Match Day Thread Manchester United (H) 31/08 12:30

I think we are forgetting that the players are making decisions in the heat of battle....working out odds whilst watching the opposition and the position of team mates. It was a very good goal....give the player some slack.

 

Not sure what Game some of you we're watching.............The goal was scored right in front of me. Cedric in no way was at fault!! He was left on his own covering two players with a third coming behind. True a centre back was coming across to try and cover him but Cedric was trying to be in the way of a shot and still able to cover if James passed it to the other player with him. James shot was spot on a very talented player. Under the circumstances any defender would have placed himself in a similar position.

 

With due respect, I disagree fully. The danger is the player with the ball facing goal. He gave him 3-4 metres of clear space and backed off him, giving him a free shot. Have you seen it on the television? Sometimes being at the game and it being right in front of you, doesn’t give you full perspective.

I bet when the coaches watch the re-run, they don’t pat Cedric on the back and say, “Well played.”

Yes he was left alone, so that is a fault of whoever should have been supporting him but that still left Cedric with some defending to do and he wasn’t tight enough.

 

I’m not crucifying Cedric. I’ve not called him an idiot or blamed him for not winning. I have just pointed out the defending at that moment wasn’t good. Im questioning those saying he didn’t make an error and the person who said he was “spot on” . I’m pointing out from a coaching point of view that he made a mistake; that happens.

 

I do want to know who was meant to be supporting him.

Prowse was in the middle of the opposition penalty box. Neither of the DM's had come across. Vestegaard had been pulled across to cover Danso's run forward so Bedders had to cover the box.

It definitely seemed a weakness in our tactics.

 

I think the lesson from that first half is, if you gain possession from pressing in the final third, make sure you get a shot off rather than allow them to counter attack. Time and time again the final pass was to someone close-marked by a defender. On the other hand, their goal came from a failed press down the left which left Danso stranded and all our defenders except Cedric out of position. Cedric was certainly guilty of giving James too much space, but he should have had more cover.

 

We lost?oh **** that top six bias I suppose?

 

Sheesh. This league gets tougher every year.

 

I guess we will have to agree to disagree......I too am a qualified coach....a slight hesitation perhaps but for me was totally understandable under the circumstances.

 

Oops

 

To put a slightly more positive spin on it, we have beaten five of those teams and drawn against one of them since Ralph took over with Citeh the only ones we have failed to get a result against.


Just imagine gaining 16 points out of that little lot!...

Seriously though, I think that we have a reasonable chance of picking up points from the home games and any away points will be a bonus and after that our run up to the new year must be cushty!

 

Surely the lesson is to do what the other high press teams do. Tactical fouls.

 

I had no real problem with Cedric's decision-making. If he commits himself to James, James just rolls the ball to Mata who then has acres of space INSIDE THE PENALTY BOX to pull the ball back for someone to tap in.

Cedric was screwed either way, due to a lack of support. So the lesser of two evils was probably to allow the shot, and hope it missed the target or got saved/blocked. If it ending up being whipped into the net, then so be it. I'm a fan of James, a big fan. But he's not Messi. Juan Mata, in space, on his left foot, in the penalty box, with time to look up, I saw as being the bigger danger.

If Mata's not there, it's dreadful defending by Cedric to not get out to James. But Mata was there.

 

As I pointed out yesterday, when Boufal attacked their right back, Pogba generally tucked in alongside preventing Boufal cutting in onto his right foot. Cedric was let down by the midfield leaving him isolated.
However, I felt that if he isn’t going to get within 3 or 4 metres of James, then he should have positioned himself to prevent the cutting in and force James onto his left foot and reducing the shooting angle. The old adage is always to show them down the line.

 

Shall we post pictures of our certificates? It stopped all the backchat from my under 11s when I whipped out the paperwork.

 

I am so surprised that people don’t see that you must stop the first danger when it is in front of the goal. If the ball went to Mata (IN A POSITION NOT DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF GOAL - to follow your caps ) he could have passed it across but that’s another phase and another chance to stop it.

Brendy, do you really believe that the lesser of two evils is to allow the shot on goal... unchallenged, from
Inside the box?

Still, I’ll stop now. Seems i learned differently to a lot of others, because everywhere I was always taught, no point stopping the ifs and buts or next phase, if the first phase is an immediate goal scoring threat, because it’ll be too late.

 

Oh please, let’s.

 

Old age?

 

Mark Hughes is a qualified coach

Ian Branfoot is a qualified coach !!!