah, you still give them the chance, and today the team didnt take it.

Thanks for that insight Graham. Appreciate your honesty and explanation. Better luck next time.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I'm not convinced by the posters (who spent last season screaming (for a policeman) about defensive tactics) demanding defensive tactics yesterday.

In the cold light of day we were very unlikely to win, irrespective of the formation.

So what's the point of admitting defeat before kick off?

At some point Mr Bloom wishes to have a team that competes at Old Trafford.
Taking the game too Utd may we'll have cost us yesterday, but little battles were won.
Players learned lessons, esp the yoof.

The team scored and had other (half) chances.
The Utd mystic took a little knock.


I guess I'm saying the team lost the battle but are able to take some positives forward through the war.
That's not happening after an 89 minute punch in the gut from Spurs, after 10 men behind the ball.

As you probably realise, our set-up last year was never an issue last year to me. In fact I enjoyed some of the defensive stands (perhaps that’s because it was the area I played and coached).

Last years Tottenham defeat was still a great performance just not an offensive one, and last years Tottenham were a lot better than Man Utd. I think it’s a bit disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

There is more than one way to play football.

I think you are probably right that Alzate and a Connolly would have benefited going forward, but in terms of a ‘performance’ I preferred Tottenham away as we were compact, and don’t forget Andone and someone (can’t remember who) at the end missed presentable chances......

That said, this year is more entertaining.


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[Peter Grummit]

OGS praising it as United’s “performance of the season” in his press conference kind of puts it into perspective. They played very well, we didn’t. Not worth crying over, but worth learning a few lessons hopefully.

I get the feeling GP sees no point in the CH ‘parking the bus’ approach in these games, and maybe that’s even something agreed with TB during his recruitment. As if you do and end up losing, what was the point.

But I’m not so sure we should be going about them with the same formation and tactics as, say, at home vs Norwich either. I’d have dropped Connolly for this one, and just gone one up front. I would have put Mooy and Gross in, with Trossard on the bench. It would have made us a bit more resilient, and left fewer spaces in the middle of the park.

As it was, we left big gaps that Utd started exploiting with relish, and the peripheral roles of Connolly and Trossard started to feel like luxuries we couldn’t afford.

I’m not saying this is some master plan that would have changed the result, but personally think we need to find a middle ground between Potterball and CH for games like this.




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This is how I saw the game too.

Not just hindsight, I was saying beforehand I would have reverted to 3 at the back and rested Connolly for Trossard. We missed Gross's creativity and clever passing first half. Stephens and Dunk picking up early yellows made things more difficult.

Having said that, United did play well and were happy to press us and then counter swiftly. I do fear that more teams will adopt this as a foil to Potterball. We will need to evolve a Plan B, as suggested, as Potterball-, that allows us to respond better, especially away from home. We also just need to pass the ball better than we did yesterday. No need to panic, but still more work to do to compete at top half level.

PG