15 Aug 2015 15:40:03
I said before the season kicked off we are going to be very hard to beat (seems obvious). I suspected we will concede less than 25 goals all season, even with Blind back there. We have 2 holders who are exceptional at that role (choice of 3), so we play with a back 6 and only attack with 2-3 players at a time.
Obviously I hate the negative approach and would much rather free flowing attacking football. LVG is my nemesis and epitomises everything I hate about how football is changing. That said the game plan will work, we will narrowly beat the poor teams without tiring too much and we may snatch wins or scrape draws with the good teams - this will be enough for success domestically and in Europe (put your money on the double).
I am changing my view - we will probably win the league, but we will be the worst team (entertainment wise) ever to win it. We have no real strikers, but it doesn't matter as the way we play doesn't need a striker. We don't really need wingers that attack like we used to like. We are conservative robots and that is what LVG is making happen. We will win things, but we will sell our soul doing it! We don't even need a top class CB because let's face it how many teams play with 2 strikers now and how many great strikers are out there? I bet there will be less than 5 games all season where Blind is tested and Romero is challenged. Weak players on paper but effective for uber-defensive systems like ours and we have ready made replacement in all the Key positions.
I can't really say much more. I know how we are going to play, I hate how we play, but I still look forward to watching us in the vain hope we "click". We are a well oiled machine, we could beat Villa 1-0 and we could beat Madrid 1-0 playing the exact same way and 9/10 times we will do precisely that.
Most of you want titles over performance so I think you will be happy, I meanwhile will be looking forward to the day we get back our inhabitation. I have to face it that LVG is doing exactly what he is being paid to do, but I don't have to like it.
I'm going off for a cry in the shower now!
15 Aug 2015 16:16:25
I think we will be better to watch as the team gels and becomes more confident.
15 Aug 2015 16:21:54
So you would rather play amazing football and win nothing
15 Aug 2015 16:28:40
I agree that we will be hard to beat and LVG is makng us a well oiled team.
I think his success was in a league were a lot of space and best players were avalable for him.
This can be seen by our performance against better teams last term. However as much as i hate to say it, we don't have
the technical players to play the possession game. let's be honest here, we have players who cannot control a ball properly
(Rooney, Smalling etc). We are far away from Barca and Bayern in that aspect of the game. The main difference being
between barca/bayern and us is the speed. this speed is not necessarily from weight on the pass but rather one touch passing. i don't see
many players of that skill n our team (apart from mata, herrera).
Conclusion: same as beast: we will be hard to beat but we won't see 5-0,6-0 nils like in fergie years.
15 Aug 2015 16:38:43
There's much truth in this, even though the trophy predictions and beating RM may be a hyperbolic. I've been expressing the view that we will concede fewer goals this season too, although I think it will be more than 25.
We have to hope that from strong and confident defence will spring a better offence, and that better players will be attracted by the opportunity to win trophies. One wonders how much better we might have been had we had a remotely competent #9 last night.
Failing that, you could do what my wife did - become an Arsenal supporter!!!
15 Aug 2015 16:54:00
Beast ,
Love the 'LVG is my nemesis ' line .the Blofeld to your 007 :),
15 Aug 2015 16:56:35
My issue, is if we go a goal down. I just can't see us having the wherewithal to break stubborn teams down, if the players are too scared to take risks. Obviously, I hope I'm wrong.
Sure, as long as we keep scoring first, we'll be alright.
15 Aug 2015 16:56:53
PROBABLY. Completely agree with you. You can see us panicking in the later parts of games and the passing is very poor.
Our forward play is non existent.
15 Aug 2015 17:04:40
In a nut shell - Yes spb.
I'm in my 30's, I don't need to brag to my mates about the team I "chose" to support, I don't have to deal with people in the office ribbing me for my team or vice-versus, basically it is just me watching the team I love and frankly I want to be entertained. I appreciate totally that for other fans football is a vital part of their day to day life and losing on the weekend ruins their week, it doesn't for me anymore.
