⚽ Manchester Utd 1-0 West Ham Utd (30/10/22)

[Colours never run]

In those 70 minutes, we had 6 shots (out of 13) with 1 on target (out of 5). Hardly gung-ho I agree, but some attempts nonetheless...

Were we playing a bottom half team, I'd share the frustration.

Like when we played bottom of the table Forest, you mean?

['stone hammer]

Not necessarily disagreeing, but you said it wasn't under instruction and now accept it was Moyes' gameplan.

I can only imagine Moyes' gameplan was (and normally is) to not overcommit, certainly. But not overcommitting doesn't mean not going forward. I just thought we were pretty useless at it. Again, putting the responsibility more towards the players than Moyes.

['stone hammer]

Like when we played bottom of the table Forest, you mean?

Yes, the game where we had 19 shots, hit the woodwork 3 times, had a penalty saved as well as a goal disallowed by VAR.

[Doc H Ball]

I can only imagine Moyes' gameplan was (and normally is) to not overcommit, certainly. But not overcommitting doesn't mean not going forward. I just thought we were pretty useless at it. Again, putting the responsibility more towards the players than Moyes.

That's fair enough. You can see that he's as frustrated as anyone at the errors.

I'd like a close cam or whatever they're called on him every time Benny loses the ball. He looks a bit Hulk-like with that lizard skin - I reckon he explodes inside.

[Ironing Board]

Pearce left because Moyes was too defensive and Pearce was the reason behind our good attacking displays.

Now that's some wild speculation!

“How about slinging Areola up front Dave? He’s built like a target man!…”

[Ozza]

I did mean to put "MAYBE" in capitals.

Has you say, speculation.

On that note, I’m getting myself off this site, every thread is about Moyes, and the made up **** is becoming suffocating

[Burnley Hammer]

But that is the point. We controlled the midfield really well and he still set up the winning goal.

Also hit a couple of lovely 30 yard balls over the top.

We had no one in midfield capable of anything like that and ultimately for all our midfield control he helped decide the game.

Yep, I've said it a number of times recently - we have a severe lack of creativity. Nobody who can provide a killer pass. Not sure it's anything to do with revenue... we're actively choosing to play a midfield that creates nothing. It's why the strikers that do best for us are the ones that are a bit unique and use sheer power to create stuff out of nothing. To play a proper traditional striker and for them to do well, the service to them needs to be better. Much better.

[hammerman11]

I think the midfield 3 of rice soucek and downes was right for sunday. if we were too open then we would have conceded more.
moyes should have released the handbrake earlier with soucek off for fornals
antonio on for bowen who was poor would have been my choice but you could understand why scamacca went off with the standard of ref and the whinning man utd players he wouldnt have lasted long !

rice downes paqueta would be a nice 3 to play

benraham scamacca cornet as a front 3

defence of kehrer zouma augerd cresswell as a back 4

should have at least drawn the game but onto a must win against palca schoolboy ultras

[AnthraxDave]

I think it will click sooner rather than later, and we batter a few teams 3-0/4-0 in a row.

[Albie Beck]

On that note, I’m getting myself off this site, every thread is about Moyes, and the made up **** is becoming suffocating

I'm reaching saturation point too.

[S-H]

I'm reaching saturation point too.

Don't do it gents.

[hammerman11]

we are not far off being a good team. paqueta and augerd returning will be a big plus

time to batter a few teams palace and leicester next up

[Up the Junction]

Fully aware of the names and reputations they've had before this season, however all those Clubs are in a flux of transition and can be seen as a distinct chance of getting a result, as unlikely Forest, Leeds, Brighton and Brentford showed us against Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea. If you're brave enough and get it right...

The "brave" Leeds and Forest who are currently 15th and 20th in the table respectively - these are the clubs you want Moyes to emulate?

[GetUrWangOut]

I think the midfield 3 of rice soucek and downes was right for sunday. if we were too open then we would have conceded more.
moyes should have released the handbrake earlier with soucek off for fornals
antonio on for bowen who was poor would have been my choice but you could understand why scamacca went off with the standard of ref and the whinning man utd players he wouldnt have lasted long !

rice downes paqueta would be a nice 3 to play

benraham scamacca cornet as a front 3

defence of kehrer zouma augerd cresswell as a back 4

should have at least drawn the game but onto a must win against palca schoolboy ultras

I make you right HM, starting tactics were fine. Just needed to make the change earlier. I too would have liked Antonio and Scamacca on the pitch at the same time but tbh I thought he’d be off with that high boot so can see why Moyes made the change.

