A seriously interesting article

mu52

I replied to one of your articles not so long ago with a brief explanation of why we're conceding so many shots and why our defence is near at breaking point due to the immense pressure it's being put under week in week out.

I know BerbaKing in particular has on a few occasions gone into some detail talking about similar things and more.

It's not my fault if you've missed it or just chosen to ignore it.

comment by T-BAD
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
comment by Vengeance (U23079)
posted 3 hours, 14 minutes ago
Really good read.

We move the ball at the same speed towards goal as Liverpool, main difference they have more match winners than we do. Our press fails because we have the most ill discipled, work shy caaaants going, biggest of whom is Marcus Rashford, Nacho is no better but at least he tries. This allows the opposition to bypass the idiots to strike at goal. Our CM is no better either with Casemiro doing eff all.

No matter who we get as manager this squad has been assembled to fail. Far too many overpaid egos who think they are better than they actually are.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Feels like the people who do press also do so in a stupid way. Fernandes for example won't read the room, will just try and press when no-one is and he gets played out of the game. Hard to say exactly who is at fault cos it's probably basically everyone
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Half hearted attempts of pressing done sporadically, without being carried out effectively and collectively can do more damage. It leads to shortages of numbers in defensive areas.

When you press collectively you are taking a calculated risk, you are also limiting a chance for a pass from easy to very risky. When we press we make the passing opportunity easy, it looks effortless but in reality the opposition has hardly broken sweat. A well drilled, disciplined team sticks to their plans, a team full of selfish individuals does what they want even if they are well drilled!

Yeah I agree, I compare someone like Odegaard to Fernandes - one is aware of what his team is doing and tries to show the ball a certain direction knowing his teammate will be there to press it, the other just runs in blindly then throws his hands up at his teammates when he gets passed around.

Maybe that's unfair to Fernandes as I don't watch Utd often, but that's how it feels.

comment by T-BAD
posted 2 minutes ago
Yeah I agree, I compare someone like Odegaard to Fernandes - one is aware of what his team is doing and tries to show the ball a certain direction knowing his teammate will be there to press it, the other just runs in blindly then throws his hands up at his teammates when he gets passed around.

Maybe that's unfair to Fernandes as I don't watch Utd often, but that's how it feels.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Odegaard is a top talent, individually and as a collective. He's great on the ball and off it. He's very effective when pressing. With Bruno, he's an individualistic player who is allowed to take greater risks, as a result he creates and scores but he's a mess in possession (the risk reward, I guess). He defends enthusiastically, often means well but by doing so he leaves us short. He should not have to cover everyone or every position just because he's captain! Bruno is a very frustrating player at the best of times. He's also petulant, not a great example for his team mates.

Apparently we "should" be about fifteenth in the table, according to expected points:

https://twitter.com/xGPhilosophy/status/1782464705052725454?t=bbs0inBjRn51SmOQpXk7iA&s=19

Our problem in the press, is Rashford. He doesn't want to do it, and when he does, its half hearted.

I get he is a local lad, but why so many are prepared to overlook his failings bemuses me.

comment by The Mainoo Man (U23147)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
Our problem in the press, is Rashford. He doesn't want to do it, and when he does, its half hearted.

I get he is a local lad, but why so many are prepared to overlook his failings bemuses me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe because he carried us last year, as the saying goes. But he's been crap this year

comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 2 hours, 19 minutes ago
comment by The Mainoo Man (U23147)
posted 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
Our problem in the press, is Rashford. He doesn't want to do it, and when he does, its half hearted.

I get he is a local lad, but why so many are prepared to overlook his failings bemuses me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe because he carried us last year, as the saying goes. But he's been crap this year
----------------------------------------------------------------------

His goals carried us, his general play was no different - he was frustrating one v one, for example. He is doing nothing this year, it's a sign of a guy who is resigned to leaving, if not he should be sold without doubt. A product of our academy and Utd fan to boot should be doing far more. Whatever his problem he needs to sort it out before it's too late or maybe he's "peaked" too soon, he's semi retired at 26!

The OP's link is interesting to me as it can also explain Spurs' situation as well.

I feel as if our XG against has been a bit lucky this season, helped by some great goal keeping, although i would say that a lot of Spurs problems have been from a high amount of individual errors which have left them very exposed.

Spurs high line is exactly that and there is the pace to recover, un like United, but the energy from the press has gone from Spurs attack we allow teams to break on us too easily,

As others have stated, its a high risk approach that demands energy and certain attributes from players not really related to football skills, but if its not applied across the board then the whole approach can fail.

Spurs have let it slip and we now allow teams to exploit us when previously we didnt.

To me. United never seemed to have that desire to press, or the ability to do so effectively and i would say that was also the case for Ole as he tried to move you on from a counter attacking team to more aggressive pressing and possession based.

To me that points to the players as much as the manager, although the manager has been there 2 years now so should have figured out why it isn't working (or who is stopping it working) and adjusted his line up or approach.

Some people are still making the mistake of attributing our poor pressing to individuals when it's mainly a fundamental tactical issue.

A half-hearted high press totally lacking when it comes to compactness carried out by players who aren't on the same wavelength, not backed up by the players behind, making it very easy for teams to manipulate and play through giving them a free run at our back four.

When we press high and narrow our full-backs don't push up the way they should and that leaves the opposition with an easy pass out to their full-backs and plenty of space to run into out wide.

It usually leads to one central midfielder having to defend the centre of the pitch on their own and requires the forwards and advanced midfielders to bust a gut to get back and recover and because we rarely have control in games, this is happening often and I think it's part of the reason why we look so leggy in games and why we're getting as many injuries as we do.

It's tactical suicide on the manager and coaches part.