English Football Thread 2013/14

[MasterBlaster76]

You were awful, against a good team you would have been punished. You were lucky that every time Jedinak picked up the ball he passed it straight back to your lot. Also that was not a penalty and in no world was it a red card, ridiculous decision and of course once that happened you were going to dominate the game.

Your side is devoid of creativity, it'll be a problem against top half sides.

Mind you I think City are in a worse place right now than you guys.

Would that be the same side that cruised to the Premiership last year?

 

[thedon5]

That's all you Man Utd fans can ever say, what about the team that one two European trophies in the last two seasons? Are they guaranteed to do it again?

The lack of creativity relies heavily on van Persie and Rooney creating and finishing their own chances, particularly van Persie. Never a good position to be in.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

That's all you Man Utd fans can ever say, what about the team that one two European trophies in the last two seasons? Are they guaranteed to do it again?

The lack of creativity relies heavily on van Persie and Rooney creating and finishing their own chances, particularly van Persie. Never a good position to be in.

how dare man u fans use hard facts and not rely on subjective opinions of their creativity.

having two strikers capable of creating and scoring their own chances is never a good position to be in? really? maybe they should sign torres, get in someone incapable of doing either, they'd absolutely walk the league.

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Is there a fantasy league made on this forum?

 

[War]

how dare man u fans use hard facts and not rely on subjective opinions of their creativity.

having two strikers capable of creating and scoring their own chances is never a good position to be in? really? maybe they should sign torres, get in someone incapable of doing either, they'd absolutely walk the league.

Ye basically. Once Rooney & RVP can create & score 80% of their chances, Man UTD wont necessarily miss a serious creative presence in mid-field.

Having Carrick/Fellani sitting deep in defensive roles might actually be preferable because Ferdinand/Vidic as a defensive pair could do with the protection given they are getting old. Plus you have P Jones of course can play that role in midfiled too.

UTD's real problem area is actually the wings which is a historical strength - Valencia, Nani, Young have either stagnated or gone backwards, Zaha & the belgian guy is a unknown.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

how dare man u fans use hard facts and not rely on subjective opinions of their creativity.

having two strikers capable of creating and scoring their own chances is never a good position to be in? really? maybe they should sign torres, get in someone incapable of doing either, they'd absolutely walk the league.

Exactly. The squad hasn't been weakened either - it's been strengthened with the much needed steel that Felliani will add - and I don't know about you but after all the nonsense in the summer, I think Rooney's going to have one hell of a season. RvP looks as good as ever, too.

Both Rooney and RvP can carve out their own chances - so what? What's wrong with that? Don't forget Welbeck who has made a good start to the season. Zaha will play a part and that young Belgian kid looks like a real star in the making.

In fact, Utd have never really been about the 'Johnny on the Spot' style striker. Right back to Mark Hughes' days (so many of his goals were crashed in from distance), via Cantona (often carved out and finished his chances), all the way up to Rooney now. In fact the only real 'Johnny on the Spot' was Andy Cole and even he created a few chances for himself as well as the many tap ins he scored. I am not concerned at all - as I said before, we've made worse starts than this and still won the league.

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Ye basically. Once Rooney & RVP can create & score 80% of their chances, Man UTD wont necessarily miss a serious creative presence in mid-field.

Having Carrick/Fellani sitting deep in defensive roles might actually be preferable because Ferdinand/Vidic as a defensive pair could do with the protection given they are getting old. Plus you have P Jones of course can play that role in midfiled too.

UTD's real problem area is actually the wings which is a historical strength - Valencia, Nani, Young have either stagnated or gone backwards, Zaha & the belgian guy is a unknown.

Now you mention it, the wings are looking a bit ropey.

 

[ste_mc_efc]

In fact, Utd have never really been about the 'Johnny on the Spot' style striker.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Well done - that's one example between Mark Hughes' time and now...

 

[ste_mc_efc]

You're silly. For a start you mentioned cole yourself, so he's the second since hughes.

You said united had never been about that. When at times you were. Van nistleroy is probably the most iconic "johnny on the spot" striker of the premier league era.

But it's pointless anyway as generally under SAF you had 4 high quality forwards and generally at least 3 who would walk into pretty much any starting XI in the league. so you haven't really ever been about one striker.

Arguably Solskaer and Hernandes could be put forward as goal poachers too, but they have been less integral.

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but it's silly. united have had a lot of sides in that time playing a lot of different ways at various times. that's one of the most impressive things about SAF.

 

[thedon5]

how dare man u fans use hard facts and not rely on subjective opinions of their creativity.

having two strikers capable of creating and scoring their own chances is never a good position to be in? really? maybe they should sign torres, get in someone incapable of doing either, they'd absolutely walk the league.

Can you actually read what I said instead of coming out with some sarcastic reply? I said having no creativity is a bad position to be in. They rely solely on Rooney and van Persie staying fit, and do you seriously think they can create and finish their own chances every game? Happens rarely, even the best strikers need supply and they aren't getting any when guys like Young are playing. Did u see them creating and finishing a chance against Crystal Palace? No, they relied on a cheap penalty and cheap red card to win them the game.

