Wednesday, September 16, 2009

CL First Round

Nani seems to be playing for Doncaster Rovers or maybe Plymouth Argyle!
What exactly is he trying to achieve by NOT looking up while running, his passes are going everywhere and hitting everything everything except the goal-net.
And
Mike Phelan needs to go.
Seriuosly.
I just think he is the real( No Pun Intended) reason behind our rather laborious displays in the last one and half season. At times the team selection has been bizzare and completely baflling.
As long as Carlos Quiroz was the Coach,we did reasonably well on the tactical front.
But these days, somehow i feel the "extra bit" is not working for United.
Old Man is perfect as far as Man-Management is concerned. He can write a book on that,but European football has moved from my being " won cause of the half-time hairdryer" to becoming rather cagy,tactical battles where Mike Phelan`s john bull type football wont help.
What is needed is someone like Gus Poyet who will provide the tactical onus without being too intrusive and will be plotting and strategising the whole thing.
Last seasons CL final with Barca proved beyond doubt that we are lacking the extra edge in the tactics and stategies dept. Need stacking up there.
Then again, with Portugal`s current form the World Cup qualifiers, it seems Carlos Quirox will be back very soon.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Team Formation: Real Madrid

Scene 1:Real Vs ABC Club
Venue: Santiago Bernebue
Players: So Boss, whats the strategy and formation ?
Coach Manuel Pelegrini: err...well today we shall
Fierentino Perez:( thrusting his face into the frame) : { snarling and grinning, imagine a cross between the Joker from Dark Knight and Col Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds} : Who gives a fuck,you are the blood best players in your position in the world, just go out and play!!! while i go check the jersey sales counter...
Manuel Pelegrini gapes and grimaces and looks up to see a familiar bald figure sniggering back at him...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Footie:Tevez( Long overdue for posting

And Mr Carlos Tevez for all hs running and hsssling and bull-fighting instincts is never worth $25 Million. For far lesser money one can buy a proper attack-breaker and passer like the out-of-favor Mahamoddou Diarra from Real Madrid and Diarra will give any team the height, the legs and the steel very few players can ever hope to match.
And

He called the Gaffer an old fool and a vain man.
No wonder Argentina doesnt win anything with this guy as their main striker.

Teams: formations rather!

After the hullaboo about That Boy being sold to the White Castle and the consequential impact on the formation of United,one thing is very clear, no way we can play 4-4-2 and win in Europe.I say this with conviction cause the more successful teams in Europe( read Chelsea and Barca) are all playing a very fluid system wherein the midfield adjusts and breaks up into different formations depending on the opposition and the sad consequences of playing a ridig 4-4-2 when we dont have a creative world-class Central Attacking medio like Diego or Kaka is there for people to see. Even Michael Carrick for all the praise heaped on him by Sir Alex is no Pirlo and lately Carrick has developed a habit of fading and getting lost in big crunch matches.
Furthemore, we dont have 2 out and out strong Centre Forwards like Zlatan-Henry at Barca or the Raul-Ronaldo- Kaka trinity at Real.
Plus Sir Alex is in a building and consolidating mode right now and he has more than 3 promising wingers at his disposal and it is a criminal waste of resources to keep the likes of Tosic,Nani and Anderson on the bench since the formation is all wrong for them to play.
So we need to basically follow a fluid 4-2-3-1 system wherein the front 3 behind the main striker goes into attack every time and atleast one or two of them falls back to support the deep-lying sweepers.
The backline at United sort of selects itself with Rio and Vidic the first choices for the Centre-back spots and Wes Brown and Johhny Evans being rotated regularly.
Ever since arraving from Monaco in Jan 2006, Patrice Evra has slowly but steadily made the left-back spot his own and now is the first-choice for France ahead of the brilliant but error-prone Eric Abidal at Barca.
At right-back we have a long-term problem since Captain United Gary Neville has suddenly become very injury-prone and John O`Shea at best is a stop-gap. For all his heart-bursting efforts O`Shea is a good sweeper-Libero at best and in the right-back role his passing leaves a lot to be desired. What we need is someone like Glen Johnson or Maicon to run and pull back or put in a cross for the attacking players to head-in/ tap in.
In the centre of the park, Hargreaves and Fletcher form the holding and attack-breaking midfield two and they will be also pushing up the line when required.
The 3 players just behind the main strikers is the main area where United will have all the action and the combinations being worked out.
In the centre we have Carrick in an advanced attacking role and Scholes coming on for the big matches.Nani and Park can be the two wide options with Valencia slowly adapting to life at United and Tosic to be used to European matches against light-weight but skilled continental teams.
For premier league, Park and Valencia will be the best options on the wings and even Obertan can have a go once he is fit and running.
Up front we have Ronney who is the main striker or maybe Berbatov as the main striker with Rooney just behind him with the two attacking wingers for home games and Park and Valencia for away fixtures. For away european fixtures we need to have Micaeal Owen coming in around 70 mins when the defenders are tired and also since Owen has been out of Europe both in club and England matches many of the defenders havent ever played him or are not sure of his current form and role.

So basically for home matches.
Ben Foster( TK )-Evra-Vidic( Evans )- Rio( Brown) - Neville- Hargo-Fletcher- Carrick( Scholes/Giggs/ Rooney) - Nani( Park) - Valencia( Tosic)-Berbatov.
For Away matches
Ben Foster( TK )- Evra- Vidic-Rio-O`Shea( Rafael)-Hargo-Fletcher- Carrick- Park- Valencia-Berbatov( Owen).
This will give us the fluidity and dynamic movement and also the extra yard of pace in Counter-attacks we seems to have lost after Ronaldo left. But with so many skillful and fast players like Rooney,Valencia. Obertan,Nani and Tosic in the ranks, speed and skill in attacking and converting wont ever be a problem for United.