Benitez - the master tactician

[Johnny]

That lot mean nothing when your opponents refuse to play football, of course we will have possession and have shots on goal. As for the Mascherano analogy, it doesn't matter who is on the pitch, Rafa is a defensive coach and players can't go from one extreme to another game by game.

Rafa's tactics are based around negating the opposition so he suffers when the onus is on him to attack.

[Sarb]

I did say we'd struggle to beat teams that set up defensively at Anfield.

Very disappointing yesterday. One **** corner after another. If you can't get in decent corners against teams who come to defend then you're going to stuggle to beat them

Dossena's crossing was absolutely woeful. Worse than Riise's I'd say

Don't think there was owt wrong with the tactics yesterday, but it all comes back to the fact that we've not spent money on the right players to win the title. Regardless of what we do against the Mancs, it's typical that we drop points against teams like Stoke

[blacky]

exactly negating the opposition is prioritised above letting them worry about what we have to offer. we'll never win the league this way. we seem to be able to only score either through individual genius or through the mistakes of the other team. we do not create enough team goals.
its ok for people like johnny to make throw away boring comments i suppose when the truth is hard to stomach.

That's exactly how united won the title last season btw, individual brilliancefrom the showpony. I said on here countless timesifwe win our first titlein 19 years I won't give a ****e how we play to achieve it.The priority is the title at all costs then we can focus on playing the kind of football your talking about.

[blacky]

I did say we'd struggle to beat teams that set up defensively at Anfield.

Very disappointing yesterday. One **** corner after another. If you can't get in decent corners against teams who come to defend then you're going to stuggle to beat them

Dossena's crossing was absolutely woeful. Worse than Riise's I'd say

Don't think there was owt wrong with the tactics yesterday, but it all comes back to the fact that we've not spent money on the right players to win the title. Regardless of what we do against the Mancs, it's typical that we drop points against teams like Stoke

Do you think Gareth Barry's setpiece and crossing ability would have helpedyesterday? Genuine question lad. IMO Rafa wanted to sign Barry exactly for this reason.

[barnes10]

we scored in the 2nd minute and a 1-0 against a team set up like that is fair enough. We played fine but prob because of the travelling mid week our finishing was a bit lethargic.

We're all dissapointed but to say the problem was tactics or signings is a load of **** I think. Even man u and chelsea have these days.

Torres and keane aren't on form yet so things like this can happen.

[Darkon]

Bored by you.

[Sarb]

Do you think Gareth Barry's setpiece and crossing ability would have helpedyesterday? Genuine question lad. IMO Rafa wanted to sign Barry exactly for this reason.

May have provided better set pieces but may have got the **** corner taking disease that is plaguing our team and has done so for quite a few seasons

[G]

Last season we failed to even threaten teams like this when they park the bus.Yesterday,with one or both of our strikers on form we would won easily.We had 6 good chances,one of which legitimately went in in everyone's mind except the ref's.How any of that is Rafa's fault is beyond me.

All the top four have now dropped points nobody would've expected so nothing has changed in repect of the title challange

I suggest opening up a sub forum for Sarb,Rage and Rashid so the can spout their negative ****e in there and leave the rest of us in peace.Its not like we can ignore them when they invade every thread with the same rubbish.If I put them on ignore large parts of the site would be hidden from me.

[Rashid]

I think we need to get away from the arguments of what players deserve to be in the team, and who should be signed or not and start questionning the way the players are trained, our pattern of play, creativity and ability to open up teams - nothing has changed in those terms in the last 4 years despite £200m spent - it is a coaching thing that we can't break down teams.

PoolG this thread is a about Rafa's tactics - are you suggesting he is flawless and that we should only discuss positives? What a weirdo.

[Guest]

We did everything bar score yesterday. We missed numerous chances. We should dismiss this as an off day for our strikers. Even Torres was guilty of appalling misses. It was nothing about tactics. We're playing better and better and days like this happens.

[Rashid]

We did everything bar score yesterday. We missed numerous chances. We should dismiss this as an off day for our strikers. Even Torres was guilty of appalling misses. It was nothing about tactics. We're playing better and better and days like this happens.

How many gilt edge chances did we have? How many times did we open them up? We have never really opened teams up under Rafa or walked the ball into the net.... Stoke were always comfortable.

[Guest]

How many gilt edge chances did we have? How many times did we open them up? We have never really opened teams up under Rafa or walked the ball into the net.... Stoke were always comfortable.

Look at the statistics. We had at least 5 guilt edged chances. Try to cut through a team playing with 11 men behind the ball and close to their goalkeeper and tell me if there is space.

Torres missed a sitter with a header and Keane likewise with 2 volleys, so it was nothing as regards our inability to cross the ball. **** happens move on.

[Rashid]

Look at the statistics. We had at least 5 guilt edged chances. Try to cut through a team playing with 11 men behind the ball and close to their goalkeeper and tell me if there is space.

Torres missed a sitter with a header and Keane likewise with 2 volleys, so it was nothing as regards our inability to cross the ball. **** happens move on.

We never had a single "sitter".

[Guest]

We never had a single "sitter".

You must have been watching another match or wanking on posh's spice new haircut.

[blacky]

Rash we had plenty of chances yesterday. Your talking through your arse yet again.