₦airaland Forum

Katsumoto: I agree with you but my team will surely trash the eagles anyway.

Ikechukwu is as good as Emenike but I suspect kESHI didn't manage him properly during the last AFCON. Your point about Keshi having favourites may also be a pointer to his loss of confidence during the AFCON.

Keshi has two criteria in picking his men- Speed and physique. I guess he is trying to make his team look like the Eagles of early '90s or the dreaded Senegalese team of 2002. Tall, strong and pacing. The not too tall players were either in the midfield or the wings, but still very fast.

Some of our strikers score for their clubs but can't replicate same form for Super Eagles. Eg, Ideye and Musa.

Musa however scored some vital goals for Super Eagles in the world cup qualifier. In one of the group matches, he lobbed a beautiful ball over the goal keeper to score a late one nil. I will forgive him more being a winger for us.

As for Ideye, I am tempted to believe that someone in the squad has tied his legs the way Drogba was rumoured to have tied Crespo, scvhecheko and Torres.

I heard Uche, Osaze and Taiye have been recalled. I think we should forget about Taiye Taiwo and Osaze. Although Echejilie needs a back up in case....

superstar1: are we importing new players into the team tomorrow?

when all our players were fit, we were playing no-tactics football, talkless of now when half of the team is crocked. i will take whatever result that comes tomorrow.

the same way i gre indifferent to watching Super Eagles, i will to to United, until Moyes get his hearts together or the board get theirs.

i cant keep having sleepless nights and bad days because of the clueless one.

I suspect RVP will make a surprise appearance.

adebayo201: I fit no watch the game oh!
almost all viewing centers na so so 'ote' them they do now! Manchester united fans can't breath for a seconds! I almost cry on Wed!

It's a terrible time to be a United fan. Arsenal and Chelsea went through
It for two seasons.

StarBoard: no Rooney?

Suspended.

Like he deliberately took two yellow cards within 3 matches so that he can rest. Lol.

5 yellows.

The absence of Kagawa put Adnan or Fellaini or (Anderson?) in the holes.

Still on my 3 midfielders formation.

------------------------DDG

Rafael-- Smalling - Vidic/Evans--- Evra

---------- Jones -------------Cleverley
----------------------Fellaini

Val/Nani-----Chicha - Young/Nani

Sub-- Vidic, Valencia, Welbeck, Adnan Vidic, Anderson, Zaha. 4-2-1-3.

Purist: Kagawa is reported to have had trouble breathing, hours after the Everton game. I really hope he's fine for the Newcastle game.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2519291/Kagawa-requires-paramedic-treatment-breathing-scare-hours-Everton-defeat.html

He is highly doubtful.

We are so weak going into tomorrow's match. But sometimes, the young lads dig deep as they have done in the past in cup matches.

Now it is not Rooney preventing Kagawa from playing in the hole. It's now Rooney blocked Ozil from coming.

Which right thinking manager should have bought Ozil when we had Rooney and Kagawa?

I no know wetin dey pepper their body sef. Abi dem wan part of the £250k?

StarBoard: didn't know Carrick was ready to come back.
Or am I missing something here?

I don't know his injury status, that's why I put alternatives.

It's a shame that the antiRooney team can't stop trying to. Pin blame on him. How many games has RVP won without Rooney? Shaktar and Liverpool comes to mind. I guess the only two games RVP played without Rooney. Whereas Rooney has Liverpool and Leverkusen wins to his name without RVP.

Instead of addressing the real problems, they wanna rubbish Rooney again. It's a difficult time and the two strikers need each other. Before RVP came to Untied, Rooney led and won games. We never for once dropped below 3rd at this time of the season.

------------------------DDG

Rafael-- Smalling - Vidic/Evans--- Evra

---------- Jones -------------Carrick/Cleverley
-----------------Fellaini/Ando

Nani/------- Chicha - Kagawa/Young

Sub-- Valencia, Welbeck, Adnan and 4 from the list above (Vidic, Cleverley, Anderson and Young). 4-2-1-3.


..........................................................
4-2-1-3 with RVP and Rooney


------------------------DDG

Rafael----- Jones --- Smalling----- Evra

---------- Carrick -------------Cleverley
-----------------Fellaini/Ando

Val/Nani------ RVP ------ Rooney

Evans, Vidic, Kagawa,Young, Janujaz, Chicha. 4-2-1-3



I think the above will help us play more closely, give us a control of the game and reduce the opponent's dominance in the midfield.

Na who be this guy?


Cruzeiro midfielder Everton Ribeiro has opened talks with Manchester United over a January transfer, his agent has revealed.

Ribeiro, who is rated as one of the rising stars in Brazil, has been strongly linked with a move to United in the last few weeks.

And despite Cruzeiro initially suggesting that the 24-year-old was not for sale, his agent has revealed that negotiations are already underway over a move to Old Trafford.

