The Gap Between Us And The League Leaders

[Nebraska Red]

21 points after today.

 

Also, we have scored 26 fewer goals than them.

 

Are they really that much better than us?

 

Guess it's clear where we are spending our money this summer!

[Guest sniffer]

21 points after today.

 

Also, we have scored 26 fewer goals than them.

 

Are they really that much better than us?

 

Guess it's clear where we are spending our money this summer!

 

The answer is.....yes.

[Jim Royle]

21 points after today.

 

Also, we have scored 26 fewer goals than them.

 

Are they really that much better than us?

 

Guess it's clear where we are spending our money this summer!

 

Just how many more points would we have had if we could the bladder in the onion bag. Unless we cure the root cause of the problem it will continue.

[anfield]

when we play a midfield that is absolutely devoid of any creative talent then buying all the strikers in the world will not solve our problems

[Scorpion]

they beat us in every department.....except for central midfield. Ferguson is also the best manager in the PL.

[Guest JV]

Hope you washed your mouth out after that

[Billy Dane]

Most of Utd's strikers are injured, but they still put 4 past Bolton yesterday. Seems to me it's down to the creativity in midfield as much as who plays up front.

 

We miss Garcia IMO, as he provides a creative spark.

[Chili Palmer]

I know after todays dire performance its hard to believe but I honestly don't believe Man Utd or Chelsea are that much better than us, they are more consistant, but not better.

[Guest Dirk]

when we play a midfield that is absolutely devoid of any creative talent then buying all the strikers in the world will not solve our problems

 

 

Well said. I've mentioned this a lot on TLW. We create the square root of fook all. It's not just a striking problem, we need better supply lines, be they wingers or a combination of wingers and attacking fullbacks. We need to start creating more and then we'll score more. Our wings are far too static and our fullbacks don't attack on a consistent basis, probably because they will get done for pace if they do.

[Rex Ham]

We created the square root of k*** all today, but, more often than not its our finishing that lets us down.

 

We're not as far off them as the gap suggests. Man Utd wont have another season like this one, next. A striker and a winger or two and we'll be there or thereabouts.

[Magic8Ball]

when we play a midfield that is absolutely devoid of any creative talent then buying all the strikers in the world will not solve our problems

I keep saying this, and everyone else says we create the chances we just dont put them away -

but which striker is good enough to put all of the chances this team creates away ? 1-2 chances per match would require the best striker EVER for us to realistically do significantly better

especially as Rafa wants his strikers running all over the place

No what we really need are pacey creative players who can force the opposition on the back foot, force them to make mistakes and have the skill and speed to take advantage of those mistakes

this is really all the other top teams have over us - best example is Man U who have C Ronaldo, Rooney

 

Our current midfield is all about waiting for the opposition to make mistakes, thats not a tactic that will win you the league

[pjwy]

when we play a midfield that is absolutely devoid of any creative talent then buying all the strikers in the world will not solve our problems

 

 

Precisely..I know we have been profligate in front of goal at times but today at Villa we only created a couple of chances all the game despite abundant possession.Our midfield frustrates me no end!

[lfc003]

when we play a midfield that is absolutely devoid of any creative talent then buying all the strikers in the world will not solve our problems

 

All the talk that we have the best centre midfield in europe is really misleading maybe the best at containing a team but thats it, The off the ball movement and creatively from the four is poor.

 

Its why part of me doesn't think Rafa will win us the league unless he changes the tactics he applies in the league.

[Paul]

I think Rafa's philosophy of having two holding midfielders works ok if you have two attacking wingers and a creative forward ala Bergkamp - unfortunately, as yet, we have neither.

[anfield]

There is no doubt in my mind that Rafa can win us another CL or FA cup but as far as the league goes...........I'm not so sure. He obviously realized the need for pacy wingers and got Pennant and Gonzalez....that didnt work out so well. However his persistence with playing with two defensive midfielders (alonso/sissoko or sissoko/masch) is the reason we don't score as many goals as we should.