I said the same things about Spurs before they picked up Eriksen, Man Utd are no different they just have much better forwards than Soldado and Lamela so it won't be as noticeable for Man Utd. David Moyes agrees with me, that's why he was after Hererra and not Fellaini.

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Ye basically. Once Rooney & RVP can create & score 80% of their chances, Man UTD wont necessarily miss a serious creative presence in mid-field.

Having Carrick/Fellani sitting deep in defensive roles might actually be preferable because Ferdinand/Vidic as a defensive pair could do with the protection given they are getting old. Plus you have P Jones of course can play that role in midfiled too.

UTD's real problem area is actually the wings which is a historical strength - Valencia, Nani, Young have either stagnated or gone backwards, Zaha & the belgian guy is a unknown.

The wings is the problem, it can be made up by improving the deeper spots and putting a creative player in there but they don't have that option. Nani is by far the best winger they have, they need to get him firing again, if they can they have the best winger in the league as opposed to one of the worst due to how selfish and wasteful he is when off form. That could solve a lot of problems.

Zaha is very inconsistent, he is immensely overrated since he is English, went for ?15 m, plays for Man Utd and has the raw ability to score highlight reel goals. It'll take him a couple of seasons to get to a good enough level. I think he can make an impact off the bench though and that's how he should prove his worth. He is less limited than Young and Valencia IMO.

I think Young's diving adds some creativity. It clearly worked on Saturday and won them the game.

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Exactly. The squad hasn't been weakened either - it's been strengthened with the much needed steel that Felliani will add - and I don't know about you but after all the nonsense in the summer, I think Rooney's going to have one hell of a season. RvP looks as good as ever, too.

Both Rooney and RvP can carve out their own chances - so what? What's wrong with that? Don't forget Welbeck who has made a good start to the season. Zaha will play a part and that young Belgian kid looks like a real star in the making.

As earlier stated what I said was taken horribly out of context.

You seem to really underrate Ferguson if you think Moyes can come in and do it straight away with that team.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

it's because you have liverpool-itis and you enjoy fabricating reasons for bashing man u. they win a game because of a striker, who practices free-kicks in training all the time, scoring a free kick, but the free kick is "cheap". no doubt if they had two super creative midfielders whom everything flowed through you'd be saying they're over-reliant on them to make all the chances for their strike force. did you see how Ozil ran on to a cheap long ball and arsenal scored from that? liverpool only beat man u because of a cheap deflected goal from a corner too.

deal with reality, man do have van persie and rooney and those two manage to score a lot of goals, way more than anyone else in the EPL managed last season. the one man team arguement is the biggest straw man ever used in football arguements. it's relevant if you want to highlight the dangers of an injury but otherwise it's pointless. happens rarely? well it happened way more times that van persie created and scored his own chances last season than it happened that any other striker was on the end of chances.

you're saying arsenal have the 2nd best defense in the premiership in the other thread because they conceded the 2nd least amount of goals? well in that case deal with the fact that man u had the best attack in the league (by a massive margin) based on the fact they scored way more goals than anyone else.

 

[thedon5]

Jesus mate might want to get your eyes checked, I said cheap penalty not cheap free-kick. It was a cheap penalty but in particular the cheap red card is what ended the game there was no way Crystal Palace were taking anything after that. Scoring from set-pieces does not mean creativity unless it's a great ball that forces the defender to make a rash challenge, which was not the case for either.

If you look at a score 2-0 you'll think, oh, decent win for Man Utd, but that doesn't tell the story. Their play this season is a step below from last season, probably because of Ferguson and the fact that their aging squad keeps aging. Even van Persie isn't anywhere near as good as he was last season or the season before, in fact he's been steadily declining for me as the van Persie of two seasons ago wouldn't have had a goal drought for as long as he did last season. They were lucky the ref was on their side (as usual) to send Dikgacoi off, but Crystal Palace could've gotten something out of that had the game went on and any better team would've punished them before that in any case.

Just looking at the score won't get you anywhere, that's like saying Man City played well in their 2-0 to Hull when in reality it was a pathetic performance.

What is Liverpool-itis?

I have to keep referring to statistics like our 2nd best defence in the league since it's obvious people don't watch Arsenal so I have to bring that in.

I agree Man Utd have a strong attack and will score goals. Their attack just isn't looking as good as it was last season, they aren't creating as many chances and they aren't as ruthless as they were last season, last season red card or no red card it would've been a 5-0 win to Man Utd against Crystal Palace. They just aren't looking as good and I'm 100% certain they won't come close to matching their goal tally last season. They actually had creativity last season, and that was what got the goals for them, moments of brilliance can only secure you so many goals and even the best need quality service to score goals and can't conjure something out of nothing all the time.

On the other hand when I mention Arsenal's defence, our defence is far better this season than last.

 

[Anish.]

 

[thedon5]

Gareth Bale's back?

 

[El Loco]

Nothing like watching Villa keep a
clean sheet to shatter your
nerves!