Totteringham V Manchester United Football Club 2/2/08 [R]

Hargreaves has been our MOTM according to the fans in all those matches, but I think that has alot to do with the English loving the sentiment/idea of the position he plays. The bulldog, terrier, goin after every ball like a "proper lad", etc. He's been ok - good in all his games, but I can only think of 2 where I'd call him the MOTM.

In terms of his passing, it may be 95% - it ought to be when the bulk of your passes are either square or backwards. I sound like I'm a hater here, etc..but he's eventually going to need to be able to string stuff to our attack, and he's hardly done that so far.

 

It depends on the situation, but I still think Paul Scholes is the best passer on the team when fit and he should be in there. I don't think Hargraeves played so poorly, it just seems to me that Anderson and Scholes would present a better attack. Hargreaves could come in later for defensive purposes. But again, no one at United cares what I think and that's probably for the better.

 

Nah, DS and I never watch the match, we just like to stir you guys up

Not so much plan B as shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Carrick for Hargeaves? - neh! A winger/AM as #9 instead of a support striker - desperation not rational tactical change.

In truth, with the bench he had, there's not a lot more that Alex could do - I would have preferred Anderson for Hargeaves for more attacking dynamism but that, again, doesn't really rank as a Plan B. The criticism of no Plan B is a constant one that having let the #9 slot fester as he has Alex hasn't left himself a lot of room for tactical manoeuvre.

The change came, not at half time (a little more effort from our players nothing else of significance) but at around 75 minutes. Spurs played very well and employed a high energy, pressing game that disrupted our game successfully. Full credit to them - unlike the likes of Bolton they have the players to do something creative when they win the ball that way. It's a good combination.

But you can't play that game for 90 minutes, normally it peters out around 65 minutes but Ramos has them on raw meat now and that gives them an extra 10. And from 75 minutes it was a case of "will Utd find the goal(s) they need?". Unfortunately it took us to 3 minutes of extra time - a pity it didn't come 10 minutes early to set up a real finale. But we didn't get the bounce of the ball that Berbatov got (5 defenders around him and it came to him so conveniently there was no need to even control the ball) when the ball ricocheted around the Spurs' box.

Spurs did well. The result owes as much to their play as our failure - they succeeded in denying our usual fluidity. Full marks to them and it does indicate how much Ramos has brought them on. But they just couldn't do it long enough - many a team playing Utd has had reason for regretting that the game goes on for 90 minutes

 

Pass completion ratio doesnt tell u the whole picture. U must take into account how many of those passes were square of backwards. Also the time he took to complete the pass. This is crucial because if there wud be stats on this it would show the difference b/w Carrick's passing ans Hargo's . Also people vote for Hargo as MOTM because he does so much running but sometimes I dont think its good to run after every ball leaving the defence susceptible to attack.