So nearly 24 hours after the debacle and there has been so much written about it. I probably shouldn't add to that but I need to get my head around the team selection as much as anything. It is kind of cathartic so please forgive me labouring a couple of points.
Firstly I will die on the hill that on current form there is no way Phil should start centrally, be the guy tasked with creativity etc ahead of Cherki ever again. Best to start games giving teams more to worry about than allowing them to get up a head of steam.
Hindsight is easy but given the structure of our squad and the injuries we have I think the following was key to our disjointed, lack of energy way of playing.
Bernie ran his blood to water on Tuesday, initiated the press and pushed tirelessly - he was knackered yet 3.5 days later we ask him to do the same again - madness. Nico O'R stood toe to toe with Joelinton and Tonali yet was put on the bench. For me it was simple. Pep should have not played Bernie or Foden in the midfield. Nico should have played alongside Rodri and be tasked with cutting the space that Bruno worked in. Bruno is their talisman and we gave him the freedom to pick his passes and affect the game. He is the sort of player if you get close to him, niggle him he starts to get frustrated and becomes a liability.
Ait-N should have started at left back - Ake being there made the entire defence unstructured because he is so afraid of his lack of pace he is always a yard behind the others and as a result they had several goals chalked off by a small margin - it was always Ake who nearly played them on! Plus his passing is terrible - for a left footer every time he received the ball he looked to pass back inside into trouble or worse still let in run out for easy possession to them. His regression is plain to see. To blame Max for what Ake did and make him the scapegoat was very odd from Pep.
On the other flank we had Rico who couldn't even take a throw in to a blue shirt - this always frustrates me - a few times he was slow to take it and then threw it straight to them - it's easy really. Plus when in possession out wide he lost it and tried to grab shirts and foul as he is so weak, it was like a grown man against a child - he is and never will be a top wing back/full back so we need to stop with the experiment - every time he plays in that position we struggle. I have no idea who could have filled that position as we have such a lack of options at the moment.
The margins at the very top are small and given we now have a real lack of leaders - which is why signing Guehi makes sense - so someone, somewhere needs to fill that void.
Apologies for repeating stuff but on a Sunday morning I needed to vent before the obvious "how fantastic it was to have Utd back" reports surface. I love blue moon being a platform for that, it's like therapy for a broken (temporarily) blue today!
Firstly I will die on the hill that on current form there is no way Phil should start centrally, be the guy tasked with creativity etc ahead of Cherki ever again. Best to start games giving teams more to worry about than allowing them to get up a head of steam.
Hindsight is easy but given the structure of our squad and the injuries we have I think the following was key to our disjointed, lack of energy way of playing.
Bernie ran his blood to water on Tuesday, initiated the press and pushed tirelessly - he was knackered yet 3.5 days later we ask him to do the same again - madness. Nico O'R stood toe to toe with Joelinton and Tonali yet was put on the bench. For me it was simple. Pep should have not played Bernie or Foden in the midfield. Nico should have played alongside Rodri and be tasked with cutting the space that Bruno worked in. Bruno is their talisman and we gave him the freedom to pick his passes and affect the game. He is the sort of player if you get close to him, niggle him he starts to get frustrated and becomes a liability.
Ait-N should have started at left back - Ake being there made the entire defence unstructured because he is so afraid of his lack of pace he is always a yard behind the others and as a result they had several goals chalked off by a small margin - it was always Ake who nearly played them on! Plus his passing is terrible - for a left footer every time he received the ball he looked to pass back inside into trouble or worse still let in run out for easy possession to them. His regression is plain to see. To blame Max for what Ake did and make him the scapegoat was very odd from Pep.
On the other flank we had Rico who couldn't even take a throw in to a blue shirt - this always frustrates me - a few times he was slow to take it and then threw it straight to them - it's easy really. Plus when in possession out wide he lost it and tried to grab shirts and foul as he is so weak, it was like a grown man against a child - he is and never will be a top wing back/full back so we need to stop with the experiment - every time he plays in that position we struggle. I have no idea who could have filled that position as we have such a lack of options at the moment.
The margins at the very top are small and given we now have a real lack of leaders - which is why signing Guehi makes sense - so someone, somewhere needs to fill that void.
Apologies for repeating stuff but on a Sunday morning I needed to vent before the obvious "how fantastic it was to have Utd back" reports surface. I love blue moon being a platform for that, it's like therapy for a broken (temporarily) blue today!