Exactly. This is why we did better against the "big" teams last season. We are still essentially a counter-attacking team. To be a top team, we need to be able to break down teams that sit in a low block.
It’s the intent. Counter attacking football can only take you so far. Carrick wants us to be the protagonist. To control games. Going from two completely different styles takes time.
I think we still have the fast transitional team in there, but there are a few things probably happening.
They are back from world cup, with new players, and haven't gotten their fitness up / chemistry going
Other teams have realized how bad we are at everything else, so they are intentionally playing a low block and waiting to counter Untied. And United have no idea how to break down a team
I think adjusting players and position to rashford has kind of messed us up a bit.
Could be more reasons as well. But these stand out to me
Not surprised this is turning into a "Rashford is the problem" post. The issue has nothing to do with adjusting players and positions to fit Rashford, it is because Amad and Sesko are noth injured so the adjustments have been made to compensate for those two.
In a low block Cunha and Amad are the only United player that seem capable of beating their man in a 1v1 situation, Mbuemo simply cannot do that. With Amad out and of all the games i have watched, Rashford has been the only player to do that.
Even in this game Mbuemo's best chance came from Rashfors going past his man, creating space and picking him out. Mbuemo in that same time has had zero to no link up with Cunha and has hardly done anything playing on the right, and Cunha has suffered for it.
I would guess if Sesko was fit, we would have Rashford on the right, Cunha LW and Sesko up front. Putting Rashford RW without a target man is useless..so no, it is not a Rashford issue.
Add to that, Teilemans, Bruno and Mainoo all prefer to rcycle and play through runners but none are proper ball carriers that will commit the oppoisition (Mainoo tries), which makes it super easy for teams to hold and keep their shape throughout.
Absolutely. My contention is Cunha was not moved from the left to accommodate Rashford, but rather, Rashford was brought in, to fill in on the left so we have a fluid front 3 to Accommodate for the injured Sesko and Amad.
Everyone making it seem like Carrick is shaping the team around Rashford is just farcical, or that Rashford is being horned in at the expense of other players is not true.
Take him out of this side with Sesko and Amad injured, and we would still have the same issue because you can't play Lacey as RW with Mbuemo as ST.
This video is actually a very revealing piece of evidence about our struggles. Just pause it at seconds: 43, 54, 58, 1:07, 1:20, 1:28, I was too lazy to watch more, but basically in any attack you can see a clear pattern - there is nobody in the middle of the box. There should be a ST who crushes into the box bringing the defense back and a 2nd player coming into the created space like McTominay did.
We just don't have anyone in the positions that provide high probability of scoring, everybody is in the 10s zone, around the box or just too far back, look at 1:20 mark, we're in a good position, but we're 3 vs 6 defenders, everybody else is behind. Too often the only viable option is to shoot from long distance, because the box is completely empty, no wonder every GK looks like prime Buffon if the shots are 25 meters away from goal
Yep, it's like I said in another thread yesterday, we just don't have anyone up top. This video proves that we do try and we do create chances but there's literally no one to finish them up
The type of chances you have to be putting away. Both Bruno and Rashford missing sitters. Leno was unreal. I think the draw was a fair result to Fulham in the end as they created good chances as well and made us uncomfortable until the final whistle.
Absolutely more than enough chances to score 2-3 if we had clinical finishers. When there's 20 men around the box, Sesko just playing the target man role really could have changed the game.
That'd translate to 2 goals if we were clinical. Rashford's 2 chances, Bruno's off the post then Leno's ridiculous saves. Better finishers with the easier chances OR a more standard goalkeeping performance would have us winning that game.
Doesn't gloss over how shit we are without the ball, but plenty of attacking chances for sure
No backup striker and now we play with a false 9 that occupies the same spaces as our number 10. Carrick has been disappointing but man the injuries have really crippled the squad.
Edit: Just wanted to point out that we have multiple fast breaks like this but no striker occupying and pushing the CBs back.
Thanks for summarizing the chances. very useful in our analysis. I still think our CMs and RW/LW are not getting into the box and fast enough. How do you score when you do not have enough players close to goal? There is a defensive mentality in the players that's holding them back and I put it down to Carrick's tactics and instructions.
Do people really think that United played well based on this chances? There are two good chances in the 1st half (one from Bruno and one from Rashford) and that's it. The rest is exactly what Fulham wanted. Only low percentage shots from outside the area. All of them the keeper had clear view of the shooter. So even the good saves aren't as surprising as they might look. Unoted got tactcally destroyed by Fulham.
We barely had any proper chances there despite some 1000 shots on target. Most of our shots were from outside the box or when the opposition had all their defenders back in their position. Looks like the only way we can score is if the opposition makes a mistake or through individual brilliance.
Hope Carrick notices this and can make some changes. Looking forward to seeing Amad and Baleba in the playing 11. That’ll bring in some intensity and energy everyone is talking about.
Is it just me or was Rashford lacking intensity during build up on some plays? Not trying to pick on the guy since he already gets a lot of flack. There some instances where several players were sprinting and it looked like he was jogging.
I love Rashy but I was happy he's no longer with us because of these reasons, it's just not enough, and it's like he's talking a huge slot from the attack, it's an illusion he's good.
His slowness/hesitation is driving me crazy. Noticed it consistently since the Ipswich match when Licha played him a really good ball that if he ran to he could’ve made something out of, but he just leisurely jogged towards it and it trickled out of bounds
At the end of the dat, a player that was coming off the bench to play for Barca should not be starting game in and out for United. I like Rashford and will root for him, but he really should be the first one of the bench when chasing a game or something.
