11 Apr 2021 11:24:54
Something that has been a hot topic on here and is clearly evident to all fans regardless of your view point is that as a team we have become increasingly more defensive in the past couple of months.

The plus side to this is we have gone from having the worst defensive record in the top 10 after 20 games to having a more respectable 5th best record in the top 10 after 30 games. Still not where we want to be, but a clear improvement.

As with everything context is important, so why might we have become more defensive over the past couple of months.

The cynic would argue that Ole's back is up against the wall and he is trying to shut up shop and protect his arse. Yet is that the case? Several fans online are unhappy with Ole, but he has the club comfortably in 2nd place atm and looks destined to take the club to the EL semi-finals at least. Hardly 6th place scrapping for top 4 to save his job.

So what else could it be? Defensively we have been poor for most of the season, but have on the most part always been able to find one more goal for us then we give away at the other end. It's not been thrilling football, but we have always found a wat to get 3 goals when we concede 2, or 4 goals if we concede 3 etc.

However, I think in January two players clearly started to break down with fatigue and their impact on the team has lessened. Bruno looks shattered, and who can blame him, he has been carrying the club on his back since January last year. The problem is that if we rest him the drop off in quality is so great that we can easily lose games to even relegation candidates without Bruno.
While Rashford has quietly become a true top player for us. The first player to score 20 goals in back to back seasons for us since Rooney in 2011. However, he has been playing with injury and has been patched up and sent out practically on one leg at times. He seemed to be limping from the kick off against Granada.

Yet if we take Rashford and Bruno out of our line up then who will create and score goals? Greenwood is not ready to carry that burden by himself. So we would be relying on Martial, Mata, James and Donny. Hardly inspiring.

So without our two biggest attacking threats fully fit and firing can we really expect to score 3 goals for every 2 we concede?

I think the only way we could continue to get the results needed with our two best players struggling for form and fitness was to tighten up at the back.

1.) 11 Apr 2021
11 Apr 2021 13:56:42
To be fair City are the stand out team in defence and attack. Apart from them we are only 2 goals down on Chelsea and 1 on Spurs conceded and hopefully after today that would have changed.

2.) 11 Apr 2021
11 Apr 2021 15:36:32
Shappy - I don’t know the stats but has our better defensive record coincided with the injury to Pogba and Ole relying more on McFred in the double pivot even against lower placed opposition.

I think a clear pattern is emerging, against lower placed opposition Ole is happy for Pogba to play in the double pivot but against better sides Ole prefers McFred with Pogba shifted to the left or right wing. It will be interesting to see how Ole lines up this afternoon.

I’m not championing McFred they clearly have their limitations but their energy, industry, tenacity and positional discipline (as a pairing) definitely make us better defensively and much harder to beat. The obvious problem is their lack of creativity and ability on the ball means we struggle to move the ball forward effectively through midfield and create chances. Having said that Pogba has started in the pivot against Brighton and Granada with limited effect and to be honest he didn’t make too much of a difference. Pogba does his best work in the final third and playing from deeper positions he struggles to influence the game. Pogba is not a deep lying play maker and if he plays in the pivot he must be allowed to get forward however I always feel he is told to hold his position. To be honest I don’t really want Pogba on the ball around our own box. Whilst he’s obviously better on the ball than McFred he does lose possession in dangerous areas with alarming regularity considering his quality. I don’t think he moves the ball quickly, takes too many touches and can often be dispossessed.

I think Ole’s style of play is dependant on getting the ball into the likes of Rashford, Bruno and Greenwood and hoping they can produce moments of individual quality in order to create or score goals. I’m not convinced that a player like Haaland could thrive in this system. He needs service to score goals and creative players to provide him with chances. I think under Ole we’d benefit from signing players that can score and create goals by themselves like Grealish or Sancho. Players capable of individual moments of quality. I think that’s why we’ve seen Pogba moved out wide on occasions. McFred provide the team with a defensive platform and resilience whilst having Pogba higher up the pitch means we still have a player capable of moments of individual quality getting on the ball in the final third where he can better effect the game.

I don’t see our style of play suddenly changing next season so if we want to improve we need more players capable of producing individual moments of quality to win us games.

I’m surprised Ole hasn’t used a 4-2-2-2 system with McFred in the pivot, Pogba and Bruno playing as left and right No10’s behind two CF’s that can also operate in wider areas. He’s seems devoted to 4-2-3-1 which I’m not convinced gets the best out of the players he has at his disposal.