05 Oct 2015 06:31:15
LVG got his tactics badly wrong in the first half. I don't usually post at half time but on this occasion I did because the mismatch in central midfield was so poor. Against Arsenal you do not play two central midfielders and with one of them pressing high, utter madness. We changed in the second half and there was more balance but the damage had been done. It was obvious in losing two goals in nine minutes so I question why LVG did not change it sooner. I will also say that Memphis is not supporting his left back at all, there has to be an appreciation that Shaw is not there and cover is required yet Memphis is not doing this. He needs a rest.
Rooney is not worth his place at the moment, his influence is declining and we need to get Herrera into the team. We also are seeing the problem caused by not buying a CB, Blind who would have slotted in as our multi functional player is stuck there leaving LB a problem, add to that Darmian seems to have confidence issues and it means our back 4 is not settled.
Lastly I think that if Klopp goes to Liverpool, that is going to make a major difference. I believe our club has made the wrong appointments to follow SAF and the next one is absolutely vital.
05 Oct 2015 08:55:06
Lets just give credit to arsenal. They played extremely well although we didn't stick to our so called game plan and shouldve head scheniderlin instead of carrick or schweinsteiger.
05 Oct 2015 08:58:14
Klopp got relegated with FSV Mainz and was 11pts off relegation last season.
He's a good manager, but people can't forget he has had his moments of madness tactically.
05 Oct 2015 09:15:04
Singh
Credit to Arsenal for taking advantage, their passing and movement was excellent and they took their chances.
However we left our defence totally exposed by not employing the correct tactics or personnel in midfield
05 Oct 2015 09:45:23
Red Man I can appreciate your post, but the Blind bit, we did have to CB's on the bench didn't we? McNair and Jones. Wouldn't it have been worth a try to play Darmian at LB and push Young to LW after Memphis was subbed? Sanchez on his day can tear almost any RB to shreds.
05 Oct 2015 10:00:33
Mbd
I don't think LvG would want to change the partnership in central defence at 3 nil down, the fault is that we didn't strengthen CB in summer to ensure a settled pair leaving Blind as LB cover. Agree on Sanchez but should never have given them so much space. Darmian will be fine but why did LvG go with that midfield and tactics is the question?
05 Oct 2015 10:57:14
It's clear that LVG got it completely wrong. Young and Memphis on the left side was criminal and it's no surprise that a lot of their attacking play started on that side, sucking our defence over to cover (because we played with two wingers) and then punishing our exposed right side.
But it's also clear that playing Mata on the right left Darmain completely exposed. With a player like Sanchez, the last thing you want is to allow him to go one-v-one with the rb. LVG was too focused on his own philosophy to think about how Arsenal would play. Valencia and Darmain should both have played on the right, and could have if LVG wasn't committed to playing Rooney every week.
Carrick and Schwein in midfield, and Blind at cb was a disaster waiting to happen against a team set up to break at speed. Arsenal did their jobs well, but LVG gave them every opportunity to destroy us in the first twenty minutes. In previous years we have won at the Emirates by playing compact defensive lineups designed to soak up pressure and break at pace. We could have done that by playing Martial and Memphis or Young as an attacking two, but instead we stuck to the philosophy and were completely found out by an astute manager.
05 Oct 2015 13:07:46
I posted almost the same thing last week that their pace would pull our cb's side to side and was curious to see how LVG set us up. I don't pretend to be a manger but ended betting them to win the minute the line ups came out and was quite surprised. Betting on football needs to be without emotions. also had us for a draw prior to that, which I thought would have been a great result.
In games like yesterday when you play against top opposition especially away from home you need to set up to stifle and nullify them and get them out of their comfort zone. The onus was always going to be on them to get a win yesterday after their recent result in CL.
I know people will say it is being negative and not the united way but sometimes it is the correct thing to do and Mourinho/Simoene get applauded for doing that and have won quite a few things playing that way.
The set up was a disaster and I say again, young is being thrown to wolves if you play him as a makeshift left back when he get zero protection from Depay against top teams. We get away with it against lower opposition because they don't have the likes of Walcot, Sanchez, Ozil in their teams. Same could have been said about Darmian on the other side.
We should have taken all the pace out of the game instead went into a kamikaze self destruct mode and gave it to them. All in all very strange decisions and this constant subbing at half time tells me he often gets it wrong, the difference being we are sort of are still in the game against lesser teams and have been able to recover but against better teams the they will punish us and like yesterday the game was over before halftime.
If he insists on playing Depay and Rooney I expect us to have a very difficult time this month as losing shaw has left a huge gap and i think we will buy a left back before we buy a CD in jan. Rooney is not droppable for various reasons abut he needs to drop Depay and work with him on tracking back and also making better decisions when on the pitch. We were lucky it was not worse than 3-0 and should have been 5 or 6.
I am concerned given LVG's stubbornness if he will change things or keep doing the same thing over and over as city will be even more difficult IMO with the likes, Silva, Aguero, Nasri, Debruyne who are coming back into full fitness and on form.
Does anyone know how long Baines and Coleman are out?
05 Oct 2015 13:09:03
Our next appointment has to be Pep. We can't risk Giggs and we don't need another old manager. If it was me I'd let LVG see the season out, thank him for clearing a lot of players out and improving our ball retention skills and then give him a small package to retire on.
Focus all our attentions on Pep, break the bank for Lewandowski and let's see what he can do.
05 Oct 2015 13:11:26
MBD
Mcnair and jones would have done no better if we had shifted blind to FB. We needed to stop things/ shore up the midfield with support for the fullbacks which we did not do. Their pace was always the issue and we allowed them to run at us with tons of space. Our entire demeanour was quite puzzling when the game started as if we were kicking it around on attaining ground. No tackles and no one put a boot in.
05 Oct 2015 14:16:51
Luke shaw missing the rest of the season is a catastrophe for us and playing Darmian out of position Is not the answer either. We have to move blind to LB and play Jones it worked last season we need to try and ride this storm out till the window opens.
Don't understand why schneiderlin wasn't playing yday when it was clear we needed someone who could do the running in midfield schweinsteiger is far too slow and depay doesn't track back either we were lucky arsenal took the foot off the excelerator or it could of been a lot worse.
On another note I hope liverpool get ancelotti and not klopp
05 Oct 2015 15:11:48
Hopefully they get Redknap or Big Sam :)
05 Oct 2015 17:12:05
Fresh
I agree on Pep but the timing will not work. He is either going to renew at Bayern or going somewhere in the summer.
Unfortunately we will not be making a change next summer unless LVG has a poor season. Poor season for me is we stumble out of champions league and again scrap to get 4th in the league, which then makes you wonder if the philosophy even works given the fact that we are not really getting pushed by the likes of Spurs or Liverpool and chelsea have had a mare of start.
05 Oct 2015 20:49:28
It was a shambles! Playing wingers as defenders, midfielders and cbs and not playing the type of work horse required to defend as well on attack on the wings!
Its all good on hindsight but Darmain would have been perfectly fine with valencia for help on the right side! Blind and Young on the left, Jones/smalling CB .
Rooney should be dropped with Mata at no. 10, I would love to see Herrera somewhere but can't quite put my finger on where! Schw & Schn in midfield!
Play players in their position, (the best we can) and against teams like arsenal away we need help from wings for the full backs!!
05 Oct 2015 22:35:57
Agreed on the original post red Man. If scousers get klopp, we're screwed.