DS was down on Carrick after the CL final vs Barca (2009 ? 0-2 loss). IIRC, he thought Carrick played cowardly against Barca's midfield (Iniesta, Xavi, Busquet). I always thought it was kind of harsh...our midfield was Carrick, Giggsy and Anderson...
Edit: Our midfield was Carrick,............. just Carrick against Barca 3 who will be hall of famers.
I'll never forget the season Giggsy played CM and was excellent. Just another one of SAFs makeshift moves because he refused to ever buy a proper CM.
He took exception to Carrick for the debacle that was his tackling against BM - when Fergie benched him for not showing enough steel in the challenge. It was a valid criticism at the time.
Fletcher was actually very good in 2009 and there is no doubt that he was a huge miss in Rome for the CL final. We'll never know how things would have turned out, but Carrick in all likelihood would not have himself so isolated and overwhelmed against Barca's midfield (and their overall passing game). Fletcher was a great harasser and very hard worker, who didn't stop running and was exactly what was needed to have hoped of countering/disturbing Barca's possession and passing game. He was the furthest thing to a corpse back then....
Not talking about that season but the latter ones where we had no midfield and SAF didnt buy a midfielder for 5 years or something.
Well yes, Hargreaves (and Ando) were the last CMs SAF bought who looked they were worth a damn and that was in the summer of 2007 (and they both proved ultimately to be busts/lemons). All he did subsequently was shift Giggs to midfield, recall Scholes and had him play in a deeper role: both moves which were successful to an extent, but it was not enough. Especially when the youngsters who came up from the Academy (David Jones, Gibbo) were just not very good enough themselves. And of course, we can't forget his attempt to turn Phil Jones into a holding mid. All because of his "no value in the market" excuse...
Sky saying Rashford will drop to the bench for Sancho against Kosovo. the more rest the better. he has a lot of minutes ahead of him
Also refused to give Pogba any major mins in favor of weird midfield combinations, ended up costing 90 m, hows that for no value SAF>
Correct. The last few years from SAF's reign were terribly frustrating on many points of view (particularly after CRon left in 2010) from the moves (and lack thereof in the market) to the style of play clearly not as entertaining, with a squad that was aging with little in the way of quality replacements etc... That being said, when we see what we currently have to endure, obviously I'd happily take that kind of frustration now as we were still competitive on some level. But 2010 really marked the true genesis of the club's decline to where we are today. Sad stuff...
TSCBoys but he got teased so relentlessly about calling Valencia a shutdown defender that he changed names.
So you were an active poster in the past? Or just a lurker? Why did you change your handle? Idontgetit
When Rashford first got on the scene under LVG he was very effective in staying with the back line and taking the opportunity to score, always around the penalty area or last man. The two years he spent on the wing under Mourinho instead of making more versatile player, it was a detriment to his number 9 development.
We can hope that Ole gets him back on the right track soon. It looked so promising when he first came on board, with Rashford scoring almost at will. Thought subsequently that injuries mainly, got him off track and thus explained his dip in performance. Unfortunately this season, his form so far has barely improved which is all the more surprising considered he had a whole summer to rest and heal up. He was primed to shine and have a legitimate breakout year. Still hold out hope for him that he'll come good eventually: he's shown his talent. Main problem as far as I can tell is he lacks composure, mainly in regards to his finishing but it does tend to apply to his game in general. He also needs to develop better striker's instincts, whether it's where to be in the box, when and how to make runs etc...And that is something Ole hopefully should be able to help him with. Playing him either as part of a 2 men frontline or on the wing supporting the main CF, are the ideal positions for him at this time, where his attributes such as his speed, athleticism and his high work rate, make him valuable.
This is the hope. I don't think it's impossible for him to be a good 9, pulling into half spaces from deep and attacking diagonally or starting central and peeling in between the CB and FB. But right now he's too flappy with his finishing or he doesn't make the moves to create those easy chances. Plus he doesn't take enough care with his short passing game whether at 9 or LW, which kills us against a low block. Right now Martial is a better 9 because his linkup is smarter and his finishing is much better. Greenwood, once his body strength improves, will be a better 9 because he's two footed, an excellent finisher, is more technically gifted and will be better at dropping deep or moving out to either side to come in.
Rashford is an immensely frustrating player to watch. Rashford's movement has been good in general and on Thursday it was excellent. He just failed to finish multiple sitters. I think one of the problems Rashford has is that he doesn't understand that sometimes he has to make the run and not get the ball in order to create space for others and also to open things up for him to drop off. He's getting better at that for sure, but he's not there yet. He tends to want to be on the ball far too much and rather than recycle possession and make a smart run, the only thing on his mind when he picks up the ball and doesn't fancy taking on his marker is shifting the ball in order to shoot. He can play like that IF he's in the box, but outside the box and on the flank, he needs to cut that shit out. He has 2 major flaws, bad shot selection/decision making and poor finishing. Everything else is minor and one would expect that they aren't deal breakers. If however, he doesn't straighten out his decision making and bad finishing, he's going to end up a failure based on his talent. He needs a manager who will coach this nonsense out of him.