22 Feb 2015 12:26:27
How can people already want to get rid of Di Maria or even drop him? He's easily been our most influential player bagging 8 assists and creating the most key passers. Even yesterday he didn't have a great game but still got an assist and had more key passes than anyone else. He offers something completely different to anyone in our team which is his pace, his ability to beat a man so easily and he offers so much to our counter attack which we haven't really had for a good few years now.
I will admit he hasn't played to his full potential but he's still contributed the most IMO, and considering its a new league, new language, joined a team lacking in confidence ( joined after our Swansea defeat) and joined a team with a new manager who's new to the league IMO it's understanable he's not been his best for the whole season. Also he got injured and has been played out of position a number of times so that also doesn't help!
People can say look at Sanchez, he's adapted so quickly why hasn't di Maria. Well he joined a team with good confidence: won the fa cup and also beat mancity in the community shield, he joined a team with a manager who had been with them for 10+ years and knows the league the best. No wonder sanchez has had a great season with all these benefits compared to di Maria.
Is DI Maria worth 60 million? Considering how amazing he was last season I think he is close to that and I don't really care tbh. We have the money and to get the best you have to pay a good amount. Could that money have been spent elsewhere? Probably but we needed a winger who could beat a man and have a good final ball and we purchased one.
Anyways all I'm saying is that get off his back cause even though this hasn't been a great season he's been our most influential and there's a lot more players ahead of him who should be getting a lot more stick than him aka rvp falcao mata . Anyways rant over and here's hoping for a liverpool win or draw
:(
22 Feb 2015 13:29:19
My worry is that he started like he had played last season, which was natural and showed he could settle very well. BUT then the LVG effect kicks in and we get what we are seeing. All of our naturally gifted players look poor, whereas as our workhorse type players look ok. Rojo, Blind, Fellaini and sometimes Valencia, look far better than RVP, Falcao, Mata, Rooney, Januzaj & ADM.
So if LVG is to stay in charge we should get rid of our flare players and replace them with the players that don't rely on their natural God given talents. It would be a sad state of affairs, but our manager needs robots, or more tactically mindful players. Players like Cleverley would look better under LVG I'm sure, but that isn't what we want. We obviously want our world class talent to demonstrate that talent but our system and ethos stifles that.
22 Feb 2015 13:39:35
I don't want to drop him, but i do expect more than he has shown since he came back from injury. His heart just doesn't seem to be in it.
My pet peeve is RVP, but then I don't think we ever should have bought him. We needed creative players not another forward. We had Rooney, Welbeck and Chicahrito all of whom paid dearly for that purchase, coupled with the failure to replace Scholes, Giggs, and Keane with like quality. It was short term thinking - but when you're a 70 yr old manager in search of number 20, you don't really need to think about the long term do you? That's the next guy's problem.
Geez. sorry if I'm being a bit aggressive atm! There was something about yesterday's loss that really upset me.
22 Feb 2015 13:42:17
Forgot Young as well sorry. Our utility players are the stars of this season, which is why we are where we are performance wise. How many of these players would get into our rivals starting 11 sums it up for me?
22 Feb 2015 13:42:20
Beast, I think LVG would have got a lot more of last seasons team becasue the team were laden with work horse type players.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder why LVG didn't bring in De Jong and other players of that ilk. They would have worked better in his current set up.
The irony is, the current team has the player make-up to be a Fergie team. He would work wonders with the players we have at the club now.
22 Feb 2015 13:56:00
I too am surprised that out flair players are doing badly under LVG. LVG needs to become more open to attractive play, but I suppose we do need to ensure that we grind out a top 4 finish. It's a balancing act.
22 Feb 2015 14:13:27
Great point Sam. I said recently LVG would have done worse than Moyes, but the players we had last season did suit this LVG style of player more, so it isn't as cut and dry for me now.
However I think with CL to juggle and some older players that gave Moyes grief (I think) they would have been even more reluctant to change their way of play for LVG and there might have been fireworks. One reason I think there isn't so much internal problems in the public is because Rooney & RVP have been brought off in my view (our two players with stock or ego to speak out), we lack characters in the team, not sure how well Evra, Rio, Vidic, Giggs would have taken to LVG's ideas last season - Falcao & Herrera are the obvious ones where there looks to be a problem for me, but they haven't built up enough power in the dressing room yet.
Its all ifs, buts and maybes, but interesting point you make.
Rooney actually said we created a lot of chances yesterday - he has sold his soul for this captaincy, but in fairness I am pleased he isn't bitching in public, you never know he may have been brainwashed into thinking we are actually doing well, wouldn't strike me as being too difficult a thing to do!
22 Feb 2015 14:18:15
Di Maria is a game changer, even when he is off his game, he is still very dangerous.
22 Feb 2015 14:46:22
I think some of you are again trying to place the blame, in my view unfairly, solely at the feet of the manager. I have asked this question before : "why do so many skilful and technically gifted players fail to live up to expectation at Old Trafford?"
In recent years the likes of Ronaldo and Giggs have, and I am sure you can all think of a few others. But the list of those who haven't lived up to expectation is far longer.
Admittedly it is still too early to judge Falcao and DiMaria, but the list of " disappointments" is huge.
Mata, Kagawa, Anderson, Nani, Berbatov, Forlan are just a few.
In my view, is it a case of justifiably blaming the manager, or accepting that many of these players are not suited mentally or physically to English football?
We all keep compering our current situation the the SAF era, and understandably so. But Fergie's teams were built on solid foundations of strong defenses, hard work and passion and commitment. Now, LvG seems to be getting slated for wanting the same, though playing a different style of football.
