Man Utd Build Up

[Mattshark]

Is there a team in world football who doesnt drop a bit deeper at some point in a game? Norwich had Man Utd penned in at Old Trafford on the weekend. I'm not disagreeing that we sometimes drop deep, everyone does but you seemed to be saying we will and are sent out with tactics to just sit on the edge of our own penalty from kick off but I completely disagree with that and see no evidence of it at all.

Also not sure why you think Kenny will change his tactics from what saw us batter Man Utd last season.

To be fair, we have already altered our tactics from what gave us our best football from last season.

[Chris]

To be fair, we have already altered our tactics from what gave us our best football from last season.

Have we? Or have we just changed the personel and its not looking quite as fluent so far?

[Pablo]

What happens if it is a draw?

How would you classify our start in that case?

Above average.

I think I'd take a draw if it was offered now to be honest. Is that negative seeing as we're at home? Would anyone else?

[Chris]

I wouldnt as they are there for the taking I think but dont think 14 points from the fixture list we've had would be a complete disaster either.

Spurs have a complex v Man Utd though so it'd be good to get some more points on the board knowing Tottenham will drop some in the same game.

[dww]

Is there a team in world football who doesnt drop a bit deeper at some point in a game? Norwich had Man Utd penned in at Old Trafford on the weekend. I'm not disagreeing that we sometimes drop deep, everyone does but you seemed to be saying we will and are sent out with tactics to just sit on the edge of our own penalty from kick off but I completely disagree with that and see no evidence of it at all.

Also not sure why you think Kenny will change his tactics from what saw us batter Man Utd last season.

I think the problem for us as much as anything is that we aren't transitioning away from defence as well as the better sides. It seems to be a hangover from last season.

To be fair, we have already altered our tactics from what gave us our best football from last season.

I guess that is fair. Not sure how much is an effect of a transitional phase though. I think there is potential to be a lot better balanced than last season but the removal of Meireles and Maxi from the starting XI has reduced the amount of intelligent movement from deep areas for sure.

[BootRoom]

Is there a team in world football who doesnt drop a bit deeper at some point in a game? Norwich had Man Utd penned in at Old Trafford on the weekend. I'm not disagreeing that we sometimes drop deep, everyone does but you seemed to be saying we will and are sent out with tactics to just sit on the edge of our own penalty from kick off but I completely disagree with that and see no evidence of it at all.

Also not sure why you think Kenny will change his tactics from what saw us batter Man Utd last season.

We have got a deep-lying defence, which gives the opposition more room to manoeuvre. Even when Coates came on vs spurs he was urging the defence to move further forward, and that wasn't just because we were away from home. If you don't think we defend deep then there is nothing I can say here that will convince you otherwise.

[Chris]

We have got a deep-lying defence, which gives the opposition more room to manoeuvre. Even when Coates came on vs spurs he was urging the defence to move further forward, and that wasn't just because we were away from home. If you don't think we defend deep then there is nothing I can say here that will convince you otherwise.

And you seemingly refuse to acknowledge all the games where we havent defended deep. Like in the same game last season!!

How you've got we just sit back and counter attack at Anfield from our performances under Kenny so far I've genuinely got no idea. If you'd said we sometimes do it away from home to compensate for Carragher's lack of pace I'd have agreed. At Anfield? No way, though of course you get spells in games where it happens, thats the same for everyone but we do not set out that way. The same accusations were said at Rafa aswell and it was rubbish then too.

[BootRoom]

And you seemingly refuse to acknowledge all the games where we havent defended deep. Like in the same game last season!!

How you've got we just sit back and counter attack at Anfield from our performances under Kenny so far I've genuinely got no idea. If you'd said we sometimes do it away from home to compensate for Carragher's lack of pace I'd have agreed. At Anfield? No way, though of course you get spells in games where it happens, thats the same for everyone but we do not set out that way. The same accusations were said at Rafa aswell and it was rubbish then too.

We've defended deep in all games this season. Just because we've won a game doesn't mean we haven't defended deep. Is that you're justification that we don't defend deep, that we won the game?

