PLAY A CONSISTENT AND SETTLED 11?!?!?! With a team misfiring on so many cylinders the #1 priority is fielding as consistent an 11 as possible!! When can we expect to see this without players playing out of position?? Starting on Sunday we should seriously be going about playing an 11 who only change due to injury or tiredness. The experiments need to stop! If you are trying to create a machine then components need to stay in place The starting 11 I'd like to see from here on in unchanged win lose or draw: 4-4-2/4-5-1 --------Carroll -----Rio----Tweety G.Neville--------Heinze ---------Keane -----------Scholes -Ronaldo---------Giggs --------Rooney -------------VNR With scope for change only in the Rooney for Smith slot. Apart from that, they should be left alone to sort themselves out, get familar as a unit and play together for more then a game a month The bench will just have to shut up and bide its time or, wait for injuries, suspensions or fatigue to kick in, by which time I would hope the machine can assimilate new components into a bigger picture! If Scholes is out, put Kleberson in, full stop. Let him grow in the team and form a chemistry with the rest of the midfield. If VNR is out put in Saha, etc, etc the players need to know their roles now and promptly play their position in the general scheme of things. We've been unsettled for numerous reasons for a while but, with a full squad to chose from now, it is time we fielded an 11 people know/expect before kick off every game. It is the biggest advantage Arsenal have over all their rivals right now. They have a machine, an infrastructure in place and they can slot players in and out of it with no problem - see Fabregas for Viera/Edu Ljunberg for Pires, Pires for Reyes etc- we need the same thing. If we don't settle a starting 11 the season will fall apart. Ronaldo needs to start playing every game and have at least for an eight game stretch, same goes for Rooney. How are they ever to create a chemistry if every time they all play together they are having to second guess each others actions on the pitch? I don't need to mention how important this weekends game is for us. I would hope we play the 11 I just put up. I would also hope we stick with the team fielded whether they produce the goods or not. Otherwise, as a team how are we ever going to grow?
Easy there, cheetah. We just bought Rooney and at that he's just coming off an injury. Heinze and CRon were, and sorry about being blunt, pissing away precious time at the nearly 125% meaningless glorified and modified U23 tournie known as the Olympics. Plus CRon had Euro to deal with all summer on top of it. Rio couldn't play until recently because of his ban. Saha was injured. Ruud's missed a few games due to injury too. When has SAF been able to have had a chance to consistantly pick the players you mentioned?
Easy there Dark. Look I can understand your anger but CRon CANT play an 8 game stretch nor Rooney. They are too young and would burn out. All the time I say we are not going be top in a while because we are in a TRANSITION period. The fact is the scholes and the giggs are at the end of their careers and the new ones are now coming. If you dont realize we have 1 of the youngest squads in the prem.
Bullsh!t... transition my a$$ with all the money being spent these players should be great now... with all respect to SAF its due to mismanagement that we are in the position we are in right now. Scholes is no where near the end of his career... he's not even thirty. Giggs is near, but not at the end of his career... he has shown that physically he is still able to play the game. We have the talent, but we lack the results... all of the players are not out of form... If we have to rest an important player, we should not be doing the resting the same time we rest another one... Arsenal never rests both Henry and Reyes, or both Henry and Bergkamp. Why can't we do the same? We have had a completely unguessable lineup since midway through last year.... correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think any of us on this board have correctly predicted the starting lineup more than twice... there needs to be some consistency.
So what you want but all of the sholes and co have lost their edge. Giggs is totally rubbish he is not what he used to be. Scholes is playing terrible. I still say it is a transition. We dont have a proper DMF ( sorry but Keane is done ) . No true left winger. So if it is not transition it is mismangement then? Please tell me why it is mismanagement.
