Some interesting words from the United legend.
'Part of being a Manchester United player under Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps the most important part of being one of United's attacking players, was that when you were in possession you had to take risks in order to create goalscoring chances. It was not an option; it was an obligation.
'In the periods of my career when I stopped passing the ball forward, or when I stopped looking for the risky pass that might open up a defence, the consequences were the same. The manager stopped picking me. I got back into the team when I went back to doing it the way he wanted.
'United's history was built on attacking football, which does not always mean that the team kept clean sheets or did not concede chances. Why do you think United have had some of the best goalkeepers in the world over the years? They needed them because the team committed so many players forward.
'It does not give me any pleasure to say that at the moment I am struggling to watch Louis van Gaal's team with any great enjoyment. They beat Burnley on Wednesday night but it was Burnley who had by far the best of the first half.
'At times, United's football is miserable. To beat opposing teams you have to attack, and to attack you have to take risks. Too few of the players in the current team are prepared to take those risks.'
He added: 'We come at last to the two strikers, Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao. I feel they look like strangers at times, while Wayne Rooney is moved around the team to accommodate them.
'Wayne can play anywhere on the pitch. He is so willing, and he will give you at least a 7/10 performance most times. Against Burnley he ended up as a defensive midfielder. At other times he has been pushed out to the right-hand side, where he will look for the strikers early or switch the play.
'But if Van Gaal does not think Rooney is a better option up front than the other two then there really is a problem.'
Ouch, when he was playing I never really thought he'd become so outspoken in his retirement. He speaks total sense here. I doubt LVG will listen as he's as stubborn as a mule. Maybe the crowd pressure at games will get LVG listening - we can make top 4 with good football. It doesn't have to be sterile, risk free stuff. It's a myth that it takes entire seasons for us to play decent stuff. We have the tools, we just need a manager brave enough to let the players off the leash. And a manager brave enough to drop the big names and play the right players rather than the (on paper) best ones.
Scholes with some harsh words about LVG.
posted on 13/2/15
Don I wasn't saying he couldn't use opinion...
It was more in response to him telling me he is using logic, I was pointing out he was just giving his negative opinion of what will happen contrary to the evidence.
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Don't you see the huge hole in your argument? Rooney wasn't in CM before in these big games. He is now.
It's not rocket science.
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So I guess you are using all the big games we played with Rooney in midfield as your evidence there...
My evidence is the big games we have played so far
The fact that LVG seems to do well against good teams, at the world cup and with United.
Sorry I just can't agree that we are inevitably going to drop out the top 4 because we have some tough games and we are going to suddenly start playing a lot worse in big games...
I am not saying it can't happen just far too much assumption contrary to evidence to say it will happen.
posted on 13/2/15
manutd1982 (U6633)
"it wasn't lazy and was a direct response to Busby talking about point is what matters. "
It is lazy because as mentioned before, points tallys in seasons gone by are all relative.
Does a team winning the league with 82 points make that league title any less of an achievement as a team to get 90 points? Not for me, it's all about your position in the table.
Robb
"I think it's more that Liverpool lost Suarez, Arsenal have had a huge amount of injuries. No coincidence that since most of their big names have returned they've gone on a great run of results. City have been awful this season at times because of injuries too."
You realise we have the worst injury record in the league? Maybe if we had none we'd be even higher, probably second in fact, as we are only 5 points off.
Using your warped logic of course.
posted on 13/2/15
Have we played that great against the better teams this season?
Chelsea home we showed fight and did well to get a draw at home, City away we were lucky with decisions and deservedly lost, Saints away we somehow won with 2 shots all game and at home managed 0 shots on target. Arsenal away was a case of Arsenal not being clinical and we were but we definitely didn't play well, same with the Liverpool game which on paper looked like we battered them but de Gea was motm.
In none of the big games have we looked great and I see us losing to Liverpool and Chelsea, struggling against City while the home games to Spurs and Arsenal may be our only real chance of getting points but even they will be hard and we will have to improve our performance levels.
If people want to make excuses for LVG then fine, I'm genuinely worried because we play awful football and our away form is hopeless. Our rivals are all starting to pick up form and if we continue playing the way we are then top 4 will be a struggle.
posted on 13/2/15
Does a team winning the league with 82 points make that league title any less of an achievement as a team to get 90 points? Not for me, it's all about your position in the table.
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Exactly
Even season to season things can change quite a bit, a few midtable teams improving a bit wouldn't be noticed by the big sides but could make a big difference to point tallies at the end of the season.
Then you have 3 teams replaced by 3 other teams, new signings, injuries, differing cup runs ect.
There are far too many variables to just look at the point total for a club and say they are worse now because they had more points last season.
posted on 13/2/15
Who said looked great 1982?
Results!
We have done well against the big teams this year (results wise) our only losses (if we are including Southampton) has been an unlucky loss at home to them (although you could this evens out from our lucky away win) and a 1-0 loss to City where we had them hanging on at the end of the game even though we were down to 10 men for the majority...
The table doesn't care how poorly we play in these games, all that matters for the table is the results in these games and they have been pretty good.
TBH considering the argument was regarding how we are going to do in our big games for the rest of the season then it seems pointless including Southampton as we won't be playing them again anyway...
posted on 13/2/15
Also, we are going to win the cup for the first time in about a decade.
posted on 13/2/15
Results wise? The difference between our points this season and last against the top 8 is 4, hardly a big difference.
posted on 13/2/15
I didn't say there was a big difference, I said we were getting good results in the big games, which we have...
So bringing it back around to the original point....
Assuming we are going to do badly against the big teams because we recently scraped past a bad team when we have actually done better against the big teams and making that you logic for why we are going to drop out the top 4 is idiotic...
What top 8's are you comparing exactly there?
Moyes results against his top 8 vs the top 8 for Van Gaal this year?
Or the same teams?
Can't help but feel you may have skewed it to make your point (well you or someone else)
posted on 13/2/15
LVG will come up with a dossier to prove Scholes wrong now.
posted on 13/2/15
The idiotic part being that which was Robbs logic which I was arguing which you jumped in on...
Out of interest are you arguing with me because you agree Robbs original point? Or you just disagree that we've done pretty well against the big teams...