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2014/15 Association Football (Soccer) thread
- Thread starter SuperScizor
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If I were Van Gaal I would just switch to:
Di Maria, Rooney, Mata
RVP
Call it 4-4-2, call it 4-4-1-1, call it 4-2-4 or whatever, basically have a back four and two CMs and tell your front 4 to do what they want. Chelsea do it with 3 playmakers behind the forward, Wenger does it, City has a variation of it, and Rodgers has a front 4 too. If you're a top team and you want to dominate the opposition, you play with 4 at the back not 5 and two or three in the midfield.
Di Maria, Rooney, Mata
RVP
Call it 4-4-2, call it 4-4-1-1, call it 4-2-4 or whatever, basically have a back four and two CMs and tell your front 4 to do what they want. Chelsea do it with 3 playmakers behind the forward, Wenger does it, City has a variation of it, and Rodgers has a front 4 too. If you're a top team and you want to dominate the opposition, you play with 4 at the back not 5 and two or three in the midfield.
destinyunknown
Banned deucer.
What's the problem about Mata as a winger? It was his preferred position at Valencia and I'm pretty sure he's played as a winger in England as well.
Di Maria works as a CM in a 4-3-3 because he can afford going forward and not caring about defense because there's 2 other midfielders to defend when he doesn't , but in a 3-4-1-2 (or 3-5-2 if you prefer) or a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 he can't do that, especially considering United doesn't have a good holding midfielder. Basically, he just wouldn't work as a pure midfielder because the defense would crumble, and if he was overtasked with defensive duties it would just be a waste of his talent. Di Maria can be a box to box midfielder but he needs the freedom to attack when he wants and if he's in a midfield 2 he just can't do that.
You are right about Di Maria thing mostly, but tbh I guess the only options other than that in the 3-5-2 are in Mata's position which isn't exactly a good idea either imo, or RWB or in place of Rooney/RVP. And I guess when Di Maria goes forward, you can have the middle CB come forward, sort of like a half back or something. I mean it's definitely possible.
Though obviously he can completely change formation but I doubt that will happen just for Di Maria cause van Gaal has been doing this so much lately and also if you look at the interview w/ Neville it doesn't really look like he wants to change formation.
Um it's definitely possible to have Mata as a winger but I just don't like it tbh personally, it's like you're putting a number 10 on the wing. Imo Rooney as a winger w/ Mata in the centre is better. Just opinion though
This is the problem with the hype Di Maria got from his last year going into the transfer market. He is a very very good player in one specific position (an aggressive cm in a 4-3-3), and a decent winger. Remember that before being moved to playing cm last year, he was being talked about being sold to tottenham for like 15-20m. Thats his value as a wing player. To any team not playing a 4-3-3 that can accommodate him, Di Maria is only worth something like 20m, maybe a bit more than that.
On mata as a winger. I view it roughly the same was i view ozil playing wing (and refer to the first half of yesterday's game for how well that works out). It works, but it lowers the effectiveness of either of them.
On mata as a winger. I view it roughly the same was i view ozil playing wing (and refer to the first half of yesterday's game for how well that works out). It works, but it lowers the effectiveness of either of them.
HBK
Subtlety is my middle name
Playing Mata as a winger is almost as wasteful as playing Di Maria in a midfield two; he's not very fast and doesn't track back often enough which puts more pressure on fullbacks so playing him as a wing back in a 3-5-2 is suicide. A position behind the striker(s) where he has the freedom to roam is the best way to utilise his talents.
Mata was a brilliant winger for Valencia and Chelsea before Mourinho came. He's not as good a passer as Fabregas or Ozil so he isn't best suited in the centre imo but he's good enough to play there. To me it seems the only people who say Mata is a bad winger is coming from Chelsea fans cos that's the excuse Mourinho gave for not playing him. Everytime I've seen him on the wing he was full of energy, tracking back, he can go down the line or inside and has a great cross and finish. Most importantly he has intelligence which is hard to find these days. Mata, Di Maria and Rooney behind RVP looks strong to me.
yea it isn't bad but if you're playing a 4-3-3 with that for Di Maria, you got Mata and Rooney as wingers and Januzaj and Kagawa as subs for them.. not a single real winger. And united doesn't really have a DM either to fit that system
superb image
Hope all you clowns who thought Man U would miraculously become good again are feeling pretty stupid.
On Di Maria, LVG has already stated that "a winger like Di Maria or Ronaldo is necessary" something along those lines, I think that clearly shows that he is going to be a winger for United, and just as someone up there said; he really isn't great as a winger, his first terrific year for Real Madrid has just come as a Midfielder in a 4-3-3.
So excellent to see that Man U aren't fixing there problems.
Hope all you clowns who thought Man U would miraculously become good again are feeling pretty stupid.
On Di Maria, LVG has already stated that "a winger like Di Maria or Ronaldo is necessary" something along those lines, I think that clearly shows that he is going to be a winger for United, and just as someone up there said; he really isn't great as a winger, his first terrific year for Real Madrid has just come as a Midfielder in a 4-3-3.
So excellent to see that Man U aren't fixing there problems.
In fairness it's only two games in and you'd have to assume that Utd won't be playing Keane, Jones and Blackett in defence with Young left back all season. As long as they bring some good players in, they have a huge advantage over the season in having no distractions and being able to recover and prepare for every match. Come January, Utd could well be up there in the top 4, but they need some good defensive signings first!
Oh and the figures quoted for Di Maria are absolutely bonkers. What is going on with Utd and transfer fees these days???
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Balotelli back, he's unbelievable value at £16m!
Oh and the figures quoted for Di Maria are absolutely bonkers. What is going on with Utd and transfer fees these days???
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Balotelli back, he's unbelievable value at £16m!
So this is only Barclays Premier League chat?
destinyunknown
Banned deucer.
No but it's the tournament most people follow here (and not many interesting things have happened in other leagues anyway). I'm happy to talk about La Liga whenever though :)
Well Bellarabi scored the fastest goal ever in the Bundesliga
;_;
HBK
Subtlety is my middle name
I said it before when every one was posting their misguided predictions and I'll say it again: United will not qualify for the Champions League. The race for the title is a two horse race and they're clearly inferior to Liverpool and Arsenal. They'll be lucky to qualify for the Europa League.
HBK
Subtlety is my middle name
Oh, most of the first team is injured huh? My bad, that will definitely help them to qualify.
We were outclassed tonight
Well I actually thought we were going to crystal palace it when Lambert had that 2nd chance. We didn't play badly and of these 2 fixtures last season we still have 3 nor points. (Southampton I mean) all of the new signings looked good except can. Does anyone know how long lallana is out for?
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