2017 Pre Season | Vålerenga vs Manchester United

What a difference it makes when your full-backs are actually crossing the halfway line and provide width.
 
I'm starting to believe 352 is going to get the best out of our personnel. LWB is an issue though.
 
Good second half. Really impressed with Mctominay the 30 minutes he played. He look like he has good physical abilities and is fine on the ball. If we don't buy another midfielder he could be a rotation option.

Lukaku looked really good as well. Seem to be in good shape for the season which is important.

Pereira did fine, but not always picking out the right passes. Still he should have a chance to play a bit.
 
What a difference it makes when your full-backs are actually crossing the halfway line and provide width.

Exactly. We need width to score any goals and provide constant width. The difference between 2 halves when we switched to 3-5-2 with 2 wingbacks attacking was clear.
 
Good second half. Really impressed with Mctominay the 30 minutes he played. He look like he has good physical abilities and is fine on the ball. If we don't buy another midfielder he could be a rotation option.

Lukaku looked really good as well. Seem to be in good shape for the season which is important.

Pereira did fine, but not always picking out the right passes. Still he should have a chance to play a bit.

Would be nice to have him even come off the bench. Our bench could be really classy this season.
 
I doubt he gives a feck about the morons giving him stick over a pre-season game.
They've already moved on to the next player to unfairly criticise anyway.
 
Better second half. We have some really promising young talents in the two Pereiras, McTominay, Fosu-Mensah, Tuanzebe.

Overall, though, I was very overwhelmed by how few solid chances we created. I think even if we get the players to improve us, this will be our style under Mourinho where we're plodding through a lot of 1-0, 2-0, and 2-1 games. I've about come to terms on this being our game for the foreseeable future.
 
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I'm impressed by our young players who are trying to break in to the first team. Martial was good and Lukaku is a beast of a forward. As for Pogba...what a guy.

Mata and Mkhitaryan for me are the senior players who really need to step it up. They're so slow and ponderous and offer next to nothing.
 
I'm impressed by our young players who are trying to break in to the first team. Martial was good and Lukaku is a beast of a forward. As for Pogba...what a guy.

Mata and Mkhitaryan for me are the senior players who really need to step it up. They're so slow and ponderous and offer next to nothing.

They don't seem aggressive enough. This team appears to be built round aggression. No hiding.
 
I'm impressed by our young players who are trying to break in to the first team. Martial was good and Lukaku is a beast of a forward. As for Pogba...what a guy.

Mata and Mkhitaryan for me are the senior players who really need to step it up. They're so slow and ponderous and offer next to nothing.

I think they should be played as tens. That is their best position. They dont really run in behind.
 
Well I'm probably in minority but I can't see Perreira getting PL or CL games without lots of injuries. Maybe a few sub appearances when were two up and hopefully some games early in the domestic cups. To raw and without necessary calmness.

McTominay is another story...
 
I'm impressed by our young players who are trying to break in to the first team. Martial was good and Lukaku is a beast of a forward. As for Pogba...what a guy.

Mata and Mkhitaryan for me are the senior players who really need to step it up. They're so slow and ponderous and offer next to nothing.
Yup, Mikhi needs to step up and be more consistent. It was a game of two halves. First half was so static and boring.

The second half was far better. The kids were eager to play and we played with much better tempo as a result. I hope TFM is used a lot this season, as a backup RB. McTominay also impressed, very well taken goal.

Lukaku and Pogba fill me with confidence. We need both to be at the top of their games if we hope to win anything.
 
Tuanzebe's base level of athletic ability makes his potential as a defender massive. With age and experience he'll gain more maturity in reading the game. In 10 years he could be bossing it on the world stage.

We don't want to rush things. Give him 12 years.
 
Uhm am I the only one who feels we play very similar to how we did under LvG in the second half? Redundant and harmless sideway passes made me feel nostalgic somehow.
 
The main issue I had with that second half was a common problem last season.
Getting to the wide areas, no one making an effort to get into the box.
2-3 occasions a player was a couple of metres from the bi line and yet no one was in the box. Player passes ball wide, he runs forward, also see midfield jogging forward.
One of the reasons City are so good going forward is simply because they not only overload the box which makes them defensively vulnerable but there is constant movement.

If one player is in the opposing box vs 5 defenders, it doesn't matter where he goes it'll be very hard to catch the opposing players out because he'll have multiple eyes on him.
If there is 2-3 vs 5 & all are making runs, it increases the chances of one of the defenders getting caught out & losing his man.

Need more late runs from midfield.