Norwich City vs. Manchester United

And Giggs and Carrick in possession have done pretty good. Off the ball, not so good

Yeah tbf on the ball they've done alright, Giggs has had a couple of through balls though which he's just trying from too deep and they're cut out easily. Though RVP should have scored if not worked the goalie with one of the aerial balls. Good thing about Giggs tbf to him is that he's willing to break forward and support and similarly you can see Carrick is more willing to try and go forward as he knows Giggs can cover him. Only issue is that when Giggs does go forward he can be a little slow to come back and I think it's making RVP drop deeper.
 
It just isn't true that Norwich has run the show in midfield. i think we all agree that we shouldn't be playing Giggs and Carrick there, but let's not pretend we've had rings run round us.

Most of the game we've controlled, just with very little threat.

Yeah, we have the control but just seem so very blunt apart from Giggs. I want to see more from RVP, I don't think he's quite used to playing for us yet.
 
Who else? Smalling perhaps. Giggs has had two key chance making passes and generally looked lively, can't say that about anybody else.

It depends on function.

Giggs creating a Chance != good player, he's given away the ball more times than he's created chances.
 
My stream has developed an annoying sound. I think it's there to keep me awake for the second half.
 
What we need to do is really slowly pass the ball out to Valencia when he's double marked more often.

It's vitally important to base our entire gameplan around Valencia single handedly winning the game on his own.

Also, Carrick and Giggs need to maintain their positions of playing directly on the half way line all the time. Otherwise it may become difficult for Norwich to pass the ball around and get past them at will.
 
Yeah, it's like we refuse to acknowledge passing as a medium of scoring goals. "feck that pointless shit, just get it out wide and put a cross in." Sigh.

The purchase of Kagawa gave me hope but it's all fading away. We could have played Anderson as the most advanced midfielder in Rooney's absence but Fergie decided to go with the Zombie stuff. I am speechless.
 
Hoolahan has actually had less touches than all of our midfield four. He has made more key passes than any other player though with 3. Giggs has 2.
 
Too slow and predictable. In rare moments where we've played the ball quicker and ran at them, we looked like we might do something. They are just too comfortable right now.

Midfield need to take a bit more responsibility instead of relying on the wingers all the time. Also Young and Valencia really need to put in a bit more effort themselves. We're not getting enough penetration. I can see Anderson or Cleverley to shake things up if this continues.
 
Who else? Smalling perhaps. Giggs has had two key chance making passes and generally looked lively, can't say that about anybody else.

I agree Giggs has been our best player so far. Not saying much though. We really need our wingers to find some form.
 
I don't quite understand the new Valencia, its like everytime he gets to the edge of the box he thinks "best wait till the Norwich defenders make it back to the box before I cross", as to be polite or something and then 10 minutes later proceeds to produce an abomination of ball. Hit it in early FFS!

This is exactly what I'm seeing, not the Valencia of last season that would attack without hesitation to the outside. Now he's taken a page from Nani's book and taken his most effective trait out of his game, speed.

Called it earlier, didn't want to see Giggs in the midfield and here he is. To his credit he hasn't cost us the game but he's not done anything to cause Norwich any trouble. Aside for a couple route 1 balls over the top towards the end of the half he's been dormant.

We could use Ando's drive to move the ball on the ground through the middle. And FFS can we get the ball to our Dutch Assassin!?!
 
All season? We've always played that way. I don't get why people are suddenly complaining about this gameplan now when it is the individuals that are the problem. It is unimaginative though.

No way. Wideplay has always been a hallmark of United teams but not the way it is right now. Firstly, we used to play with more pace and intensity than anyone else. Right now we play a pretty slow brand of football. Secondly, the balance between play through central and wide areas has changed a fair deal. A few seasons ago we played some quality stuff through central areas whilst maintaining our wide threat. Right now, we're basically a team that attacks through it's wingers. There's a difference
 
It just isn't true that Norwich has run the show in midfield. i think we all agree that we shouldn't be playing Giggs and Carrick there, but let's not pretend we've had rings run round us.

Most of the game we've controlled, just with very little threat.

