Manchester United (h) build up

[captainfog]

We are so tactically complex none of us can work it out lol.

Anyway, it definitely felt that after Gerrard came on we had more bodies in midfield and were able to force the game better.

[BobTheCharmer]

[ame="https://youtu.be/Jr6mqx5717M"]https://youtu.be/Jr6mqx5717M[/ame]

The golden age of football. Skill, pace, tackles, honesty.

[G]

It's a 13.30 KO and Martin Atkinson is ref.

D'oh! Sky said 12.30,presumably that's the start do coverage then. Atkinson is alright.

[Chazza]

D'oh! Sky said 12.30,presumably that's the start do coverage then. Atkinson is alright.

Yeah coverage starts at 12.30

I've lied about the ref Doubt it will be Atkinson as he did the game at Old Trafford.

[Lecter]

Didn't Rodgers say afterwards that we switched to a diamond? Sakho looked like he was playing left back at the end.

Yes he switched the midfield to a diamond but kept a back 3

[Shaggy]

Yeah coverage starts at 12.30

I've lied about the ref Doubt it will be Atkinson as he did the game at Old Trafford.

It is Atkinson.

[S-RED]

oliver isn't it??

Nope you are right Atkinson it is

[Slinky Skills]

Barnes at 1.30!!

What a player.

[Chazza]

It is Atkinson.

oh

[frank the tank]

Atkinson is a joke of a ref if you ask me....... Clatterburg is the only one who i genuinely think is impartial....

Getting back to the formation - we played the whole game with 3 at the back. It started as:

--------------------------------MIGNOLET-----------------------------

---------EMRE CAN--------------SKRTEL-----------SAKHO------------

LALLANA------------HENDERSON----------ALLEN------------MORENO

---------------STERLING----------------------COUTINHO-------------
-------------------------------STURRIDGE-----------------------------

and after about 20 mins, Sterling swapped with Lallana.........

In the second half then, Gerrard came on for Moreno and it changed to:

-----------------------------------MIGNOLET---------------------------

-----------EMRE CAN---------------SKRTEL-----------SAKHO----------

---------------------------------GERRARD-------------------------------

STERLING------------HENDERSON----------ALLEN------------LALLANA

--------------------------------COUTINHO------------------------------

--------------------------------STURRIDGE------------------------------

and the presence of Gerrard gave both Henderson and Allen the licence to get forward more. This is what got us the goal......

When Glen came on, it was pretty much a swap for Lallana...... although he played as wing back as opposed to left wing....

For me, it might make sense to play the second system against Man United but swap Lallana for Moreno. The presence of Gerrard in the middle would give us more control of midfield and help out with the likes of Di Maria, Mata and Fellaini running from deep. I just feel that if we control the centre of the pitch, with the likes of Henderson, Sterling, Coutinho and Sterling all bursting through at pace to support Sturridge when we have the ball, then we have the extra man in midfield but also have a lot of players with clever movement that can surely hurt them as well. When you add in the fact that Gerrard is on the pitch for free kicks, corners and possible penalty, then this also adds to the argument. As I said earlier, if i was asked this time yesterday then there is no way that i would have said we should change the formation or start gerrard - but the improvement and control of the football was so much better when he came on yesterday - plus the fact that United are likely to flood the midfield as well (heck even Rooney will drop deep when they don't have the ball to make up the numbers) then I really wouldn't be unhappy to see us line up as per the second half v Swansea.

Add in the fact that we will have a bench that contains Markovic, Lallana, Balotelli, Lambert then isn't it great that Brendan has options. Considering last seasons bench of the likes of Cissokho and Moses, then with a few tweaks in the summer we are not a million miles away from having a really strong squad.

[Le Chef]

Just hope we stop being so wasteful up front, too many opportunities going a miss at the moment.

[rodo]

need to go at the cunts from minute one and totally agree on them going long shout

[Redspin]

I'm worried because we're not really creating that many clear chances lately, and when we do we're sometimes not very clinical with them. It will be tough to beat De Gea, so hopefully Sturridge raises his game a bit.
At least we're now much better defensively... **** I'm nervous already.

Why worry about it? United are utter ****. Even against a truly woeful Spurs their football was poor. We'll batter them no problem. I've never been more confident going into a game against them and I've been watching this fixture for half a century

[danperkins]

They are utter ****e but yet still are ahead of us, they've had a lot of luck this season & do have players that can do damage.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Daffy Duck]

Why worry about it? United are utter ****. Even against a truly woeful Spurs their football was poor. We'll batter them no problem. I've never been more confident going into a game against them and I've been watching this fixture for half a century

Because they're dirty annoying cunts that constantly fluke goals and results despite being absolutely ****, and they have a brilliant keeper.