[tony smyth]

Now that I've kind of got over Saturday's result and put it in perspective - as others said we are still on for the Quintuple - I've been thinking about how to beat them next time we meet them, and it could be soon. Raffa has been studying DVDS of us, lets do the same on them.

They still have only 3 good players - Torres, Gerrard and Mascerano. Obviously part of the answer is cutting out the supply to Torres. If Hargreaves was available i'd assign him to sit in front of the back 4 and to pay special attention to Gerrard.
Next Vidic: I'm wondering if, as he has had 2 reds against them and been sent off, if we shouldnt assign Rio to mark Torres instead.

Next midfield and attack. I know this might sound unconventional. but I've been toying with the idea of playing Rooney, Tevez, Berb and Ronaldo at once. For this to work though Rooney and Tevez would have to be midfielder/forwards, which they kind of are anyhow. Those 2 would have to contribute to midfield so as not to get overun, but also add to attack. Hold when necessary, attack in numbers.

Ronaldo: he's been staying out on the wing too much this season. Also 'Pool double marked him out of the game. I'd like to see him cutting inside, more like he did last season.
Finally, and this is just intuition, I have feeling that if Tosic is any good, he may play against them next season.(nothing to go on for that though, never having seen him play). WE need to really pressure their defence and keeper - after all its not the worlds greatest defence if you take out Mascerano.

Also it goes without saying we need to play at a high tempo for the full 90mins and fully concentrate.

Thoughts on this? :whistling::whistling:

 

[MsUnited]

Easy said than done :thumbsup:
You can do a lot of things to prevent a defeat, I`m sure Fergie made his best with the players to win this match. But those bloody 90 minutes .. it all depends on that, and it can go both ways.

 

[ReddestFront]

The most noticeable difference on Saturday was that every time they got the ball on the edge of their own box we let them carry it forward unchallenged for 50 yards, whereas when we had it they closed us down immediately. We played 2 wide men but nobody above 5'8" up front, which was a waste of time, and both wide men (Park and Ronaldo) cut inside at every opportunity rather than try to beat the fullback and pull a decent ball back into the box. Why we didn't give Carragher a hard time I don't know, he's not a right back and was on a yellow card.

 

[tony smyth]

Yes there weren't many Evra charges down the wing in that game, or quick breaks to get in behind them.

 

[sweet fa]

next time against liverpool i would have fletcher down has the first name on the team sheet just to stop gerrard surgeing forward ,fletcher has excelled in such tasks in the past .i would also put rooney into midfield because his strength vision and passing ability would control the game in my opinion .

 

[shiven]

I'm still a bit puzzled as to why Fergie didn't tell Ronaldo to stay on the left wing and run at Carragher for the full game..

He isn't a natural right back who lacks pace and he had told Benitez he didn't like playing there.. So he mighn't have been in the best of moods and would probably have taken Ronaldo down every time to express his frustration at playing there..

But saying that Ronaldo tried only a handful of ocassions to take on Aurelio and failed each time..!

 

[AidanNelson2009]

Next time United play Liverpool, we need to beat them to prove to everyone that it was just a bad day for us last time and bad defence, if we loose again then, well, Liverpool will rpove thy are better, but more to the point, Man Utd need to attack Liverpool next time with real force and pressure, ahve Rooney and Berbatov upfront, with Ronaldo and Tevez behind them, carrick and Giggs on the wings, and fletcher in the mid, if we attack Liverpool with these quiality players we have then we will crush them, Liverpool are only good on the counter attack with Torres and Gerrard, shut them down and there nothing (and to prove that Liverpool are nothing without Torres and Gerrard, everytime Liverpool have played a game this season with both Torres and Gerrard playing they havn't lost, but when they have both been out they have lost, except for the win against us which was 2-1) but still, Liverpool are nothing without those 2 players, shut them down and the game is our, feed Ronaldo the ball and we will win, keep pressure on Liverpool, get on top early and maintain it, that's what we need to dop nextime, not just sit back and defend after a 1-0 lead, keep attacking and go for that 2nd and 3rd goal, if United take on Liverpool in the CL this is what they should do, cause we all know that Liverpool will try to attack us like they did last time, but this time we will be prepared and we will stop them, and attack them, humiliating them, it's quite simple when you say this , but when it happens it's not so easy, United will want to get one back at Liverpool, and at Anfield too, CL is the best chance for that but they must win if they do play, otherwise United will have TO say Liverpool are better.

Which they are not GO THE RED DEVILS 08/09 EPL CHAMPS, 08/09 CL CHAMPS

 

[Ibnu Ramli]

[. Raffa has been studying DVDS of us, lets do the same on them.

:laugh:

As I said before, the best way to contain Torres may be the sweeper system.

One last man to face before being up against the keeper.

To do this, we need an extra man from midfield to cover when Rio/Vida moves into the sweeper role.
Seems Carrick/Fletch/O'Shea is up to this. Anderson can't simply because he's too short. He should have been the DM for the match, not a wannabe Scholes :frown:.
He should have let Carrick take over Scholes' role.

And the extra man from midfield should also be the link to the attack.

Hargreaves would have been perfect for this.

So, it'll be 5-3-2 when we defend, 4-4-2 when we attack.

AND having a Latin defender would be handy against strikers like these. Latin players are more exposed to skill and trickery, so should not be easily deceived.

Remember Heinze's tackle on Morientes? Any other player would not only concede a penalty, but also be shown a straight red.

For this, Rafael will come in handy. All said, I don't mind if Gary plays because he'll be able to stop Torres using his experience alone, and his mere presence will fire up the backline.

We've seen Vida & Rio being turned inside out, simply because they didn't know what to expect.

To be fair I think this is the first time we've been up against Torres, and more so after his phenomenal showing at the Euros.

So, there you have it

 

[tony smyth]

Masherano is very good player and mops up in front of the back 4. Don't discount him. Still, it is a pretty average defence bar maybe Carragher.
We should be bombarding them, and firing crosses in from the wings. Neither Evra nor CR did this much on Saturday. CR was double marked fair enough, and JOS isnt the best support for him going forward (Neville or Rafael would have made a big difference there). Very disappointed that Evra didnt attack more, especially as right back was their weakest position. He'd been great up to that game.

I would not put Giggs as left winger in your formation above as he doesnt have the legs for it anymore.

As Hargreaves operations seem to have been a success, I'm sure we'll see him playing to cut out the Gerrard /Torres link. Once thats done we just have to score and more than once next time!!