Agree with this. It is a tactic and has cost us royally - Norwich H (and A in league cup), victims A, Everton A, Wigan H - as well as several similar performances in the UEFA cup.
When will AVB learn and ditch this tactic.
Andre: "Very important win. We wanted to get back to winning ways and to beat Swansea away is great"
"We started very well, in the end we had to fight hard. We showed the winning mentality we have"
"We created a lot and to do it away is magnificent"
"The ambition and power of the lads was on show today. It's a boost of confidence which we deserve"
"Jan did very well. He's doing what he did at Ajax; strong, bringing the ball out and making runs forward"
"We had to be tactically responsible today and we were"
Jan Vertonghen: "It was a good goal, you have to be a bit lucky sometimes but it was a great pass from Gareth"
"Swansea made it hard, they are a great team and we want to get back on a run"
Gareth Bale: "Massive win. We knew it would be difficult and it was but we did well to dig in and win"
"Great to link up with 'The Vert' and hopefully he'll great more goals! He's a great player"
Because it's also won us a brick load of points by completely shutting teams out and giving them no space to operate in.
Man United away, victims at home. Today. Just off the top of my head.
I think AVB is a lot like Fergie in the respect that he has a preferred style of play, but happily adjusts in order to dig in and scrap when needed to take the points. If anyone saw the Sunderland game today Man United sat back for the last 15 and held on, Sunderland didn't really have a clear chance.
We may do it slightly earlier in games but I'd say it's mostly when we have a 2 goal advantage if we have it early. If it's a 1 goal we will usually still try and play the game a bit more in the opposition half if the situation requires it.
It is a tactic that's won us a lot of points, arguably more valuable points too because they've been wins against sides close to us. Even against Arsenal we defended deep for large parts. You can't just assume that by keeping up the high line pressing game for 90 minutes that the opposition won't find a way around it eventually because we will have left them more space.
We were incredibley lucky to beat United - they slaughtered us in the second half. victims, Arsenal and today we were also riding our luck to an amazing degree.
To fall back and just do last ditch defending and hope for the best has cost us more points this season than it has gained us on a simple cost benefit analysis.
When we are ahead we should go for the killer goal and snuff out all hope of an opposition come back imo. Instead. we take our foot well off the gas and are often punished as a result.
To compare AVB and Fergie is plainly rediculous. Man U attack teams from beginning to end.
We were incredibley lucky to beat United - they slaughtered us in the second half. victims, Arsenal and today we were also riding our luck to an amazing degree.
To fall back and just do last ditch defending and hope for the best has cost us more points this season than it has gained us on a simple cost benefit analysis.
When we are ahead we should go for the killer goal and snuff out all hope of an opposition come back imo. Instead. we take our foot well off the gas and are often punished as a result.
To compare AVB and Fergie is plainly rediculous. Man U attack teams from beginning to end.
1. I would hardly say that we rode our luck against Arsenal. They created very little. We, on the other hand, spurned a number of gilt edged chances.
2. Man Utd attack teams from beginning to end? Really? Did you watch our draw against them a couple of months ago?
We were incredibly lucky to beat United - they slaughtered us in the second half. victims, Arsenal and today we were also riding our luck to an amazing degree.
To fall back and just do last ditch defending and hope for the best has cost us more points this season than it has gained us on a simple cost benefit analysis.
When we are ahead we should go for the killer goal and snuff out all hope of an opposition come back imo. Instead. we take our foot well off the gas and are often punished as a result.
To compare AVB and Fergie is plainly rediculous. Man U attack teams from beginning to end.
Any team in the world is going to be lucky winning at Old Trafford, the chances of you going up there and winning due to the being the better team over 90 minutes is almost nil.
We went through the middle part of the season without conceding at all in the last 1/3 of games.
To compare AVB and Fergie is ridiculous but not because of that. Ferguson has more trophies than AVB has years, indeed has more years in management than AVB has years. But if you watch a Man Utd game, if they've gone 1-0 or 2-0 up, there are some games where they will smash the opposition and attack relentlessly for 90 minutes and that is when they rack up the 4/5-0. There are however far more games when at a certain point they decide job is done and sit back for the rest of the game and lock the opposition out.
They do this because you can't have 60 games in a season where you're running around like a maniac for all 60 of them.
That is not correct. We were completely on top in the first half and in the latter part of the second half I cannot remember them having any chances. For sure they had great patch just after half time but we thoroughly deserved the win.
And when do we do this?
I think there is only one game in the league this season when we have won by three clear goals. The point I am making, is that by not continuing to press teams and attack we are ceding the initiative and it is very often costly.
Off the top of my head, late goals were conceded against Saudi Sportswashing Machine, WBA, Norwich, Chelsea, Wigan, City, Everton and victims. Points lost 12.
Your partiality undermines your credibility. Sure we played well in the first half -but anyone that says we werent totally dominated in the second half with United squandering a huge amount of decent opportunites is watching the game through Spurs tinted lenses.
Like we set ourselves up to do in Milan a couple of weeks ago? Didn't go so well then!...
I think there is only one game in the league this season when we have won by three clear goals. The point I am making, is that by not continuing to press teams and attack we are ceding the initiative and it is very often costly...
I think you need your glasses cleaning, mate. Or your memory improved.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19684181
Yep, well that's why they're top of the table, about to win their 20th league title (13 in the past 20 years) and we're fighting it out just to qualify for the CL.
I wish we did it but we don't. Its bloody annoying and its been a bit of a recurring theme through multiple managers.
Comparing us to Man Utd or AVB to Fergie is a bit silly tbh. We're going to drop silly points, as are the teams around us. Sometimes sitting back is a good tactic, sometimes (as with today for example imo), it isn't. Today, it just about worked. If we're up 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in the 75th minute, I really hope we don't fall back to the 18 yard line.
I suggest you re-read that. from a Utd point of view they had numerous chances in the second half, hit the woodwork twice and had several penalty appeals turned down (one of which looked nailed on). If that aint unlucky, I dont know what you consider is?