Jon Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Didn't work hard enough without the ball for me............ Tidy with the ball, but didn't press the opposition anywhere near enough. Yes. This was exactly the impression I got after watching him play at Wigan. Good passer and linker, but lack of harrying, tracking and tackling for me. Physically a tad lightweight too, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy_loes Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Not watched his performance yet, however to the point above attempting the most tackles does not prove your a good at pressing down play!! I didnt say otherwise I said 'and yet blah blah... As it happens I do think he's good at closing down. Apart from which its only his second game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy_Evergo Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just on Makoun was it because we had the ball? Because there is going to be times when we're pressed in the middle and that's when it will be a better place to judge. If you can have possesion at Old Trafford, I'd not be too worried about times when we don't as they'll be few and far between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 2, 2011 Tut tut, that's all over the place. Focus man, focus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just on Makoun was it because we had the ball? Because there is going to be times when we're pressed in the middle and that's when it will be a better place to judge. If you can have possesion at Old Trafford, I'd not be too worried about times when we don't as they'll be few and far between. We had possession because we were losing, had to chase the game after the 1st minute, just saying why we had more possession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy_Evergo Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Didn't work hard enough without the ball for me............ Tidy with the ball, but didn't press the opposition anywhere near enough. Yes. This was exactly the impression I got after watching him play at Wigan. Good passer and linker, but lack of harrying, tracking and tackling for me. Physically a tad lightweight too, IMO. In other words... He's not perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 2, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted February 2, 2011 Didn't work hard enough without the ball for me............ Tidy with the ball, but didn't press the opposition anywhere near enough. Yes. This was exactly the impression I got after watching him play at Wigan. Good passer and linker, but lack of harrying, tracking and tackling for me. Physically a tad lightweight too, IMO. In other words... He's not perfectIf - and it IS still an "if" - Bradley turns out to be the player everyone says he is, that problem is sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy_loes Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just on Makoun was it because we had the ball? Because there is going to be times when we're pressed in the middle and that's when it will be a better place to judge. If you can have possesion at Old Trafford, I'd not be too worried about times when we don't as they'll be few and far between. We had possession because we were losing, had to chase the game after the 1st minute, just saying why we had more possession. Absolute bollocks. Possession isnt guranteed just because your 1-0 down. I did understand you right ... you havent seen the game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 2, 2011 Agreed Mike. There are still a lot of ifs. But IF those ifs come to pass and the likes of Bradley, Bannan, Delph & Gardner fulfil their potential and our expectations then our centre of midfield is in very very good hands for years to come. Assuming of course we can hold onto all of them. It's only a year or 2 ago that United were linked with Makoun for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jat_r Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I think when we have someone like Bradley in there pressing them and tackling them, he wil join in. Don't forget this is his 2nd game here and first full 90mins. He is used to winning in France, give it a few months and when he adjusts to how we need him to play he will do. Amazing buy, to think we spent £8m on NRC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't watched it yet, why is it bollocks we do it? Did you watch the Man City game? When Chelsea went 1-0 up against us they let us have the ball and we got back into it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connell Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Makoun passing last night. Very impressive where is this from? can i have it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy_loes Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't watched it yet, why is it bollocks we do it? Did you watch the Man City game? When Chelsea went 1-0 up against us they let us have the ball and we got back into it! Yes I saw the citeh and chelsea games but I dont understand your point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Physically a tad lightweight too, IMO. More or less than Bannan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Makoun passing last night. Very impressive where is this from? can i have it? Guardian, chalkboard thingy, mentioned earlier in the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maradona10 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't watched it yet, why is it bollocks we do it? Did you watch the Man City game? When Chelsea went 1-0 up against us they let us have the ball and we got back into it! Yes I saw the citeh and chelsea games but I dont understand your point. So you agree we had less possession against City when we were winning and more against Chelsea. So we had more possession due to United letting us have it and would pick us off when they could. Interesting game for Makoun will be Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 2, 2011 Gotta say I'm with Maradona here. We've seen it all through MON's reign and we're still seeing it with Houllier. Basically this season, we have double the points per game when we are out-possessed by opponents than when we out-possess our opponents. The reason being that basically if we are being given the ball to use (i.e. more possession), it is either because the other team are already ahead and are sitting back or it's because it's a team who have parked the bus and are forcing us to break them down. Either way, we struggle. The opposite applies to the other scenario. When we have less possession it is because either we are ahead, or we are relying on the counter-attack which we are much more comfortable with. We can argue the whys and wherefores til the cows come home but the objective facts are that we are still far more suited to only having sporadic possession and using it efficiently. Hopefully this can change over time without affecting results greatly in the interim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeful.villan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't watched it yet, why is it bollocks we do it? Did you watch the Man City game? When Chelsea went 1-0 up against us they let us have the ball and we got back into it! Yes I saw the citeh and chelsea games but I dont understand your point. So you agree we had less possession against City when we were winning and more against Chelsea. So we had more possession due to United letting us have it and would pick us off when they could. Interesting game for Makoun will be Saturday. I think you're over simplifying this a little. We didn't simply have possession because united let us. Nor did we have so much soley because of our passing. It was a mix of both. But anyone that seen the game could tell that Makoun offered us an option everytime we had the ball. He also had the ability to beat a man, and pass it forwards. In others words he took the ball of the defence, held it until there was an option and distributed it forwards. Because of this we didnt hoof the ball back to them everytime, or kick it out for a throw at the first opportunity. There was a confidence to our passing that I havent seen in a long time. We lacked the final ball in the final 3rd but i'm hoping that will come with time. To suggest that united sat looking at us passing for 89 minutes is silly. The early goal gave them the option of sittin back, but they had long spells of pressure as well. It's not often we can be positive about defeat but I think last night was a sign of the type of football we can expect over the next few years and I liked it. Improve the final ball and we will be a very very dangerous team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy_loes Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't watched it yet, why is it bollocks we do it? Did you watch the Man City game? When Chelsea went 1-0 up against us they let us have the ball and we got back into it! Yes I saw the citeh and chelsea games but I dont understand your point. So you agree we had less possession against City when we were winning and more against Chelsea. So we had more possession due to United letting us have it and would pick us off when they could. Interesting game for Makoun will be Saturday. No I dont agree anything...... :shock: What I said was I didnt understand your point but i'll second guess you and say this, what about the Newcastle away game, did we have a lot of possession there? Arsenal at home? What you said was this We had possession because we were losing, had to chase the game after the 1st minute, just saying why we had more possession. Your not guaranteed possession because you go a goal down. You can try and you can chase the game but other than that no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy_Evergo Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Gotta say I'm with Maradona here. We've seen it all through MON's reign and we're still seeing it with Houllier. Basically this season, we have double the points per game when we are out-possessed by opponents than when we out-possess our opponents. The reason being that basically if we are being given the ball to use (i.e. more possession), it is either because the other team are already ahead and are sitting back or it's because it's a team who have parked the bus and are forcing us to break them down. Either way, we struggle. The opposite applies to the other scenario. When we have less possession it is because either we are ahead, or we are relying on the counter-attack which we are much more comfortable with. We can argue the whys and wherefores til the cows come home but the objective facts are that we are still far more suited to only having sporadic possession and using it efficiently. Hopefully this can change over time without affecting results greatly in the interim. The point being made that we have less possession in some games is mainly due to our not being able to keep the ball. If Makoun's stats from last night are representative of what he will give us then we will be much better in this regard in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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