That mindset was created before the game when people threw their toys out of the pram because Anderson wasn't playing.
 
Giggs performs that function very well.

:wenger: he's kept possession very well. He gave away a couple of first-time balls but at least he was trying something.

Which is why he should play in a midfield three with very little defensive responsibility given to him.

Week in week out 99.9% of United fans look at the team line up and know that we will struggle with either Giggs or Scholes in a two man midfield. The question has got to be, why can't SAF see it?

I reckon Fergie gets 80% of his pleasure in life from destroying other teams' fans' dreams, and 15% from driving United fans crazy. The rest is wine, horses and use of the phrase "there's no doubt about that".
 
Why isn't Giggs out wide? Surely he'd provide a better threat than anyone else we've put out wide so far this season. Giggs out wide, Anderson on for Young please.
 
Giggs and Carrick have done pretty well. Direct your anger at our wingers. Maybe starting the season with just three of them, one of which isn't certain of staying at the club, wasn't the brightest of ideas.

We did try and sign Hazard and then Lucas in fairness.
 
The biggest factor in the match is how well Norwich have set up against us, and how Fergie's plan/tactics has failed.

All of our strength is up around the edge of the box, and Norwich are more than happy to basically play with 10 men behind the ball, and break through our midfield which of course has the speedsters Giggs and Carrick. It's how teams should be playing against us.

We've had no ingenuity through the middle at all - to be fair this was exactly the type of match we bought Kagawa for.

It's hard for Valencia and Young to be productive because Norwich's wide midfield players are just secondary defenders. And because of our lack of pace in the middle, we can't fully commit Evra and Rafael forward, because we'll get outpaced in the gaps they leave behind.

It's classic stifling counter attack stuff, and it's working.
 
Giggs is one of the only players to create anything close to a decent chance on goal.

There was RVP's corner, Youngs shot, Giggsy's through balls.

That's it.

He created one fantastic chance, I agree with that one. But he gave the ball away far too much in that half and Giggs should be doing better for his standrds.
 
The games calling for Anderson I think. Some energy and urgency when we attack
 
I wouldn't mind seeing Ando come on tbh. We need a bit of drive from midfield and we all know he can 'attack the space', so to speak.
 
This is exactly what I'm seeing, not the Valencia of last season that would attack without hesitation to the outside. Now he's taken a page from Nani's book and taken his most effective trait out of his game, speed.

Called it earlier, didn't want to see Giggs in the midfield and here he is. To his credit he hasn't cost us the game but he's not done anything to cause Norwich any trouble. Aside for a couple route 1 balls over the top towards the end of the half he's been dormant.

We could use Ando's drive to move the ball on the ground through the middle. And FFS can we get the ball to our Dutch Assassin!?!

He's the only one who's created anything for us. And it wasn't a route 1 ball for RvP. If Xavi had played that you'd be calling it pass of the season.
 
Nice. Watching United while hearing the odd explosion of a rocket from Gaza not too far away. Surreal!
 
Giggs has been ok, but id have ando on
 
The purchase of Kagawa gave me hope but it's all fading away. We could have played Anderson as the most advanced midfielder in Rooney's absence but Fergie decided to go with the Zombie stuff. I am speechless.

I really don't what get what was wrong with the style of play we started last season with. Wasn't it fantastic to watch? Didn't we smash teams for fun? Okay, you could argue we were a tad open but I'd reply saying we beat teams easily and that you always have to work on a system to perfect it, it doesn't just click instantly. But it almost did click instantly for us (barring the slight openness).

I don't see why we didn't take that style of play further and try and perfect it and make it the way we play. And you're right, the Kagawa signing implied just that. But for some reason we've gone to this stale and boring brand of football instead.
 
Is it? Nothing to do with 2 wingers who have contributed nothing, again. Our best chance has come from a Giggs pass, strangely enough.

No, in my opinion. It's not easy being a winger while the only support provided occasionally comes from fullbacks. Centre mids should try and find space in between their defence and midfield more often. Can't expect Valencia to solve everthing on his own, that said, he hasn't been up to par today.