Scoring goals

[supertom]

If this article by Gary Neville is anything to go by, we should be ashamed of ourselves at the lack of scoring opportunities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11202272/Premier-League-football-is-witnessing-the-death-of-defending-as-I-knew-it-and-its-not-coming-back.html

I'd agree with that on the whole.

I also don't think the parking the bus technique is actually a valid defensive tactic either. It will fail more than it'll succeed and works only in the right circumstances, but for me, and this was particularly evident in the first four defeats in our five game winless run, that camping 9-10 of year players in and around your own penalty area and letting the opposition try and dig a way through is essentially more of a numbers game rather than anything particularly tactical. It always suggests to me a lack of tactical nous from a manager, which is why I think Lambert uses it against pretty much any top 10 side.

What we should be doing with our side, is pushing up with a high line against sides and pressing them high up the pitch. Whenever we're good (which is rare) we inevitably press teams high, in their own half. We force errors. Look at our defence. Cissokho and Hutton both have decent turns of speed at full gallop. Vlaar is deceptively quick. Okore (if he ever plays) is also quick, so we could afford to push our back line up and be ready for the counter.

We should be attacking teams with pace and movement. We've got midfielders who can actually pass the ball, but the cohesion and the system ahead of them isn't working at all. No one gets close to Benteke. There's too little movement, and we need one in our midfield to push up into that playmaking 10 role. Or we switch to a diamond formation and play a dedicated 10.

Fullbacks these days are better attacking than going forward. They leave gaps, so our lack of attacking width is a problem. We need to push players wide and exploit defensive weakness and gaps. Our fullbacks provide all our width, but our first choices are a rare breed in modern football, who are better defensively than in attacking.

Most of the sides in the league tend to go for it, we should be no different really. If we attacked games more we have the ability to win games. We've got matchwinners. We just need the intent firstly, but also the right personnel and system. I think the Weimann, Gabby and Benteke triple pronged attack ran it's course by the end of May 13. We've got to switch things up. I'd adopt a 4-2-3-1.

[Clampy]

I don't see why Bent can't be given a run out tomorrow. Jordan Bowery got a game or two and he was nowhere near good enough.

[PeterWithesShin]

I've seen nothing from Bent this season that suggests he can be of much use. Even on the training day he looked pretty immobile.

[brian green]

I have very serious doubts whether Darren Bent actually wants to play football.

[Clampy]

I've seen nothing from Bent this season that suggests he can be of much use. Even on the training day he looked pretty immobile.

If that was the case though, he wouldn't be on the bench surely?

[silhillvilla]

We certainly need more width and get coaching the wide men how to cross a ball. Also corners , we've been dire at them for at least 5 years! What do they do at BH all week other than kick lumps out of each other !

[class-of-82]

Bent might be a busted flush but at this moment he's the only busted flush we got in our locker

[brontebilly]

How do we solve it then? How would you solve it, selection wise to get us creating chances and looking threatening? 4 goals so far is a dismal return and we are lucky to have 10 points from those 4 goals. Who do we change, how do we get more of a threat in the side?

Im struggling to think of alternatives to be honest. We have so many players in our squad that are at the fag end of their careers especially in midfield and up top. Might be worth trying wing backs again with Hutton out. We dont have any wing men in our squad, Richardson and Weimann arent suited to playing on the wings in a 442. Bacuna might be but apart from that we just dont have that type of player in the squad. Maybe try Bacuna and Richardson as two wing backs on Saturday. Okore, Vlaar and Cissokho as the three centre backs. Sanchez to be fair does give us some ball winning ability in midfield to protect them.

As for the other positions, without Delph we lack any kind of drive in midfield. Westwood and Cleverley are far too passive on the ball and in their play. Neither of them ever looks to get past the forward, Platt like. Could Bacuna develop into that player for us. Has the build of an Ian Taylor anyway and he showed last season he can get goals. Would add much needed pace into our midfield in Delph's absence but can be incredibly headless at times. Benteke took ages last season to get properly fit and looks like it will the the same this term. Either Gabby plays on the left or on the bench for me. Weimann, Nzogbia, Bent, Cole - its like bald men fighting over a comb, the further up the pitch you go. Not sure what the least worst option is, probably to keep playing Benteke for the 6-8 games it takes for him to get up to speed

[ozzjim]

It is strange as we look set up for 3-5-2 with his purchases too.

I would try it but have Lowton over Bacuna simply for his ability to cross the ball which is much better than Bacuna.

Then have Sanchez, Cleverley and Westwood with Cleverley pushed right up, and Benteke up front with Grealish off him. The rest are failing, why not give the lad a run there.

[tomd2103]

If this article by Gary Neville is anything to go by, we should be ashamed of ourselves at the lack of scoring opportunities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11202272/Premier-League-football-is-witnessing-the-death-of-defending-as-I-knew-it-and-its-not-coming-back.html

I'd agree with that on the whole.

I also don't think the parking the bus technique is actually a valid defensive tactic either. It will fail more than it'll succeed and works only in the right circumstances, but for me, and this was particularly evident in the first four defeats in our five game winless run, that camping 9-10 of year players in and around your own penalty area and letting the opposition try and dig a way through is essentially more of a numbers game rather than anything particularly tactical. It always suggests to me a lack of tactical nous from a manager, which is why I think Lambert uses it against pretty much any top 10 side.

It also falls apart if you concede.  The sole purpose of playing that way is to prevent the opposition from scoring , but if they do manage to then a whole new approach has to be adopted.  That's not particularly easy to do during the course of a game. 

It might sound obvious, but I think the first goal of the game is crucial for us.  If the opposition get it I always feel we will struggle to get anything out of the game.   

[Phil from the upper holte]

We need to score within 34 minutes of playing spurs
If we don't manage it, we will break into the Premier League top 10 of minutes without scoring

[brian green]

I have serious doubts about Jack Grealish.   I think he is not ready.   Over the past few seasons we have set young players back by throwing them into shit or bust games without proper help and support around them.   Look at the kicking he got against Hull.   If we had had a Teale or a Taylor or a Mellberg in that team the first Hull player to crunch Grealish would have paid the price.   Who is going to offer him that kind of protection today, Cleverley? Westwood? Bacuna? As if.

[pbavfckuwait]

We don't help ourselves by not buying a raffle ticket, I have never witnessed a team so unwilling to have a long range shot as the Villa. At least Sanchez had a go last week, but don't worry son, they will coach that out of you.

[oldtimernow]

Bent might be a busted flush but at this moment he's the only busted flush we got in our locker

Give me a chocolate teapot over a busted flush anytime....and we've got 2 of them

[Kingthing]

Not sure if this has been mentioned anywhere else but Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 20 times since we scored a goal.