[the pink palermo]

Winning at OT is hard enough if you keep a clean sheet.

It becomes even harder once you concede a goal, very, very few teams rock up and score twice.

[bubbles1966]

Teams that don't score goals, dont win games and we don't score goals.

The striking thing for me when I watched the replay is how frequently we squandered turnover possession in their final third, how poorly supported the man with the ball often was and how slow our breaks were compared to the opposition.

One or two of our players' passing was desperately negative.

I increasingly think we'd have at least six points more if Lanzini had been playing this season. Penalties would have been scored, possession used more intelligently.

[Aztec Hammer]

Teams that don't score goals, dont win games and we don't score goals.

The striking thing for me when I watched the replay is how frequently we squandered turnover possession in their final third, how poorly supported the man with the ball often was and how slow our breaks were compared to the opposition.

One or two of our players' passing was desperately negative.

I increasingly think we'd have at least six points more if Lanzini had been playing this season. Penalties would have been scored, possession used more intelligently.

I said it at the start of the season and it remains the case now, our intrinsic setup means that much of the time, when we do get the ball, we've simply got too much of the pitch to get up before we have a chance of threatening the goal. You just can't expect enough players to consistently work their way up the pitch on the ball, or lung bust it up off the ball and still be composed enough to efficiently put away any chance that arises.

We are creating chances but I personally think that's why we are converting them at such a poor rate. By the time we get in the vicinity of their box, we're either unsupported, panicky or have taken long enough to let the opposition get themselves in order to stop us scoring.

We need to get up the pitch. Aguerd at LCB. Downes at DM/CM. Rice and Paqueta alongside/in front of him.

The passing backwards is also a major issue. Downes (probably our least progressive passer) being moved out of a key progressive/creative slot in the lineup and into the DM role should go some way to correcting this.

[MB]

I said it at the start of the season and it remains the case now, our intrinsic setup means that much of the time, when we do get the ball, we've simply got too much of the pitch to get up before we have a chance of threatening the goal. You just can't expect enough players to consistently work their way up the pitch on the ball, or lung bust it up off the ball and still be composed enough to efficiently put away any chance that arises.

We are creating chances but I personally think that's why we are converting them at such a poor rate. By the time we get in the vicinity of their box, we're either unsupported, panicky or have taken long enough to let the opposition get themselves in order to stop us scoring.

We need to get up the pitch. Aguerd at LCB. Downes at DM/CM. Rice and Paqueta alongside/in front of him.

The passing backwards is also a major issue. Downes (probably our least progressive passer) being moved out of a key progressive/creative slot in the lineup and into the DM role should go some way to correcting this.

Agreed. Benrahma and Bowen are both very good at creating separation for about 10 yards. Great if they are getting the ball near the oppositions box but they rarely do. It was a 4411 for long spells on Sunday and both of them lack the pace of their opposite numbers to do anything from those positions.

We do create chances, but whatever the Xg says (and it will be heavily influenced by missed pens) we don't create good chances. We create lots of half chances. There is nearly always an extra touch before the final pass or shot. A mixture of quality, confidence but also what you point out in that we are asking an awful lot of certain players due to how we set up.

The passing back thing seems deliberate. I think the players are banned from trying to play through the lines in case we get countered. If that is true then I don't think changing certain players will.impact it that much.

As I posted yesterday, I'm not convinced it would have made much difference on Sunday, but we do need more spells of playing to our strengths rather than playing to nullify the opposition then going hell to leather when we (inevitably) are left chasing the game again.

[DusseldorfHammer]

On that note, I’m getting myself off this site, every thread is about Moyes, and the made up **** is becoming suffocating

+1

Little to no balance in most of those Anti-Moyes comments on here. Tedious.

[Alf Garnett's (Ex) Missus]

Overall we're not that far from clicking...Bowen, Antonio, Fornals all been poor so that has limited the opportunities to our front line.

The issue is no with our defence per se, yes the odd dropped clanger is painful to watch, but the lack of creating goalscoring chances is the stand out this season. We're one of the most miserly defences in the league, but the problem is we're not scoring enough to put a decent run together.

Personally, aside from RIce, I think Benny has been the most exciting player for much of this season and had another decent game Sunday