I have to admit, I do get fed up with all the slagging off of the manager. I can totally understand where GDS2 was coming from. I think he, like myself, doesn't necessarily think that LvG is the perfect manager for United. But I think we are both of the opinion that all that is wrong with put team is not down solely to the manager.
Some of you seem to have the whole thing sussed. You know all the problems, and have all the solutions.
Personally, I think there are far more deep rooted problems at Old Trafford than just the manager. Sure, he must take some of the blame. But to blame him for such a dramatic fall from grace is both wrong, and unfair.
22 Feb 2015 15:25:34
You are right Betty, it isn't all the managers fault of course. It wasn't all Moyes fault either, so the same treatment should be afforded.
Players are to blame as well, but even players like Rooney, RVP & Mata who have pedigrees in the PL are not delivering consistently. I know Rooney has been doing a job for the team, but his performance yesterday was typical of how he has played for over 12 months now (since his contract).
The manager picks the team, the system and is the representative of the footballing aspects of the club. None of us are privy to the inner workings, (what is Giggs exact role and the guy next to him for example?), but from our limited knowledge of what we see and what is said by the manager he is inviting the agro and it should be on his doorstep.
Many of us do criticise the players as well as the manager, its just LVG comes up a lot because he is the person ultimately responsible, maybe not totally to blame but certainly a major factor for me.
22 Feb 2015 15:28:16
Betty
I said the same last year and got slated.
We have spend another 150mil since then and have imo a much better team
22 Feb 2015 15:29:27
I for one support the manager and hope he is given time to develop his style of play, but right now, it isn't working.
With so much at stake, I personally think he should revert back to what has worked; and IMO, we should go back to playing with three CB's and wing-backs. We looked more balanced and better defensively organised as opposed to the diamond formation. The players looked like they were getting to grips with it, and were producing consistent results.
22 Feb 2015 16:17:49
It's really amazing how different people see the same game in different ways. I watched the game here in the US yesterday and, maybe I was influenced by the glowing review of the commentators, but I thought Rooney was excellent yesterday. The formation was appropriate for the match but some key players didn't show up, and the defence, stripped to a back 4 showed its limitations.
LVG clearly is the mark of the Beast to some. He can do no right. I don't think anyone thinks he's necessarily the best manager for our club, but a balanced view would surely accept that the players need to accept a large proportion of the blame. The manager doesn't kick the ball.
22 Feb 2015 16:50:39
Jred
Last year it was all DM fault mate, After he banned chips and made the players get fitter it affected players moral. This year it is the direction of the wind, the players, the team bus driver, that lousy mascot and everything else but LVG.
Shawthing
He is beyond salvage in my opinion and there are midlevel premiere league managers, who would get a lot more points out of this squad than he is getting. If you are going to be an arrogant sob and talk the talk you better walk the walk my friend. Very hard to like a manger with zero humility and sh. t results to go with it.
What I think you are yet to grasp is his brand of football does not cut it in the PL but he serves up the same dros every week and seems unable to learn from it. How many times has he said we are not creating chances and scoring, you might think he would by now figure out something better. It is a unfortunate thing to say but the RVP injury might actually force him to put a first 11 out that actually will produce some decent football.
22 Feb 2015 17:01:55
The funny thing is he actually said that we created a lot yesterday and simply "forgot" to score, hmmm!
22 Feb 2015 18:43:05
Beast,
I agree with the majority of your above post. I disagree with your point of Rojo being simply a 'workhorse'a player. I feel like he has no major flaws in his play. He is fast, strong good in the tackle and doesn't get bullied like our other cbs. I think he would form a great partnership with a leader like Hummels next to him to help him with his positioning.
On ADM. the reason he was so successful for Madrid was because the front 3s movement was so fluent. The interchanging left loads of space for him to run into and with RVP and Felli as part of our front 3 it leaves him no room to operate.
22 Feb 2015 23:39:11
There are lots of things about LVG i don't care for, so please don't see me as an apologist for him. He is way too aloof. I agree with those who think he needs to get up and direct from the coach's box when things aren't going well. He needs to show some passion, because that's what players need to win.
I can't speak to his tactics, except to say that it doesn't seem to matter what formation we play, we still pretty much suck. So my conclusion is that that's not the problem. Which leaves the players, which is a combination of their abilities and their application. LVG is clearly failing to motivate them. Is he blinding them with his intellect? If so, that's a problem because this is the EPL not Mastermind. Every team is going to fight you every week.
So, yes, I accept LVG needs to accept some blame, and win or lose he's the one who is ultimately responsible, but my point is that yesterday certain highly paid key players did not show up and they need to take their share of the blame too. They're making 10m a year, more than most of the supporters will make in 5 lifetimes, they need to show some pride.
Finally, in the highly likely event we fail to qualify for the Champions League, or even the Europa, and if a resurgent Arsenal knocks us out of the FA Cup, will we be looking for a new manager this summer? And if so, will we not risk the continuation of this cycle we're now in, where no one can imprint a style of play on the club?
23 Feb 2015 06:47:40
Shawthing
Sometimes it is better not to continue with something that will take years to undo and cut the odd early.
Ultimately, he is selecting players and he is responsible for how we perform on the pitch.
I believe we good to excellent players and he is not getting even 75% of their best with his approach to the game. They are clearly instructed to play a certain way and to me it seems like they take the easy option of not taking any risks and meaningless possession that yields nothing. I also think the movement of the players is quite poor and that is purely a coaching issue from the training grounds.