We defend deep. We do not push the defence up towards the half way line to compress the play and play opponents offside because we are too scared of getting caught out - even against poor opponents. We just do not set the team up like that.

[Chris]

We've defended deep in all games this season.

We arent Barcelona! Of course in most games we'll generally have a spell under pressure though we didnt defend deep v Bolton so you are wrong there anyway.

We dont start games at Anfield conceding space and playing on the counter attack, thats just completely wrong.

[BootRoom]

We arent Barcelona! Of course in most games we'll generally have a spell under pressure though we didnt defend deep v Bolton so you are wrong there anyway.

We dont start games at Anfield conceding space and playing on the counter attack, thats just completely wrong.

We are not under pressure when an opponent's defence is in possession, yet time and again it (the opponent's defence) is under a lot less pressure than when our defence is in possession, because we have dropped off - the whole team is further back.

[the rev leeroy brown]

looking forward to this game already.

they have started the season well which is unusual for united who are notoriously slow starters to the league campaign. given this, i see them coming to anfield to attack seeing that they will be high in confidence.

we are on the back of 2 wins and kenny will defo have the players pumped up for this. the game will be stretched as we will attack them and vice versa. this leads me to think a high scoring affair is on the cards.

i tip suarez to get a couple in this game. they dont have the midfield players to close down and harrass our players - but we dont have players to do this to them (unless gerard plays deeper like he did when came on against everton which i hope happens again)

3-2 us is what i predict

[Craig_H]

Yeah I tend to hate it unless we are 2 up with 5 mins left or something. It's hell otherwise, especially with some of the insane luck and refereeing decisions theyve had over the years.

x100

I remember last season, even at 2-0 i was ****ting it, and this drunk bloke in the Kop didnt help matters by being REALLY casual and nonchalant about it all. "Stop worrying, they're ****!" he'd keep saying and it was really getting on my nerves "****ing hell, dont worry, we'll score a third before they get one!" was another line that made me wanna smack him one.


He was right of course

But yeah, the tension in this game is truly excruciating unless you've got the relaxing feel of a 3 goal lead or suchlike.

[Craig_H]

Does anyone know who the referee will be?

Wont be announced til about 3 days before the game, i think.

I've got a horrible feeling but they wouldnt be so bold given he favours Man Utd everytime we play surely?

Very same thought crossed my mind this morning. Surely it'd be lunacy to give it to him, knowing full well how much his 'preference' for all things manc is commonly thought of.

Having said that, doesnt he tend to be a bit of a homer ref?

I might be wrong, but i'm sure we've had him vs the mancs at Anfield before and he sent off one of their's whilst not giving anything too bad against us?

[MrMichael]

------------Reina------------
Kelly--Carra--Skrtel--Enrique (Agger for Skrtel if fit)
Kuyt--Gerrard--Lucas--Bellamy
-----Suarez-------Carroll

Massive game, a win would seriously make a statement & pulls United right back towards us.

That would basically mean we were playing 4 strikers. Not sure about that.

[Craig_H]

Much as i love Big Andy and i've been backing him all the way & will keep doing so - i wouldnt start him in this game.

I think our biggest weapon in this match is capability to win the midfield battle and the intelligent movement, passing and direct quickness of our attacking thrust. For this to work, all of our attacking threats have to contribute to it and at the moment, Carroll wont do so as much as others will.

All of Suarez, Kuyt, Gerrard, Maxi, Downing, Bellamy etc have some or all of those attributes in abundance and right now, Carroll doesnt. So we should go with players who do.

My team would be:

Reina
Kelly Carra Agger (if fit) Jose
Lucas Adam
Kuyt.....Gerrard....Bellamy
Suarez

Skrtel in if Agger's out. I'd keep Kelly in even if Johnson's fit, because i think he's more solid defensively and might need to be, as their only real threat will come from Rooney and the wingers Young/Nani. So Kelly in for solidity.

Bellamy's directness and pace/passion will cause problems, Suarez's desire, intelligence and general all round brilliance will worry them all day, Stevie should be ready to fire and Dirk's a big game player all over.

However, i think (hope i'm wrong) that Kenny wont start Suarez due to 2 international games in a week and stupidly long flights.