"Manchester United want him, David Moyes has been impressed. I’ve already been to England and talked personally with them. In United’s opinion, he is the complete midfielder." explained agent Robson Ferreira. [Source: Metro] ‪#‎mufc‬ ‪#‎manu

Perhaps what is happening now is a blessing in disguise. Our transfer market philosophy has got to change. A big club should lure big players, and not all these Bebe, Tosic, Diouf, Obertan, etc. we do try and error with.

Even John Oshea, Gibson and Fletcher(assuming he was fit) would do far better than our current midfielders.

If the solution is to drop Rooney to midfield then let Moyes talk to him once RVP gets back.

chamotex: Came across this...interesting read.
I agree with most of the points.

How to fix Manchester United’s season in 5 easy steps - http://redmancunian.com/2013/12/05/fix-manchester-uniteds-season-5-easy-steps/ #MUFC

Thank you chamotex, I have not read far before I saw this as the number one point. It corroborated my stance about our midfield. Dademola branded my analysis as mumuni and archaic. He failed to realise we haven't scholes or Modric or Xavi or iniester or Toure who could monopolize possession. City, Everton, WestBrom and Liverpool were matches we lost without Jones in the team (although in defence in one of them).

Dademola take time o. Every team has it's peculiarity, from the players we have, Jones should play in our midfield to stop us being terrorized.

See below
...............






Ross Barkley waltzed through central midfield towards goal seemingly at will last night, and a better player would’ve punished those errors with more incisive passing and shooting. Phil Jones’ absence was sorely missed in any case, and he’ll be needed in the engine room if United are to sure things up.

Essentially, David Moyes needs to find his steeliest XI as soon as possible. At this point, the idea of playing “the United way” is so contrived that fans seem to have forgotten that we haven’t played exciting free-flowing football in a consistent fashion in about 4/5 years. For the time being, the gaps in midfield need to be plugged because our defence is far too often unprotected. Lining Phil Jones up alongside Marouane Fellaini or Tom Cleverley is the very antitheses of attacking-minded, and neither of those partners are particularly popular at Old Trafford of late, but there seems little point in taking gung-ho approach if United are willing to concede goals so easily.

.

[quote author=Leyqute]The problem with Man Utd is numerous. Players hide from the ball most times. The wingers should at least move into the field, aid play and stop hugging the touchlines. Moyes should give chances to other players. Results matter. A lot.
The players don't understand DM n wot he expects 'em to do. They don't even undastand 'emselves on the pitch. Defending is poor, right from the midfield. Maybe one day they shldn't train buh jx talk. Only. Watch Videos n discuss abt it, plan n strategize, bond together. If they've been doing this, they wouldn't be playing the same way week in week out.
[/quote

Exactly, players don't call for balls. This is where I like the Arsenal style. They play so closely when they are defending and starting a move from their area. With plenty short passes, they find their way into the opponent's 18 area and gradually expand on the pitch. As soon as they lose the ball, they regroup again so tightly.

As for our defence and midfield. I think we should put Vidic and Ferdinand on the bench. They can't cope with speeding players anymore and EPL strikers and coaches know this too well. May be we should buy two players. One central defender who will work straight into the team and a midfielder. Another question has to do with Evra's position. It's now so easy for opponents to gain entrance into our box from that angle.

RuuDie: I still believe we will come good this season. If we really look beyond the disapintment of losing, in this game we played a bit better when compared to the last two previous draws but were just a tad unlucky.

I share your optimism, but when I consider that City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are scoring freely, it tempt me to want to surrender the top four. If only Moyes could just get a pattern and tactics that will click for him. He needs also to identify his starting 11 (11-13) players and stick until injury affects a player or when a certain player needs rest.

In 2011/12, things weren't working for us when injury sent Anderson, Cleverley, Jones, Rafael, etc out of the team. But when Scholes returned, we went on a long streak of wins and a few draw in between. One bit of magic can return our confidence. This weekend, we might be without both Rooney and RVP, may be it's time for the young guys to give a fight. You know young boys can be hungry for success.

nitrogen: Which way forward? are you drunk? Do you think that your wasting of space here will get out of this thread, what have been/will be the effects of discussing the way forward here? The retard said his players are mediocres, and the Chief of the club says 'no money', so what is your own, you can go on and on to rant, shout, waste space, waste your energy, time and resources, etc, I just assure you that an inch of that will never leave this thread.

Abeg, dont lemme call you a mediocre supporter/fan (whichever one you are). Leave them mediocres (manager, chief, players), let them sort themselves out o, we can only watch and pray

O boy ye, see transfer of aggression. I no be Everton o.

We all know our talk here ends here, but it doesn't stop us from what we have been doing. I thought the forum was created to discuss 'fantasy' tactics.

