04 Nov 2015 08:12:21
Glad for the win against CSKA as anything less could have made getting out of this relatively straight forward group a possible issue. Again I wasn't overly thrilled with what was served up to me but I must admit the intensity was quicker and I saw twice the team I saw against Palace.
Chuffed for Wanye to get the goal as he inches closer to being our all time leading scorer. I am by no means condoning his performances thus far in 2015 but under this regime I cannot over criticise him considering the lack of creativity, freedom and service. Martial is a worker and a damn good player but he did show a little inexperience last night losing the ball a few times and I for one hope to hell that LVG doesn't get on his back for giving up possession because when this lad tries something and runs with that ball it's very exciting.
I was also happy to see Lingard start the game as he has been in and around our set up for a long time now. I thought he played well but I don't think he is or ever will be Man Utd class. Possible fill in player similar to what O'Shea, Evans etc did over the years but that's as far as his ability goes for me (no shame in that at all) . Finally, I do wish we were in City's position being already qualified to rest up our thin squad a little before the Christmas mayhem but I am confident we should win this group.
04 Nov 2015 08:54:03
Agree with you totally MAZE. I was at the game last night and I have never heard a sound like it, when Martial was replaced by Fellaini. The whole stadium couldn't believe what was happening. Martial despite losing possession a few times, was willing to take players on. I'd rather lose possession like that than from a bad pass. I thought the first half was much better than the second.
Regarding Rooney, I personally think he would best suit a role deep in midfield or a free roam role. He showed on a few occasions his outstanding passing and vision but also his lack of pace and hunger up front when I he could have reached a through ball early in the game but seemed to "chicken out". I like Rooney and would love to see him scoring goals week in week out but I think it's time to reevaluate his best position. It will be interesting to see what happens once he's broken the record for most goals. Is that why LVG is so persistent in playing him up front? Maybe move him back once he's got it?
I thought the back four and DDG were solid with Chris Smalling being the man of the match for me. You don't actually see how much he does in keeping them organised as a unit until you're actually at the game.
Overall pleased with what I saw defensively yet still a lot to work on going forward.
04 Nov 2015 08:58:41
Agree on lingard, no shame in being a good squad player and if he can put in man of the match performances like last night then he deserves his chance to prove he can be more than that. I think he is good at a lot of things, pace, passing, decision making but not brilliant at any of them. He has improved in the last 12 months though and nothing to say he can't have a mike smalling type of improvement.
Typical you couldn't just give us credit for being top of the group, had to say how it's a straight forward group which I'm not sure it is, all 4 teams are strong at home so our away games will be tricky, a win and a draw should be enough to win the group, maybe even just a win if CSKA beat wolfsberg.
04 Nov 2015 09:02:00
The fact you called him wanye instead of Wayne is embarrassing and demeaning to the lad.
04 Nov 2015 09:25:22
Scottish Red Devil I would pretty much agree with your summary mate. Martial is the epitome of that kid who just loves to play football. When he runs at defenders it is so exciting and even more so because nobody else in the team does so. After the Brugge game I thought we would see more of that from Depay but that has not been the case.
GDS2 do you actually think this is a hard group? No disrespect to the club's involved but we should be walking this group with the players at our disposal. This is one of the weaker groups we have had over the years in my opinion and had we attempted to win in Moscow and PSV we would have done.
04 Nov 2015 09:26:34
Diego,
Brilliant mate, bravo.
04 Nov 2015 09:41:15
Maze, a draw in Moscow is not a bad result. I think the PSV defeat had a lot to with Luke Shaw's injury as we sort of dropped off mentally a bit after that incident. So far, we are the only team to take any points away from home. Its not a difficult group but neither is it straightforward. We're doing OK.
04 Nov 2015 09:53:35
I thought Martial just made a couple of wrong decisions last night but in his defence the majority of the time when he picked up the ball he had 3 or 4 men to beat and he did make a lot of good first time round the corner passes etc that other players didn't make the most of.
Maze, Wolfsburg tried to win at PSV last night how did they go on?
04 Nov 2015 09:56:46
Would you say we have a tougher group than that of City's and Real Madrid's who have already qualified? I think we find excuses that aren't really warranted at the moment in my view.
04 Nov 2015 11:02:39
Well just look at how all of city's opponents are doing domestically, I certainly would rather play monchengladbach than Wolfsburg. And I think I'd take travelling to Sevilla than Moscow. Only other one is juventus but they beat city anyway. Stop whinging will u.
04 Nov 2015 11:03:14
So there are 2 options, hard or straight forward?
It's not really either of them things, somewhere in the middle, we got the easiest team from pot 1 but then then toughest teams from pots 3 and 4, as you keep telling us we aren't very good all the time how can you expect us to walk the group?
Also what do we need excuses for, we are top of the group at the moment, it's just not an easy group.
04 Nov 2015 11:11:17
The point is GDS2 it is a relatively easy group.
04 Nov 2015 15:00:50
Maze, how can you say Man Utd have an easier group to Man city? Aside Juventus who else is strong in Man city's group?
Hope to remind you that this is football and not basket ball so there's no easier team in champions league and there's nothing like walking a group. If it's so, Chelsea should be walking there group now.
It's not always that way, heard even under Sir Alex United hardly won a Russian team. So what's all this about walking a group. Wolfsburg was the second best team in Germany last season, PSV were the champions I guess and CSK Moscow were the second too. So why do you think you should walk these teams?
Accepted you hate LVG style of foot ball but my brother, no team is a walk over in football. Some times when I read your post I keep thinking to myself how does this guy watch football?
04 Nov 2015 16:06:54
Sevilla and gladdbach are tough teams and playing away at sevilla is a very tough place to get anything even for the likes or Barcelona and real. I was very surprised by the score and how many chances City created.
BTW Gladbach is the form team in Germany at the moment and were the form team the second half of last season. For some reason started with 5 losses this year, got rid of their coach and have won 6 on the bounce and almost in CL placings again.
04 Nov 2015 17:36:48
I'm not saying they are bad teams, but in our case neither are Wolfsburg and cska Moscow. City struggled against Moscow last season if u remember?