16 Jan 2017 16:56:11
i see darmian getting stick down the page again for not attacking etc .
but this is what jose had to say
"when you have Antonio Valencia playing as a right winger you cannot defend with two players, you need that third player to give some cover inside and to keep some balances, and he [Darmian] did that well. "
so maybe doing the job he was told and playing to the tactical plan .
not as easy as peolpe think
16 Jan 2017 16:58:56
the problem isn't that he did not attack, the problem is when martial attacked he was time and time again double and triple marked, a quicker better fullback would have helped martial out, something darmian did not and cannot do.
16 Jan 2017 17:06:26
csm
even if he was told not to?
maybe the team had a different tactic .
maybe martial movement should if been a bit better moved the ball and drop it of a bit quicker?
thats maybe why he got subbed .
16 Jan 2017 17:10:53
CSM, if Darmians instructions were to sit back incase of a counter, then in my view you are wrong.
IF martial had have the ball taken and Darmian was on the overlap, we would be very short at the back, then you would blame martial for losing the ball i suspect.
When people complain about something tactical you can't really point the finger at the player every time, you need to point at the manager for these sorts of things.
16 Jan 2017 17:17:56
fzz
there are some great managers on the site and when the players don't do what they think they should the player is in the wrong.
even if the player us doing what he is told and what he has worked on in training all week
16 Jan 2017 17:48:05
jred and fzz, read mourinho's quotes again he says when valencia is playing as a rw, when martial is attacking on the left i highly doubt valencia will be anywhere near their box and we are not talking about a particular minute or a particular attack we are talking most of the first half after which he made some little forays which weren't exactly good either, darmian for me is not good enough, he isn't solid defensively and is absolutely shambolic offensively, if mourinho isn't sold on shaw he needs to move him on and get a better lb, if he wants to keep him he needs to play him more, but either way a decision needs to be made, mourinho and utd don't have the luxury of a below par season after the money he has spent, not to mention there is the adidas deal to worry about if we don't finish atleast 4th.
16 Jan 2017 17:48:05
jred and fzz, read mourinho's quotes again he says when valencia is playing as a rw, when martial is attacking on the left i highly doubt valencia will be anywhere near their box and we are not talking about a particular minute or a particular attack we are talking most of the first half after which he made some little forays which weren't exactly good either, darmian for me is not good enough, he isn't solid defensively and is absolutely shambolic offensively, if mourinho isn't sold on shaw he needs to move him on and get a better lb, if he wants to keep him he needs to play him more, but either way a decision needs to be made, mourinho and utd don't have the luxury of a below par season after the money he has spent, not to mention there is the adidas deal to worry about if we don't finish atleast 4th.
16 Jan 2017 17:45:29
I agree with you jred. And I like your new catchphrase 'not as easy as people think' very true!
16 Jan 2017 18:00:29
jose has come out and explained the role darmian was asked to play which looks very much the way he played .
its makes sense to me, the scouse are quick on the break you don't want to over commit.
dont forget in the first half we played a flat cm with pogba close to martial on the left .
maybe the tactic wasnt to have the lb bombing on when you have them 2 there?
16 Jan 2017 18:03:17
hb
"in jose we trust " was getting old
16 Jan 2017 19:11:25
Lol at jred
16 Jan 2017 19:12:40
I understand your argument csm but if he had instruction not to overlap and support then he was right to stay back. However I would have thought that if the play was on the left that Valencia would sit and become the 3rd defender and that darmian would push the left wing. If the instruction is for him to stay back all the time it means the attack is unbalanced and very predictable and easier to defend against. Which is actually what happened. They snuffed out martial and everything that side was stifled.
Maybe that's what Jose is asking shaw to do on the left and in my mind that would take the strongest part of shaws game away from him which is his offencive side. Jose has always asked his full backs to be defenders first. Perhaps in another game against a different team the inductions would be different. With 15 to go yesterday miki had different instructions when at left back so Jose did change the tactic when chasing the game naturally.
I thought darmian did ok yesterday I thought Valencia had one of his quiet games of the season and was only average yesterday instead of well above average like most of the season. But credit most go to Liverpool players they worked their socks off. It's no coincidence that most our team played below par is because they were not let play and we're unset pressure every time they got the ball.
Our flair players did not stand up to that pressure yesterday and found it hard to produce swift enough passing to beat that pack pressure and the 3 times they did they lacked the finish . Thankfully ibra finished his one chance yesterday.
I'm disappointed to only draw let's hope all will have learnt from the experience. Pogs miki and ibra probably never played a game at that pace before and it showed at times
16 Jan 2017 20:45:21
I felt that Martial tends to receive the ball with his back to goal too much. Seems like the ball is held up too long in that instance which allowed the Liverpool players to converge. I think the ball should have went inside to Pogs with a redirect into the path of Martial; could have made a difference.
Also, Klopp slating Jose for going direct, but when his team is parking the bus in the midfield what other choice did Jose have?