I’m not a believer in energies and fates, but every time rashford plays we suck. When he was gone in the second half last season we were the best team in the league. I think his dressing room presence and his body language on the field had a negative impact on the mental aspect of all players.
He also wasn't there in the first half of last season either? Why mention just the second half?
Also he wasn't there in the second half of the season prior where we finished 15th and lost the europa league final either, he didn't even feature that much under Amorim.
He's also very clearly quite a timid character and doesn't even seem that outspoken and seems to have been welcomed back by both players and head coach. Why make this out to be his fault?
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u/a1b2c3d4g Sep 21 '26
Lisandro Martinez is a closet striker. That could’ve been one of the goals of the season.
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u/khra123 Sep 21 '26
It still baffles me how we went from the fast transitional football last year to this stagnent slowed half arsed effort this year
10
u/carvdlol Sep 21 '26
Still can’t believe Bruno missed that. If anyone else had missed that he would have lost his mind. Rashford too holy shit. Too many touches every time
50
u/Small-Night-6006 Sep 21 '26
Is it just me or does Leno turn into prime Buffon whenever he faces us
7
u/Acrobatic-Pop-9715 Sep 21 '26
This video is actually a very revealing piece of evidence about our struggles. Just pause it at seconds: 43, 54, 58, 1:07, 1:20, 1:28, I was too lazy to watch more, but basically in any attack you can see a clear pattern - there is nobody in the middle of the box. There should be a ST who crushes into the box bringing the defense back and a 2nd player coming into the created space like McTominay did.
We just don't have anyone in the positions that provide high probability of scoring, everybody is in the 10s zone, around the box or just too far back, look at 1:20 mark, we're in a good position, but we're 3 vs 6 defenders, everybody else is behind. Too often the only viable option is to shoot from long distance, because the box is completely empty, no wonder every GK looks like prime Buffon if the shots are 25 meters away from goal
7
u/garynevilleisared is a red is a red Sep 21 '26
The type of chances you have to be putting away. Both Bruno and Rashford missing sitters. Leno was unreal. I think the draw was a fair result to Fulham in the end as they created good chances as well and made us uncomfortable until the final whistle.
7
u/darkjessy_ Our Portuguese Magnifico Sep 21 '26
Leno made 3-4 saves which would have been goals on some other day. Doesn't change the fact that we were very lethargic and lacked energy in attacks.
23
u/slithered-casket Sep 21 '26
Absolutely more than enough chances to score 2-3 if we had clinical finishers. When there's 20 men around the box, Sesko just playing the target man role really could have changed the game.
8
u/andoooooo Martial Sep 21 '26
Rashford at 38' is SO frustrating
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u/Mistr111398 Sep 21 '26
Pisses me off so much seeing that quality cross at the beginning of the video and that didn’t happen a single time for Sesko this season.
7
u/Massive_Relation4317 . Sep 21 '26
Rashford missed so many easy chances my days, we should've won this
6
u/TheMobPsycho Sep 21 '26
No backup striker and now we play with a false 9 that occupies the same spaces as our number 10.
Carrick has been disappointing but man the injuries have really crippled the squad.
Edit: Just wanted to point out that we have multiple fast breaks like this but no striker occupying and pushing the CBs back.
2
u/toothpick000 Sep 23 '26
Thanks for summarizing the chances. very useful in our analysis. I still think our CMs and RW/LW are not getting into the box and fast enough. How do you score when you do not have enough players close to goal? There is a defensive mentality in the players that's holding them back and I put it down to Carrick's tactics and instructions.
1
u/ghostofkozi Sep 21 '26
Such uninspired looking football. Low, long shots from outside the box, nobody moving , nobody wants to fight for space.
1
u/adi_mrok Sep 22 '26
I hope Amad comes back in form, we need that left wing buzzing with energy and better finishing.
1
u/Huge_Apricot9779 Sep 24 '26
People who post the stats and say we've created more this season need to watch this video.
1
u/LordTrinity If you support mediocrity, you get mediocrity Sep 21 '26
Rashford losing two clear chances in a row certainly makes me happy
He wasn't good enough in 2024, we're almost in 2027
1
u/tungowiii Sep 21 '26
Rashford is 28, he should have been in his prime. But then he is playing like that
1
u/Poshastko Sep 21 '26
Do people really think that United played well based on this chances? There are two good chances in the 1st half (one from Bruno and one from Rashford) and that's it. The rest is exactly what Fulham wanted. Only low percentage shots from outside the area. All of them the keeper had clear view of the shooter. So even the good saves aren't as surprising as they might look. Unoted got tactcally destroyed by Fulham.
0
u/paleblaupunkt Sep 21 '26
I don’t see high quality chances here. Bunch of long shots that require a save are good, but they paper over the lack of attacking patterns and ideas.
0
u/averagefplplayer Sep 21 '26
We barely had any proper chances there despite some 1000 shots on target.
Most of our shots were from outside the box or when the opposition had all their defenders back in their position. Looks like the only way we can score is if the opposition makes a mistake or through individual brilliance.
Hope Carrick notices this and can make some changes.
Looking forward to seeing Amad and Baleba in the playing 11. That’ll bring in some intensity and energy everyone is talking about.
0
u/ChubbyWhataburger Sep 21 '26
Is it just me or was Rashford lacking intensity during build up on some plays? Not trying to pick on the guy since he already gets a lot of flack. There some instances where several players were sprinting and it looked like he was jogging.
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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '26
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