A point salvaged or points lost?
This weekend started off well in footballing terms for us, Spurs pulled of a derby win after going one behind and City dropped points at home against a struggling Hull. Chelsea and Southampton managed to get all three points which left us in a position needing not to lose.
I have had to remind myself that West Hams home form this season has actually been pretty good, they’ve beaten Liverpool and Man City and are the 5th best home team in the league. In contrast, our away form for some reason or another has been quite poor, winning only three games and drawing seven. Unfortunately I still have this idea that we shouldn’t be struggling whether we play home or away which is why I was slightly disappointed with Sunday’s result. After going 1-0 down we salvaged a draw in the 92nd minute through a lovely volley from Daley Blind. Some say it was luck, others say it can’t be because of how many times we’ve done it. My view is we tried to get a goal till the end, so our persistence paid off. However, they way the goal came was a tad lucky with the West Ham player heading it into Blinds path.
The starting line up was pretty strong having Rooney, Di Maria, Falcao and RvP all on, chances and goals should not have been too much of a problem considering West Ham missing their main centre two pairing. That my friends is where everything goes wrong unfortunately, the wealth of talent in our side is currently delivering f%!# all. I will show my support no matter what but I have to say that this is becoming increasingly annoying.
Louis van Gaal is a brilliant manager, there is no question about that, BUT… Something is not working. I take nothing away from West Ham yesterday, they played brilliantly, with the ball they were quick and threatened, without it the pressed hard and quick and if on the edge of their box they stayed compact. But like I said, we have all these world class players and nothing to show for it. I don’t know whether it is the formation or if it’s something to do with which player is playing where. What I do know is, Wayne Rooney has scored eleven goals against West Ham, his second highest amount against a club and yesterday he had no shots on target… Why? Because he is in centre midfield. This is the only positional problem I am sure of making a negative impact on our play. Rooney has been likened to Paul Scholes with his quality of passing and this is why he’s been dropped back. However, by doing this you lose Wayne Rooney. Not only is Rooney nowhere near the quality of Scholes in regard to passing, he is too energetic and talented to be sitting in midfield just spraying balls left and right. He needs to be worrying the defenders with his goal threat whether it be as a striker or just behind the striker, either way, he needs to be a goal threat.
Now, coming onto the four players that are preying much in their positions and doing nothing of any worth. We have Januzaj who is still young and at the moment is rushing everything he does. Every time he is on the ball you can bet he will have a shot. Whether this is because he thinks scoring will prove his quality (which isn’t true) or he just thinks shooting is his best option doesn’t matter; he needs to be told to go out and do the basics, goals will come no matter what. Di Maria is the second player who, since being injured, has been ineffective in nearly every circumstance on the pitch. With the ball at his feet we are not seeing the quick footed driven player we saw earlier in the season, he’s not making the defenders turn and run towards their goal. Everyone knows he has the quality so what’s stopping him?! When it comes to set pieces, something has to change. Free kicks are flying anywhere but toward the goal and don’t even get me started on corners. His percentage of finding a teammate is 24%, in comparison Joey Bartons is 49%. A cannot get my head around a professional player that can’t get the ball over the first defender. Either Di Maria is playing in the wrong position or he’s just not performing; personally I think he needs to be dropped and told that he needs to improve, substandard performances for a £56m player is not acceptable. Lastly we have a strike ‘partnership’ of RvP and Falcao. It’s pretty safe to say we had the best of van Persie in his maiden season for us, last season showed the start of his fall and this season has confirmed it wasn’t a blip. I will always love him for coming in and winning us back the title but his time is now limited. Falcao had a bad start with injuries and has not recovered since, he doesn’t look like the ferocious ‘El Tigre’ we’ve seen at Porto and Athletico in the past. He lacks energy and purpose and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change. Sky Sports showed the comparison between the West Ham strikers and ours. There is no partnership between RvP and Falcao, they are two separate players playing next to each other and it is having a big effect on our goal tally. I have to say that for once I agree with Jamie Carragher, they’ll both be gone in the summer. Overall the changes I’d make to the line up are…. Herrera would take Rooneys place in midfield (Fellaini can take this place if the game needs it), Mata can sit behind the partnership of Rooney and Wilson. The rest of the formation can be determined around that, it may not work but I think we’d have a much bigger goal threat.
A short comment on the u21 game against Chelsea, after going one behind our boys managed to get a 2-1 win. Both goals for us were brilliant and both involved the youngster Pereira, a quality direct free kick and an assist from another well delivered set piece onto Tom Thorpes head saw us grab the victory. I hope LvG is watching these games because there are players that are knocking on the door for first team spaces where players aren’t playing well. Why not give them a chance, at least they will give it their all.
We have a home game against Burnley midweek which we must win and then the FA Cup 5th Round this weekend which I want to see us progress from. Hopefully our performance in these games will be good and the players I have spoken about can start finding some form. We need it, it’s starting to get serious now. Come on lads, let’s do it. Forever United.
I hope everyone has a good week