23 Jan 2022 09:48:33
Whilst coaching and tactics are important, I think the biggest issue we have is mindset. Ralf alluded to it when he talked about Rashford’s confidence. Despite the views on here about how awful some of our players are, many are better than we have been seeing recently and haven’t been playing to their potential. Who knows why, probably a variety of reasons?
Sancho is a good player, he arrived off the back of a great spell in Dortmund but looks lost. Rashford had been excellent up to his injury but has struggled since coming back. Bruno has looked better this last 2 games but had been average for a long time. These are very good players, if they were playing to their potential, to levels we know they have, the team would be flying.
Yesterday was patchy, we controlled the first half very well but didn’t really threaten. The second half was very very patchy but Ralf made some confident subs which paid off. Never say die, throw everyone forward, let’s go for the win, excellent.
A few things I have seen over the last few games.
McTominay is very solid and with a more competent partner would look even better. Elanga doesn’t look out of place and it’s great to see Ralf prepared to throw him in. Not convinced by Telles yet, still think Shaw contributes more.
And finally, as we scored, did you see who was busting a gut to get up there and was right behind Rashford? Dalot. Can’t imagine AWB would have even been in their half.
Small steps, some encouraging signs, but much work to do.
23 Jan 2022 09:57:27
Your obviously not Romanian they watch different games there.
23 Jan 2022 10:03:07
Haha Ken a lot of trolls in Romania I believe.
23 Jan 2022 10:23:31
AJH - this is a swell post. Mentality is the big issue. It has been since Moyes took over. It is something that eluded LVG and more surprisingly Jose. If that can be enhanced and efficient tactics harnessed there would be a massive uplift in performance.
Maze really is dumbfounded about the constant ‘we need to sell 10 first team players’ or ‘squad needs a rebuild and restructure’. That is not the crux of the problem.
The worrying thing is this comes from seasoned posters like Shappy and others who laud players when they are signed and change their mind as soon as the tide turns - then want them disposed. Posters like this should know the commercial constraints at a minimum.
McTominay is good player. Better than the the crap he gets. Reminds Maze of Felliani - does plenty well but one stray pass and gets slaughtered by arm chair bandits. Sancho, jury’s still out - very underwhelming this far. Bruno needs more quality around him but massive player.
23 Jan 2022 12:20:00
AJH - Good post mate. I think there were signs in the Villa game that Rangnick was slowly getting to grips with the team. I really like the tweak in formation to 4-3-3 with Bruno more disciplined and playing a touch deeper. He can still get forward into goal scoring positions but he can also influence the game from deeper areas progressing the ball forward into the attackers which we miss from the likes of Fred and Mctominay. It also makes us better defensively.
Mctominay has impressed me at the base of the pivot and whilst he probably lacks the distribution skills to excel long term in that position he has played very well in recent games.
I think Elanga has been a huge positive on the left wing. His work rate and desire to get back and help his full back has made us much better defensively and he also poses a threat going forward.
I think at the start of the season we suffered badly by players making really poor individual mistakes. This was compounded by Ole keeping faith with players in poor form and not giving others a chance. This obviously resulted in resentment and disharmony in the squad with some players getting no game time and others keeping their place despite bad form.
In the second half against Brentford and against West Ham I thought we kept possession of the ball much better. We were largely able to control the game by keeping the ball meaning the defence didn’t come under as much pressure. It’s still early days and major question marks remain over how good some of our players really are. West Ham were well organised, sat deep and allowed us possession so again it’s still too early to really judge how much progress has actually been made.
There is evidence that the team is slowly evolving and improving under Rangnick but if this will be good enough to win a trophy or secure a top 4 finish remains to be seen.
23 Jan 2022 12:29:36
AJH, Rashford and Bruno were overplayed and burnt out by Ole.
The whole team was under coached without any identity.
Ralf seems to rotate well and is not afraid to drop the likes of Maguire.