Think before you post... Ryan Giggs has played well this year... he has already set up 3 goals in the premiership alone. He has also scored 2 goals in all competitions so far... after 13 games 3 assists and 2 goals is not the work of a player who is tottally rubbish, this playing on a team that has scored 9 goals in 9 premiership matches (clearly a team not doing well offensively which makes him look bad compared to if he were playing on a team with strikers on fire). Scholes is 100% fit and even if he is close to it, he is out of form. Remember, form is temporary class is permanent. Its why you are still hopeful of United regaining its winning ways. How is it mismanagement? Why has our best striker this season, Alan Smith been limited to sub appearances recently, despite his ability to do better than a) O'Shea in central midfield (both attacking and defensive) or b) Liam Miller at RW, and on current form better at Striker than Ruud or Rooney (less so). Why has John O'Shea been played at DM? Why has Kleberson not been given more chances? When he's played he has played well and he is the natural replacement for Scholes but was not used that way when Scholes was injured/out of form. Why did we even consider playing 2 DM's with Rio's return? Why, when our most glaring needs were a winger and back up for Keane did we buy a striker... Why, has Bellion been given so few chances? Why did'nt he play at RW on Tuesday allowing Miller to play in the middle of the park in his natural role? And before u say because Bellion is crap consider his record this season and the fact that he has showed vast improvement and results.
Rant, rant , rant. Some Facts: We’ve used 26 players this term!! The most changes in the entire EPL! Ruud still doesn’t know how Ronaldo plays. This has a lot to do with the fact they haven’t had a lot of time on the pitch together. Especially since Ronaldo has found his feet - i.e since after the Euro's - Obviously this is down to injuries and stupid amatuer competitions but, now is the time to field them game in, game out. We have not had a settled and cohesive team for over a 10 months now – yes, since the Rio ban – Aside from this, can anyone name the number of times we have played the same team back to back in the last 10months? Ronaldo is due to be played for at least 8 games in a row. He’s had a rest now and we clearly need him both for the dimension he gives us and also for the fact the team needs to gel. Ryan Giggs has performed well this season. As johno pointed out he is contributing a lot more then others in the team. The experiments are clearly not working! 26players used a handful of wins and a ton of draws. Would we do much worse to play a settled 11 whom once they get to gel will improve as a team? ---- Aside from this, it is imperative that we put out a settled 11 now for the fact that if we drop anymore then possibly 8pts for the rest of the season and keep such a deficit from us and the top for to long we may not even end up 3rd! I feel it is only Rooney and Smith who can be alternated whilst the team tries to formulate its new order. Ruud needs to be playing for a number of reasons. Main one being match fitness the second being he is our #1 striker, fact. It is more important that the rest of the team gels with him then it is that they gel with Saha unless of course Saha can do the impossible and usurp Ruud! If we win on Sunday fielding what I perceive to be our strongest 11 what sense would it make to then not give them a run together? If they lose what sense does it make to disband them immediately? Would that not lower confidence even more by suggesting the 11 is not good enough to play consecutive games? If Silvestre can still be in the 1st 11 after the nighmare start he had. Then surely Fergie can keep faith in a team (1st 11) to come good? Give Scholes time to gel with Rooney/Smith (they will form an excellent unit)
Now! there isn't really an excuse to use 26players. Even during the crisis at the start of the season we should have gone directly to the stand-ins. I'm just concerned what our steps are from this position onward. It is getting close to crisis point now. It is easier to stay quiet whn the situation isn't at a point where we cannot recover. Fact is, lose this game at O.T and we are playing for 2nd place at best. So either way we need to start an 11 that we intend to play for the rest of the season and try and recoup what we can from this point onward.
What? Never? Bergkamp rests himself whenever a game involves flying. And at that he's only started 7 games in the premeirship this year. Reyes has played in all 9 but twice came on as a sub (a form of resting, IMHO). And last year he came on as a sub in 6 of his games. Plus he played once in his first month at Arse. And do you see Van Persie and Clichy being thrown to the lions? And in the lead up to Arse's loss this sunday, recently Wenger said of Fabregas "'You have to consider the future and make sure that you don't burn him out and destroy his health, but I expect him to do it [play three consecutive games],' observed Wenger." I understand that given the money shelled out for some of these pups makes one want to demand immediate results. But there are physical limitations that we can't get around. An 19 year old normally doesn't have the same level of fitness and stamina as a 25 yr old. That's just the way things are and no manager can get around that facet of life.
Okay my view might be wrong but cheese dont tell me think before you post and all of that rubbish. I was just stating my opinion and I am still learning about football . GOSH!! . Anyway the reason my view might be so fogged is that I only watched 1 half of the Birmingham match and did not watch the prague. I have been busy.