 

Watch the other top teams, they rely on mobile midfielders to come into the box and support the strikers. Our midfield has the mobility of a walrus. The only exception is Gerrard but he's not really the creative type, Garcia is but sadly he's out.

[lfc003]

I think Rafa's philosophy of having two holding midfielders works ok if you have two attacking wingers and a creative forward ala Bergkamp - unfortunately, as yet, we have neither.

 

where does that leave Gerrard?

[DJS]

I know after todays dire performance its hard to believe but I honestly don't believe Man Utd or Chelsea are that much better than us, they are more consistant, but not better.

 

Isnt consistency the factor which measures who is better?

 

After all, every Premiership side can beat every other, but those who win on a consistent basis are those which occupy the top few positions in the table...and in turn, are the best sides.

[Stevie H]

I know after todays dire performance its hard to believe but I honestly don't believe Man Utd or Chelsea are that much better than us, they are more consistant, but not better.

same difference.

[Paul]

where does that leave Gerrard?

 

Juventus

 

I dunno, that's Rafa's problem - where to play Gerrard.

He obviously feels he hasn't got the discipline to play the midfield holding role so sticks him out wide.

[4411]

Its all about the scums attacking mentality, while ours is just defend.

 

Rafa was pleased with a point today, says it all really.

[Guz]

Another turgid attacking display. Possibly the worst of the season in my opinion.

 

Of course United are that much better than us. We need a serious change in attitude and mentality in these sorts of games if we're to win the league under Rafa. It beggars belief how often we f*** about with mindless posession against these s**** teams there for the taking and only try to turn it on when it's painfully obvious we're going nowhere and the opposition won't either. Usually we muster enough to turn it on (see West Ham away) but today it never came and it was totally timid for 90 minutes. Granted the wind didn't help but it was a pretty s**** performance.

 

Strange thing is under Rafa, 9 times out of 10, even if we don't win we'll do ourselves proud in europe with pace, a high tempo, width, attempts on goal etc. I've no doubt it will be the case against PSV. No matter who we play we look like we have some kind of plan and purpose. But too often in the league we'll turn in performances like this. I think too many of our players enjoy the 'underdog' tag too much.

[Magic8Ball]

Its all about the scums attacking mentality, while ours is just defend.

 

Rafa was pleased with a point today, says it all really.

we dont have the same quality attacking talent of Man U, Arsenal or even Chelsea - until this problem is fixed we will not be able to take the game to a team intent on defending

[Maldini]

The difference between us and the top two teams is our lack of a KO punch. I can't think of a game we've dropped points in this season where we haven't played well. So many times we've come away and said "we should have gotten something from that"

 

We can dominate teams, be the better team but still drop points because we're not ruthless enough. It was the same today, we dominated form start to finish but we hadn't enough ambition to take a risk and so we produced the most boring match I've seen in years.

[hideNseek]

We didn't dominate them at all. If anything it was evens.

 

Our biggest problem is when we attack we attack to slow. Also we don't get enough midfield support to our strikers.

 

While we're at it, Kuyt needs a rest. He was shyte today.

[Earl Hafler]

Its all about the scums attacking mentality, while ours is just defend.

 

Rafa was pleased with a point today, says it all really.

 

And the quality of players they have in attack. Rooney, Saha, Ronaldo and Giggs are better, more consistent than anything we have. Scholes has done a Barnes and restricted his attacking play to help prolong his career - he passes it to the younger legs.

 

It took Fergie two or three attempts to build that forward line and it's taken them a few seasons and £40-50m to make it work.

 

I just wish Rafa would show more faith in Pennant - like he did when Sissoko was out . Since Momo has returned, we seem to have returned to the poor, stale, lacklustre football that blighted our early season form. I like the lad but he just isn't that good a footballer ( with the ball at his feet ) yet.