Can someone sum up how we've looked in preseason

Eyepopper

Lowering the tone since 2006
Joined
Sep 1, 2006
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With all the doom mongering and transfer muppetry I've just been avoiding reading the news, and the forum.

The sooner the transfer window closes and we get back to football the better.

So, from those who've seen the games, anything worth mentioning? Who has looked good, bad etc etc. Any clues on formations & player positioning?
 
For shame on you for not following our team on preseason.
 
Zaha has looked great. Adnan has looked alright. Welbeck missed some chances but got a few goals which is good. Rvp was rusty. Giggs was very good in one game. And kagawa was hugely involved in one game so much so that the camera wouldn't get off. He was seriously that good.
 
Full backs continuing to play very high, wingers tending to cut in especially as Valencia isn't on tour. Lingard, Januzaj, Zaha and Cleverley have been the best players. Welbeck's been good too.
 
We have played mostly 4-2-3-1 while today we are playing 4-3-3. In the second game we have made pressure like mad people.

Zaha our best player in pre-season IMO. Ando can last 90 minutes somehow, while both newbies Lingard and Januzaj have been impressing. Fabio looks great too, while Buttner is again a headless chick.
 
We actually have played well in jut one of our 4 games. The players looked really sharp that day. The other three games looked a usual preseason game where the players are still getting upto the pace f a competitive game.
 
Zaha has looked excellent in pretty much all the minutes he's been involved. He's been the standout and the highlight of the tour, in my opinion. Cleverley has also looked good, and I'd mention Lingard too - he's scored a few good goals and also looked like he's progressing well.

Our fitness levels have been improving gradually, just as expected really, and some of the players are looking in great shape now. Again, I'd mention Zaha here, since he's constantly up and down the flank, working hard. Welbeck is also showing his usual work ethic, and has even chipped in with a few goals so far, which I'm sure will be good for his confidence.

We've been playing some pretty good football too - generally, passing and moving the ball well. The defending has been poor at times, particularly in the earlier games of the tour, but I guess that's also to be expected since we usually looked tired towards the end of matches. We've certainly had a better pre season tour than we did last season when we were pretty much shit the whole way through.

Another quick mention for Kagawa, who's looked really sharp - and in fact, Rio tweeted the other day saying that he felt Kagawa was looking the sharpest in training and that he thought he could be a bit of surprise package in the league this season.
 
Veered between great and uninspiring, which was expected with all the constant changing etc.

The youngsters (Zaha (pick of the bunch), Januzaj, Lingard) have been more impressive than most of the regulars.
 
fecking hell I just realised I just missed the first half today.
 
Zaha

Born to play for United. Very much in the mould of United wingers of the past. Young, and Valencia will have a job on their hand to keep him out of the team.
 
We played against teams that wanted to beat us and that makes this tour quite productive and full of implications for Moyes how to find optimal formation that will also include players like Januzaj, Zaha or Fabio.

This will also give the new boss few more ideas who could be signed for the sake of the team.
 
Promising play from a group of our youngsters, the main thing isn't the results, rather for me the conditions we've played in have been incredibly trying and that will have helped our overall fitness no end.
 
Eyepopper said:
With all the doom mongering and transfer muppetry I've just been avoiding reading the news, and the forum.

The sooner the transfer window closes and we get back to football the better.

So, from those who've seen the games, anything worth mentioning? Who has looked good, bad etc etc. Any clues on formations & player positioning?
Click to expand...

We've been at sixes and sevens at the back. Mainly because the midfield isn't good enough to protect the back 4.
We've struggled to score goals. Mainly because the midfield isn't good enough to keep possession and create chances.
We still haven't signed anyone. Mainly because the midfield isn't good enough to identify and purchase new midfielders.
 
Okay that's the first time I've seen our midfielders being blamed for not signing other midfielders.
 
- Januzaj and Lingard both very good.
- Zaha looks excellent, may well have worked himself in front of a couple of our 'first choice' strikers.
- Midfield not nearly as bad as people think. Cleverley has been excellent, and our general passing play has been the strongest part of our game in every match.
- Defending sloppy. But that's always the case on tour because of the constant chopping and changing.
- A few players need more shooting practice. The games we lost/drew could easily have been won if people had put away simple chances. The games we won should have been by much bigger margins.