Early on this week Alex said that he recognised that he's messed around with team selection this season to the detriment of the team. He illustrated his change of mind by making 7 changes for the Prague match
Perhaps he has lost sight of his job in the organization. Perhaps standing around on soaking wet training grounds has left him with a choice. This or the movies? SAF must have been rumaging around his office and found a note sent by Mr. Ranieri last year and didn’t realize he had already done all this stuff , or at least so he thought. Little did he know that Jose, yes Jose, Roman’s all brains, no hands, flex your mightiest muscle, we’ll rule football from a hachet, no..I mean a yacht Mourinho, had snuck in under the cover of self imposed darkness and planted it, yes planted it on his desk, with much friendship, rain, and a pinch of Wenger for good measure. Everton have won already today, Chelsea are three , no now four up and Im wondering do these BIG games always live up to the hype. PPV or interNet Radio? He has so much talent at his disposal that the temptation must be overwhelming at times to mix and match . Its one thing to think it, its another to do it. Then quite another to be sitting in the dugOut with his insides screaming “now, why did I do that”. How many after lunch and dinner speaches does the guy have to make before he starts rackin his brain for new topics and when does that “creativity and passion” transform to , “you know ‘oney, I ‘ad a great ide’ whilst at the podium this afternoon. John O’Shea will be our new Centre Forward. He’s tall, strong, and does what I tell him. I can switch Saha back to holding mid and confuse everyone. Everyone but me, and of course now you ‘oney.” ‘Brilliant!’ , she replied, ‘You may like to hold back on the rubber chicken a little. Its makin ya a tad flimsey. Daft even. By the way you have a lunch with the Queen on Monday. She says she wants to talk horses and she mentioned a 1-9-0 formation she’s been working on and thinks that you might be interested in trying it out. Works like a fireDrill I think she said, or was that a ‘otDamn, couldn’t tell, the phone went dead.’ Maybe he sits in the dressing room and waits for the players to show up and then its first come first serve. He puts them on the sheet as they wander in. Or perhaps he is practising for the England job. I believe there are BIG problems in the upper eschelons at Old Trafford. The Kenyon thing with all its Brazillian Flare. The Agents Fees. There were the takeover /attack talks with the Irish guys last year that involved horses and semen. The disallowed Scholes goal. The stupid trip this summer to America when they would have been far better off having a break from it all, getting their feet massaged, and learning the intricacies of formation football. Its like he has said, ‘here, if this is what you want, there it is, how do you like that! I saved it once . I can do it again . First I have to screw it up!’
Alex seems to have convinced himself that he has players of such high quality that he can play them in any position and they'll give him a result. He doesn't seem to have learnt the lesson of Porto and Greece - that a cohesive team of competent players will often beat a unbalanced collection of class players - and continues to ignore the need for consistent style and selection. Another thought - could it be that Queiroz has an influence in this? Does Utd's loss of cohesive play coincides with Queiroz's time at OT? His performance at Real with some of the best players in the world wasn't exactly impressive.
I believe we were sadder when Queiroz was away in Madrid with David. SAF looked perplexed and lost on the sidelines. His team mirrored his look. The postmatch interviews were perhaps scripted to fit an image of himself as having good players working in positive directions. We were completely asea. Rio had to fade away. We gave up goals like a Christmas Party. We fell apart. They brough in his pal, I forget his name, and everyone sighed a great sigh of relief. SAF had someone to sit with. The guy would show up, point stuff out, and lend an ear. The season ended as we continued to slide into where, third! We had second if we wanted it. We didnt. The minute Queiroz was fired he was back. See ya Dave, hello SAF, whats for lunch? Queiroz had no defence in Madrid, and he also had weirdness in midfield to deal with much like us. Everyone save the back middle two are attackers. Both sides give away cheap goals which get brewed up in the midfield. Getting attackers to sense a need to defened is a tough chore. SAF feels comfortable with Queiroz. I'll bet they both have great David stories.
Time to see if we are going to run with as close to the same team as the Arsenal game as possible... Saha/Smith in for VNR Keane in for Phil No other changes... I think it's essential for 1st 11 development. We lose at Portsmouth and the Arse game becomes worthless..
ManU only gave up 1 more goal last year than in 02/03. The problem wasn't letting goals in; the offense wasn't scorign them. We only scored 64 goals in league play last year. That was crap compared to 74, 87, 79, and 97 previous to that.
You are absolutely correct. The goals we did give away we gifts due to our lack of quality at the back and the weirdness of out of position players in midfield. Our quality is back. We seem to have a midfield now that is willing to work. We have an attack which is going to score lots when it starts getting the breaks it creates.