I don't play for Utd , nor am I paid by Utd - it isn't my career, legacy etc that I need to protect. I want to enjoy the journey my club takes me on. I fully appreciate Utd "winning" things is important to people for different reasons, it fills voids in life, it's nice to feel part of something successful and winning in football can often make other more depressing things less real. But the sad thing is what happens with Utd is out of our control, I am just a bystander like most of us, so I would like to enjoy watching us play rather than feel disappointed after every game, win, lose or draw.
I would rather win ugly at things that directly impact me and my life, things that I have control of. Football is meant to be enjoyable at the end of the day.
I enjoy watching us less and less, it's a pity but I am starting to lose faith with it all, not just Utd but the whole sport, riddled with fakers, liars, con-men, greed and now the core beauty of the game is turning into something like chess rather than a thrilling sport.
This problem will grow and the more boring we become in this fickle world the less we will develop and eventually it will bite us.
15 Aug 2015 17:15:24
LVG hasn't won me over, I know he is stubborn but he is not stupid either. I saw on pre season and especially against spurs the tv camera angles were sometimes from above and you could see how well organised we were without the ball, last night they kept saying it in commentary , last season teams walked through us.
Im going to give LVG the benefit of the doubt and say as the team becomes very tight and compact at the back week after week that LVG will then take the handbrake off, he said in his first interview he knew Uniteds reputation for flair football which he said matched his own thinking. we haven't seen it yet . I can't beleive he is happy with 2-3 shots at goal per game and the crowd restless . but he has to get a solid platform first. boring as it is. but he has to do it sooner rather than later to keep everyone onside. fans/media . as i say he is not stupid
15 Aug 2015 17:16:03
As I mentioned in a post earlier today which never got posted EDs.
the beast is arsene Wenger. play amazing football n win nothing
15 Aug 2015 17:32:17
spb, it doesn't have to be one or the other, mate. There's plenty of middle ground there.
My 13 year old is a complete and utter Utd nut. Completely immerses himself in the club. He's a clever lad who appreciates the tactical intricacies, probably much better than I do.
The first thing he said to me when I got home from the pub after the game, was, 'that was crap, wasn't it'?
Of course he's not going to change his team because of the mundane way we're playing, but other kids will. A lot of our fans around the world, who've only recently got into English football, might. The way we play has a possible knock on effect for future supporters. There's so much more to distract them nowadays.
The club owes the fans success, but it also owes them a way of playing that doesn't send them up to their rooms before the final whistle, to play on their Xboxes.
I remember the trophy-less years of the 70s and 80s, but even then, there was a flair about the way we tried to play, which is why we've always attracted new fans from outside Manchester.
All I'm saying is, there's a happy medium. It doesn't have to be success OR exciting football.
Sorry, I'm still hungover, and I've rambled on a bit.
15 Aug 2015 17:40:46
There's been this debate in football for years, system over individuality.
The point is a strong defence wins titles.
His ajax team was one of the best teams I've ever watched. let's see how things look in a few months. As someone said above teams used to walk through us, defensively last season we were a shambles. Just bring in a striker and sort the wings out
15 Aug 2015 17:43:33
Beast ,
If you'd been watching United during the 70's and 80's when we were doing well to win a cup once every 5 years while the Scoisers won everything , you might have a different view of the importance of winning
15 Aug 2015 18:25:09
Beast,
The answer is simple for you, if you don't like football anymore and you don't like the team you support then just don't watch football. I support united and I go to every game because I love it, if we lose it doesn't ruin my week but I get annoyed for a while and you wouldn't want to be around me, that's how it should be as a fan.
You see football as a hobby that you don't enjoy anymore which is totally fine, I see football as a way of life that I don't have any choice about, when united play I'm doing everything I can to watch it and if we win I am happy in myself, not so I can brag at work, but so that I can be happy, united winning makes me happy, always has and always will.
