Last Couple of Weeks as Manutd Fan
Its been couple of weeks that I got published so I am writing one to sum up my overall mood, thoughts in one piece. Needless to say the mood for all Manutd fans have been on the rise since the victory against FK Partizan. Who knew an international break would do such good for the team. The signs that we picked up from the Liverpool game only got better as we progressed over the last three matches and after twelve away games, United now has three back to back victories. Who would have thought? Well, Ole played it down saying it’s the fine margins but we as fans have definitely noticed what’s different and without any protest of being less celebratory, would take these results with a smile.
FK Partizan was won by a single welcome goal by Martial. Then Norwich was an relatively easier game as Norwich defended poorly. But I don’t want to take away the link up play we noticed between Rashford and Martial. And then a wonder goal to win against Chelsea. Fair to say that we had more positive than negative in these games. But lets talk about them one by one.
In all three games, Manutd didn’t have to break down the opposition as they either played an open game or was attacking Manutd. So we are yet to see how do we fair against Bournemouth as we expect them to hold a strong line of defense and catch us on counter. The passing from midfield and distribution is still poor. Mctominay even after winning the player of the month award, is good with challenges, taking the ball forward but makes very less diagonal passes and no through balls. Something that he needs to work upon and we need to see over the next month or so. Out of these three games, notably there was about 20 odd minutes in the 2nd half of the game against Chelsea where United were dominated outright. The midfield couldn’t keep the ball, pass it around and slow down the tempo that Chelsea players generated through the back line. We did see that negated by Garner in the Norwich game but bringing on Garner in the early second half was out of question and the United players had to adapt. Ole came to the side lines pleading and shouting to his players to keep calm and hold the ball but we just couldn’t and paid the price. I think this is where we miss Pogba and this dependency would have eased out if we had recruited well in the summer.
Even though AWB defensive stats are mind blowing, we do see a lot of flaw with him going forward. He fumbles on the crosses and jogs instead of runs during over laps. Its like he is always worried about missing out on his defensive duties. Well that makes sense if he is playing as a RB but if he is a RWB then he needs to trust on Jones or Lindelof more to cover for him and focus on the wing back role. And he needs to understand that if he doesn’t puts those crosses in, the strikers would increasingly get frustrated and won’t make those runs in the box which unsettles the defense. I must say that against Chelsea, AWB was better going forward and this should be his benchmark and he needs to progress over and above this. However if this continues then the backroom staff and Ole should make a decision whether he is well placed being a RWB or rather move to the RCB position and let Dalot play as RWB instead.
If there’s one youngster who is making the drum-rolls louder, its Brandon Williams. Fans have already started pleading him to start ahead of Ashley Young and Luke Shaw and rightfully so. His performance against Partizan and later against Chelsea was fantastic however it would be unfair if I don’t point out that, in the formation, 3–5–2 Brandon and Rojo had serious positioning issues. Reece James exploited that and put many balls in the box which was not taken by Chelsea so lucky us. But Brandon got better as the formation changed to regular back four. Brandon Williams is the future of Manutd’s left back position and would love to see his slow & steady introduction to the first team without any complacency or burn out.
The center of defense which Ole had strengthened up during the summer has been reason why we have mostly conceded goals and remember most of them are due to individual errors instead of conceding an excellent built up goal. Lindelof needs check up, something seriously wrong with him. Since the beginning of this season, odd headers, passes, marking has conceded us bad goals and Maguire joined him to the party against Chelsea. Maguire unnecessary tried to boss Batshuayi and made a fool out of himself as Batshuayi paced past him and score the only goal from Chelsea’s side. When I saw this, I put my head down in shame and told myself, another individual defensive error causing goal even after the defense looked undefeated most of the time. Some would argue that Rojo could have closed in better but as it was on his weaker side, he stayed put.. Poor that.
Lingard was anonymous but Jorginho and Kovacic did well to keep him away after first couple of runs. Andreas, who has been a regular and Ole’s go to play maker in Pogba’s absence, couldn’t do much until last few mins. Most of the fans would agree that Lingard and Andreas might not have got the run of games Ole has offered them this season. While Lingard looks a shadow of the player we saw couple of years back, Andreas looks improving with every game. But if United doesnt recruit a play maker this winter then their run of games will end by Summer and they have to put up a far more convincing performance to stay regular in the team beyond the recruitment.
While Partizan and Norwich was an welcome game for Martial. Chelsea was outright Rashford ‘s game. The young striker who just turned 22 has finally found his feat and rhythm back to be among the goals and Ole has done a world of difference by bringing him into the game with the formation change made after international break. As Ole said in one of his press conference, Rashford wants to play in all forward positions but the reality is that he can only play better as a wing forward rather than a lone number 9. He might grow to be an excellent number 9 in future but at this time putting him into that role isolates him from the game. Rashford is a baller, very different from Lukaku or Martial or Ibrahimovic. He likes to take on defenders, he takes pride and enjoys in that role. If he doesn’t enjoy his football, wonder he would be a player we all dream him to be.
Finally coming down to the man I love and often being most critical about, our manager must be praised. His in-game tactics, substitution, formation, playing players in right positions has improved and we can see the difference in results. I cant explain how well United has looked in comparison to the older games. Rashford has found his game as the wing forward, Andreas dominated Liverpool in the 1st half playing in center role, the three center back formation, it all has started clicking well but the real challenge stands today against Bournemouth. We need to break them down even when they defend deep and it would be testing times for the creative midfield Ole is going to place on the pitch. The weekend football has been merrier again and I cant keep calm, neither can I wait to write again on how well United played.