1025: u are right bro. i saw all these mistakes long ago and i have been shouting them but the presence of howard webb and mark clattenberg have been serving as a cover to all these bleeps. it is becoming clearer now because we are in a world cup year where man u will not be getting much from the duo(webb and clattenberg) because they must right their wowo cvs to be in brazil otherwise fifa will drop them.
i have the opportunity to look into the records of man u with special attention to world cup years. they have not won the league since 1998 in a world cup year. having players that fly like birds to get penalty from webb and clattenberg does not make a team though u can win trophies and games with that but the real test is here. ppl go to both old and new traford to collect maximum points. let us not condemn moyes because is not his fault.

Despite you are in 'enemy' camp, you made be laugh tire. But what of our UCL finals we played and won two of them? Was Webb the officiating ref?

montelik: Stats show that United is playing far more long balls under Moyes and passing a lot less. This is his style. We may not like it, but Moyes wants to set us up solid and to try to nick a win with direct tactics pumping it into the box, which is what Baines did so well. The problem is this style does not work at the top level and we don't have the mentality or personnel for it e.g really good passers like Scholes or Becks and even then you need to vary it.

tactically there is a huge gap and that style of
play is not working well for us. We are too slow,
we are punting too many balls and we are losing
our ability to pass and move. we immediately hand the initiative to thte opposition.

Good analysis. The worst thing is our wingers can't even cross well. Rafael is now our best crosser of the ball and I doubt if we can even score from crosses when RVP or Chicha is not in the 18 box.

The worst thing is that Moyes doesn't change tactics half way into the game.

chrisley024: We play d most lazy n rigid type of fb among d top n mid table teams. A player in possession of d ball is left alone wit no movt. from his fellow players.

Exactly. Do you know what causes it, we spread too thin in the field. Valancia isolated on the right line, everyone runs into the box expecting him to cross, he goofed or run into trouble and we chase back. Same with Nani or anyone on the left. Defenders apart and deep in our 18 area, and midfielders too. Our first half looked good when we played more closely.

We should play more closely with passes into the opponents 18 area. The formation needs to be changed to having more players in the central midfield. This will help us control the game first. We should play three in the middle- Carrick, Cleverly, Anderson/Fellaini, or which ever way it works.

montelik: This is why when some were obsessing with targeting certain players, I kept asking what Moyes and crew were doing with the squad in training.

Our major players didn't participate in the preseason. It made us believe all was well even when we had our worst preseason in decades.

odizeey: Until moyes goes i am an interim madrid fan

Half fan.

What was the reason for removing Rafael last night? The sub I hoped for was Nani for Welbck, then Giggs too. As the match went on, Giggs and Fellaini lost their grip of the mifield.

Man United fans, please let's discuss the way forward. This is not about Rooney or Kagawa.

It looks like we have bought the wrong players over the years. It also looks like our youth program is not yielding results but causing us distractions. Now, our selfishness in the transfer market is telling on us.

@dayokanu, remember too that the gif is slowed. The ball traveled very fast, that was why it escaped all three players.

dayokanu: That single incidence would have given Man Utd the lead into the half and might have made the result different

Now Manure lies 12 point behind Assanal and 12 points ahead of Crystal Palace

Nobody is disputing that. Had it gone in, we could have won.

But it doesn't take away the fact that Rooney was blind to the ball's journey. It got to him suddenly after escaping two players. The defender who missed it, is he not also human? This is same Rooney who reacted quicker to score a loose ball against Cadiff. Things happen.

Must we now rely on a single chance to think of winning. Aguero lost clear chances when City ran riot over Tottenham, yet the won 6-0. The difference was the number of clear cut chances created. If Kagawa provided one through ball all night, how is he different from Rooney in the hole?

dademola: kagawa is d solution!! Kagawa is the man!! Kagawa is d missing link!! Kagawa is blahblahblahblah!! Assuming twas rooney that put in such an abysmal performance in d hole, dis thread for don reach d 2000th page!! Ofcourse, rooney too has dissapointed in d hole atimes, buh atleast i'm happy some fans are finally getting it that our problems are way beyond d "rooney-in-d-hole" brouhaha!!

The problem I see with Kagawa is that our midfield is not playing well enough to support whoever is in the hole. Kagawa played exactly as Rooney has been playing in the hole when he got the sticks from fans. Yesterday we can say Rooney did not drop deep as much. Then we saw Kagawa dropping deep to CM, then in the opponents third he was making sideway passes. He couldn't play directly as he did against Leverkusen.

From the above, I will conclude that either our midfield is the problem or EPL teams don't open up the hole for anyone to attack them. There is no hole in the EPL or at least the EPL top half teams.

dayokanu: Anybody could have missed such open tap in? Then whoever missed that shouldnt be paid 1million Pounds a month

That ball went through the feet of two players before a third man- Rooney who was blind to the ball as to whether it had taken a touch or deflected already , and the players were tightly packed.

I don't want to argue jare over one single incidence.