How you feel about united is a bit like how I feel coming on this site, it's a hobby that is quickly becoming boring with the same posts over and over after every game and coming on here after a win to see people do 2 lines about positives and 20 lines about how bad Rooney was is a little depressing.
15 Aug 2015 18:57:59
beast and noucamp, i understand the frustration, i sometimes say the same things use have pointed out, but were winning, once we get a rhythm and we starting becoming more confident and the players are fully gelled i believe the football most people are screaming out for will come.
15 Aug 2015 19:11:24
GDS totally summed up the mood on this site. EDs should consider having a different page for Rooney bashing.
Hw is it that people actually write so negative about the team they support and love. criticism only gets u that far. but if u only criticise. people actually stop listening and treat u as a joke. that's wats happening with beast here.
There were so many positives in the game yesterday and when u visit the site, all u hear is we didn't bang in a 100 goals n v were boring. n of course Rooney was poor.
Can v not for once look Fr d half full positives. let's wait n c where v r come January. in my case I'll still b supporting lvg n d crew even if v r boring. v r United. n d only United way is the "winning way".
15 Aug 2015 19:13:56
GDS2 - You haven't picked up what I am saying at all. I have dedicated a hell of a lot to supporting Man Utd my entire life, I can't just throw that away because all of a sudden I am growing bored. This isn't an immature rant, it's a genuine issue. Noucamp sums it up perfectly.
I don't want to get into the game of "who loves the club more" or "who would do X to watch a game", the point is I would have done almost anything to watch us play, now the reward for the effort/sacrifice isn't the same and that is worrying, because I haven't changed as a man that significantly. The whole game is changing, but our club's transition from great to watch to dreadful to watch has been rapid. The decline of our global appeal will mirror that if we only focus on the winning and not the entertaining.
I'll never stop supporting us, like I will never stop expecting our club to be pioneers in providing attractive, entertaining football. LVG won't ruin it for me short term, nor will the money men long term.
The analysis is almost more fun that the watching now!
15 Aug 2015 19:14:10
I WANT IT ALL AND I WANT IT NOW
15 Aug 2015 19:57:21
"LVG is my nemesis." I think for him to be your nemesis he would have to know you existed.
15 Aug 2015 20:02:00
GDS - Buddy I have been on this site for ages, but your post has to be the most relevant post I could connect to. I myself am no beacon of positivity, but this is what it is. United is not a choice, it is something that will wake up with me the next morning and all mornings till I am a vegetable. People need to lighten up. There is a way to voice displeasure and I like the way Jred does it.
Deeps
16 Aug 2015 08:56:12
As someone who started supporting the club in the late sixties I have seen it all. I have been through years far far worse than we are seeing, yet there was always an understanding the club aim was to try and play good football, football taught by Matt Busby, probably the only exception was the Sexton years when calculated tactics didn't entertain anyone. In fact at times some sat down on the terraces to read programmes it was that dull. It is an entertainment industry and the two games so far this season have not met the word entertainment, it has been a war of attrition. The crunch for LvG will not just be winning but whether we start losing interest in the places we are trying to sell into, likely the marginal fans in the Far East. Decline in interest because we are dull is not good for the corporate image I would imagine, are Chevrolet and Adidas going to be happy showing us as a shining example in their portfolio when it is dreadful to watch, that will bring pressure on LvG that only major trophies will alleviate. At times in the seventies it was hard to be a fan , a lot lot harder than now but I kept the faith and enjoyed the Renaissance under the Doc because the football was refreshing, it was the United way.
I think the Beast has one thing very wrong by saying the change from great to watch to dreadful has been rapid. This is another dig at LvG and actually wrong. SAF,s last few seasons were declining and we haven't played really good football for about 5 seasons so it is not rapid as Beast would have you think. It needs to improve that's for sure because it is a global entertainment business and not the 70's local Manchester football club with fans who turned up whatever the fayre on offer.