United at the World Cup

Sideshow Bob

Avatar & New Members Forum Mod
Joined
May 8, 2011
Messages
42,894
What has the performances of United's players at the World Cup told us about the state of the current squad?

For me, the performances add to the thought that United has a better squad than fans realise and the team is capable of playing better football.
 
The one thing we haven't seen is bar Ashley Young none of our defenders are impressing. As people have been saying a long time it's the defence that needs sorting so the rest aren't restricted in their roles.
 
Well Fellaini has done well in later games. Rashford is about where he should be. Ashley young can still do a job. In general reasonably positive. Still need 2 or 3 good signings though
 
The one thing we haven't seen is bar Ashley Young none of our defenders are impressing. As people have been saying a long time it's the defence that needs sorting so the rest aren't restricted in their roles.

Lindelof has played well at the World Cup.

I disagree with thought that the defence needs to be sorted out for the team to play better football. It's an excuse, not the reason.
 
Lindelof was non existent yesterday and poor against Germany.

You seriously don’t think we play a system to protect a poor defence?
 
I certainly don't think we play a system to protect a portfolio defence. We may play a brand of football that achieves the same result
 
Lindelof was non existent yesterday and poor against Germany.

Lindelof has been one of the better defenders at the tournament.

You seriously don’t think we play a system to protect a poor defence?

No. Mourinho's philosophy is outdated, he has shown an inflexible attitude and he has been unable to get the best out of the players at his disposal. We could see a change in philosophy and attitude following the arrival of Fred. Time will tell. There are obvious weaknesses in the squad, but they shouldn't prevent us from seeing better football. To be honest, I think the notion that the defence prevents United from playing better football is nonsense.
 
I know I keep saying it but if our defence is good whys our keeper making more saves in a season than nearly every other team in the league.

However, in terms of World Cup 3 of our 4 regular starter last season haven’t played at this tournament.

Lukaku has been the best striker at the World Cup, he’s been killing it out in Russia.
 
I know I keep saying it but if our defence is good whys our keeper making more saves in a season than nearly every other team in the league.

However, in terms of World Cup 3 of our 4 regular starter last season haven’t played at this tournament.

Lukaku has been the best striker at the World Cup, he’s been killing it out in Russia.

De Gea's saves stat is exaggerated because of two or three games. Arsenal away springs to mind.

The defence is good enough for the team to play better football than what we've seen, especially against teams in the bottom half of the league. Mourinho was unable to set the team up to play coherent and fluent football.

Young, Lindelof, Pogba, Fellaini, Lingard and Lukaku have all played well at the World Cup.
 
I’d agree with everything you said if it wasn’t for the fact if you remove the 5 matches De Gea made most saves he still made more saves than anyone else in the top 6. I believe top 10. Which means you’re not taking facts in to account just making excuses

Our CB’s are awful are right back is a converted 30+ winger and our left back is a 30+ converted right winger. I can’t see how you don’t see this as an issue other than your hatred towards Mourinho
 
I’d agree with everything you said if it wasn’t for the fact if you remove the saves De Gea made the 5 most saves he still makes more saves than any other keeper in the top 4. Which means you’re not taking facts in to account just making excuses

Our CB’s are awful are right back is a converted 30+ winger and our left back is a 30+ converted right winger. I can’t see how you don’t see this as an issue other than your hatred towards Mourinho

I'm not ignoring facts nor making excuses. My opinion is that the issues with the defence are exaggerated, especially with regard to preventing a better brand of football. Let's not forget that Mourinho has the reputation of being a negative manager. Liverpool's defence is not better or not significantly better than United's yet there is a vast difference in the quality of football.

Yeah, the centre backs could be better, but they are far from awful. Valencia was mostly fine in fufilling his defensive duties but he was unable to get up and down the pitch and was no longer the attacking outlet he once was.
 
I can’t see how you don’t see this as an issue other than your hatred towards Mourinho

I've just seen this point. It's pathetic. I don't hate Mourinho. I will praise and criticise when I see fit.
 
I think better full backs would make a big difference to our play in an attacking sense alternatively a switch to 3-5-2 with wing backs might solve a problem as it allows our current full backs to play higher up but not sure our CBs suit a back 3 and generally I’m not a fan of the system but it would suit our midfield and attack.

I think Sanchez playing off Lukaku could be great plus it would suit our centre mids.
 
If you appreciate the fact Valencia isn’t an attacking outlet and understand Young slows down everything by having to cut back surely you see that’s an issue?
 
Barring Lukaku and Lingard, I don’t think our players have performed particularly well. Lukaku has been pretty awesome for Belgium and he’s been out stand out for sure.

The likes of Lindelöf, Fellaini, Matic and Young have done okay but only that. De Gea had a below par WC.

I think the WC has shown when taking the United players into account that we have a couple of stand outs but still a lot of only okay players.
 
I think Young has done well, blocked people in set pieces, great crosses, gets forward. I also think Lindeloff had a good tournament. Fellaini has been mom in one match and played really well the other night, weirdly.

Not everyone is a Hazrad, if tey do their role and do it well then you cant ask for more.
 
I was perhaps giving a disservice to Fellaini, when he has played he has done very well indeed. Glad we’ve got him.
 
I think Young has done well you can't knock his delivery especially on the dead balls and vs Sweden he even took his man down the outside and put in a few dangerous balls with his left foot. He held the width a bit better at the weekend as well in other games he'd come inside a bit to often.

Fellaini for me was man of the match vs England, changed the game vs Japan with his power in the air and was also very good against Brazil.

I think the only player who would be dissappointed with his performance is De Gea but that was one mistake in 1 game apart from that he was fine, seems ridiculous to me that he's been made a scapegoat by someone people in Spain. Apart from that Ronaldo one he made a mess of he had no chance with the other goals.
 
I think the sad thing for De Gea, which didn't help, he isn't very good at penalties and he got slaughtered for that. It's an area he could improve. I hope his mental state has not been damaged for next season.
 
He's saved 3 in his time at Utd according to some stat I read but he hasn't actually faced that many and yeah it's not his speciality but then he can't really be held accountable for his team giving 2 away during normal time and in both cases he had no chance at saving the pen. In the shootout there was one that he got a hand to that he probably thinks he should have saved but the others were just good pens.

Hopefully he doesn't let it effect him to much and he's back to full confidence next season as he didn't look himself at the tournament he had a few wobbles in the warm up games which possibly didn't help which is strange as he's normally pretty good at not letting that sort of thing effect him.
 

Login or Register

Forgot your password?
or Log in using
Don't have an account? Register now
Back
Top