Overall very pleasing and promising. The two main areas of concern are usual ones on pre-season tours - finishing and defending. Both tend to be much tighter once we have a settled team for the season proper.
 
Januzaj and Zaha look very promising, although only Zaha is probably ready for the first team.
Lingard has been decent, scoring great goals but hasn't had much of an impact on the general play of things I thought.
Basically all of our normal first team players either haven't featured too much or have looked rusty.
Fabio looked very good in every game, as did Rafael.
Welbeck looked good, although his finishing is still poor, even if he scored a few goals.
Cleverley's been pretty good, but hasn't shown much improvement from last year I thought. Hasn't really stuck out too much, even though he was usually the most experienced in our midfield/attack against that opposition.
Anderson looked good as he always does during pre-season. His problem for me has never been his quality, it's usually just sustaining fitness.

On a side note, I'm not a fan of when we go to Asia for our pre-seasons. Our best pre-seasons are usually in the US. Better quality streaming, better facilities, better pitches, I have a chance to make a game or two, more normal match times for me compared to 6 or 7 am right now. I always feel like we generally start the season brighter after we have pre-season in USA.
 
On the basis of the pre season so far, with some of the players coming back from injury hopefully. What would your line-up be for say the first PL match ? I honestly cannot say since I only watched the Osaka match and nothing else.
 
kouroux said:
On the basis of the pre season so far, with some of the players coming back from injury hopefully. What would your line-up be for say the first PL match ? I honestly cannot say since I only watched the Osaka match and nothing else.
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If everyone comes back to fitness as planned, I'd say something like:
De Gea​
Rafael Ferdinand Vidic Evra​
Carrick Cleverley​
Zaha Kagawa Young/Welbeck​
Van Persie​
Something like this probably, maybe Rooney in there if he comes back from injury in time and if he's still around. Pretty much a full strength team though, just not sure when Nani and Valencia are due to come back though.​
 
de Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Zaha, Carrick, Cleverley, Nani, Kagawa, van Persie.

Difficult to say though, as of course Valencia (who maybe would merit a place in that side) Nani, Vidic, Rooney and Hernandez have had no game time.
 
kouroux said:
On the basis of the pre season so far, with some of the players coming back from injury hopefully. What would your line-up be for say the first PL match ? I honestly cannot say since I only watched the Osaka match and nothing else.
Click to expand...

De Gea

Rafael Ferdinand Evans Evra

Carrick Cleverley

Zaha Kagawa Young

Van Persie​
 
nemanja15 said:
de Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Zaha, Carrick, Cleverley, Nani, Kagawa, van Persie.

Difficult to say though, as of course Valencia (who maybe would merit a place in that side) Nani, Vidic, Rooney and Hernandez have had no game time.
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Where is he, been wondering that for a while now. Was he in the gold cup with Mexico this summer? Haven't paid any attention to that this year.
 
bosnian_red said:
Where is he, been wondering that for a while now. Was he in the gold cup with Mexico this summer? Haven't paid any attention to that this year.
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Resting after the Confederation. I think that he'll return for the matches in Europe.
 
Revan said:
Resting after the Confederation. I think that he'll return for the matches in Europe.
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Oh, I thought they'd be back by now. Kagawa I presume was rushed back earlier because of the Japan tour then?
 
bosnian_red said:
Oh, I thought they'd be back by now. Kagawa I presume was rushed back earlier because of the Japan tour then?
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Seems so, the contract said that Kagawa had to be in Japan (read it somewhere). Kagawa is going now for an extra week vacation I think.
 
So does this mean no more 2 strikers at Old Trafford against mid and lower PL teams?
 
De Gea​
​
Rafael Ferdinand Evans Evra​
​
Carrick Cleverley​
​
Zaha Kagawa​
​
Welbeck​
​
Van Persie​
​
​
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
So does this mean no more 2 strikers at Old Trafford against mid and lower PL teams?
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It's pretty much going to be the same formation for the most part as last season I'd say. Only real difference depends on if Rooney stays or goes, but if he goes then I think we'll split his position with Kagawa playing there behind RVP or pushing Kagawa out wide, and then playing RVP behind Hernandez.
 
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